Five questions that get you insight instead of "sounds nice"
When you post an idea or a product and ask "what do you think?", the answer will almost always be "sounds nice." It's a polite answer, but there is nothing to learn from it. The problem isn't the people, it's the question: a general question invites a general answer.
A good question focuses on one thing and demands a specific answer. Here are five questions I use:
"After reading the description, what do you think the product does? Write it in your own words." If the answer doesn't resemble what you meant, the description isn't clear. You won't find that out from a question like "Is the description clear?"
"Does the slogan match what the product actually does? What would you change in it?" It shows whether the promise and the product speak the same language.
"Which feature would you use first, and which would you skip?" Here you get priorities, not an opinion.
"Who do you think would pay for this, and what would make you pay yourself?" The most direct way to test the business model.
"If you visited the product and didn't sign up, what stopped you?" The most important answer, and it isn't always asked.
None of these questions asks for "feedback." Each one asks for an answer.
The questions need to change according to the stage the product is in. For an idea that hasn't been built yet, you ask about the need. For a working product, you ask about the user experience. And if I'm considering adding a feature that will take a lot of development time, wouldn't I rather understand beforehand how important it is to users? One question before development can save all that time.
At StartZig we built it this way: a community of founders answers structured questions about the idea, the features and the business model, and the questions adapt to the stage the product is at. The quality of the answers is checked to filter out noise.
There's more to it: some of the users who answer are good potential customers of yours in the future, and they can also recommend the product onward.
Joining is free: https://www.startzig.com
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