Launching a new product in 2025 is a big bet.
According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the chances of a business surviving for more than a decade is around 34%. Product validation helps beat these odds by proving product-market fit before you invest months (and millions) into development.
Founders today can stress-test ideas in days with AI-powered audience surveys, Coming Soon pages, and tools to scrape real-time marketplace demand signals before a single prototype ships.
Ahead, you’ll learn why product validation is important for starting a business and the different strategies you can use to prove market demand before launch.
What is product validation?
Product validation is a phase where you confirm that consumers are interested in your product idea. It tests for:
- Problem-solution fit.Does it solve a burning pain?
- Willingness to pay. Will prospects hand over money?
- Scalable demand. Is the market big enough to grow?
New businesses move fast and use various tools to run these tests. For example, with Shopify, you can create a password-protected Coming Soon page to collect pre-orders, run a Crowdfunder campaign, or tap Shopify Audiences to test acquisition costs before committing to a full launch.
The next question is why those signals matter. In other words, what’s at stake if you skip this step in the product development process?
Why is product validation important?
Most ventures don’t get the luxury of a second launch. When your bet misses the mark, the consequence is losing real money.
A leading tech investor warns that 85% of today’s AI-focused startups will be out of business by 2026, despite the technology’s potential. The same pattern shows up outside Silicon Valley. An eight-year study of 83,719 consumer packaged goods launches found that 25% vanished from shelves within 12 months, and 40% were gone after two years.
These numbers often trace back to a single root cause, building before you know a market exists. Validation helps you find demand on a budget, pivot early if numbers are weak, and conserve the money (and morale) you’ll need to scale. Beyond upfront costs, it also helps you understand product liability before customers start using your product.
The product validation process
Product validation is the first step in building a new product or business. It sets the tone for every stage of the product development life cycle.
To research and validate product ideas, large companies often hire big firms. Entrepreneurs with small startup budgets often rely on a lean approach to product validation. Or in other words, identifying viable products you can develop affordably.
Here are the steps to take when validating a product:
1. Define what people need
It wasn’t until Apple introduced the smartphone in 2007 that anyone knew they needed it. The smartphone has become an integral part of people’s lives, helping them connect with friends, buy products, monitor health, and much more.
People save time and money using smartphones—they can do everyday tasks and meet their needs more efficiently.
Often, products are built based on inaccurate information or faulty assumptions. A poor-performing product usually fails to meet a real need or solve an actual problem. That’s why asking “What do people need?” is critical when planning your product strategy.
2. Learn who your audience is
Once you know what people need, consider your target audience. Validating your customers helps you identify the ideal segments with the highest potential to buy and also pinpoint early adopters.
You can find your target market and product positioning by using the following tactics:
- Organizing focus groups
- Surveying existing customers
- Monitoring competitors
3. Run a market analysis
The process of analyzing a niche, industry, or market segment is called market analysis. Thorough market research helps you understand your target market, the competitive landscape, and how your brand and product fit. What you learn guides your broader product development strategy.
Your market analysis will identify:
- The size of your target market
- The price people are willing to pay for your product
- Your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
Read more: What Is a Market Analysis? 3 Steps Every Business Should Follow
4. Figure out if people want the product
The last question you’ll want to ask is, “Do people want the product?” In other words, will customers actually buy and use it? Answering this question helps you understand the mindset and attitudes of your target audience toward your product..
At this stage, it’s common to create a prototype, known as a minimum viable product (MVP), and conduct user testing. It is easy to send samples to a group of customers and have them evaluate the MVP. There are several advantages to using an MVP:
- Learn what potential customers think about the product’s attributes.
- Evaluate a single feature at a time or the entire product at once.
- Reduce the amount of time spent on new product development.
- Deliver the product features your customers want.
- Make communication easier with your customers in your niche.
5. Iterate based on feedback
Even the best MVPs aren’t perfect on the first try. What matters is how fast you turn customer feedback into an improved product experience.
It’s how Jacob Winter, founder of homeware brand Mush Studios, grew his company into a category-defining brand. It was the Blot Rug, an irregular, paint-spill-shaped tufted rug that went viral on TikTok (with 23 million views in its first year), that turned the brand into a reference point for playful, organic-shaped home textiles.
Jacob explains, “We were getting the feedback of what was working and what wasn’t working, so we weren’t wasting any time or any money or resources making any unnecessary designs.”
To iterate on your own customer feedback:
- Centralize all your survey data and support tickets into a single backlog.
- Fix high-impact, low-effort issues first.
- Ship, then re-test with the same segment to see if changes move metrics.
If feedback isn’t what you hoped for at first, don’t sweat it. Evolve with what your customers are saying—that’s why quality assurance is useful. One fine-tuned adjustment can turn into an innovative product like the Blog Rug.
6. Measure validation success metrics
Validation is much like a science experiment. Set pass/fail targets before you test a product concept, then act on the data. Some metrics you can use for validation include:
- Pre-order conversion rates. Consider how many pre-orders you get compared to unique landing page visitors. The pass rate can range from 10% to 20%.
- Wait-list to buyer conversion. Building buzz through a pre-launch campaign? Collect email subscribers, then aim to convert up to 5% of them.
- Repeat usage or purchase rates. If consumers regularly use or purchase your product, that makes it “sticky.” Generally, you want repeat rates between 10% and 15% before scale.
Run small-scale tests until you log 100 conversion events like orders or sign-ups. Use conversion data from Shopify Analytics and your marketing tools to understand cohort retention numbers. This will help you understand if you’re ready to green-light full production after the pre-launch phase.
9 proven strategies to validate a product idea
- Make some sales
- Conduct competitive analysis
- Research existing demand
- Create a feedback survey
- Start a crowdfunding campaign
- Gauge interest on social media
- Create a pre-launch landing page
- Meet customers in person
- Utilize AI-powered validation tools
1. Make some sales
Making a few sales is often the simplest and most effective way to validate your product. Nothing confirms your product’s value more clearly than customers willingly exchanging money for it.
Until people pay you, your business is nothing more than a collection of assumptions. Getting to know potential customers is important, but you can’t build your business fully until people pay you.
Nimi Kular, co-founder of Jaswant’s Kitchen, has experience validating product ideas for her family business, which sells Indian seasonings and cooking kits. She says, “Market evaluation, surveys, and feedback from friends and family can point you in the right direction, but money is the only thing that can validate a product.”
Kular attended small shows where she sold early versions of her product. “For us, that happened at the first few shows we went to, where complete strangers bought our product. That’s when we knew we were fulfilling a genuine need with a product people would pay for.”
2. Conduct a competitor analysis
Research is useful when you’re still in the ideation stage or exploring products to sell. Before investing significant time and money, run a competitor analysis to mitigate risk and build confidence.
Competitors can help confirm there’s market demand for your product. For example, you can get a rough idea of whether the market is viable by seeing how long your competitors have been in business.
It’s easy to think that because you have big competitors, your product won’t do well. To combat these feelings, Kular recommends “not getting discouraged when you see competitors that have already grown big businesses. The fact that they exist will give you a good sense of whether what you are offering is unique or different than what’s currently in the market, which can point you toward untapped product opportunities or help you figure out what to focus on going forward.”
Some ways to analyze your competition include:
- Signing up for their newsletters
- Subscribing to their blogs
- Following them on social media
- Purchasing their products
You can also run an SEO analysis to understand how much traffic a competitor’s site gets and what keywords they rank for. Next, analyze a competitor’s audience demographics and paid search performance by using an SEO tool like Ahrefs.
3. Research existing demand
Analyzing demand and search volume is another way to validate your product. Now that you know your competitors, let’s shift the focus to potential customers’ interest.
Google Trends is a good place to start. Use this tool to find out how often people search for your product. Google Trends lets you see if you’re dealing with a trending product that’s on the upswing or a stagnant product category. Jumping into a declining market is the last thing you want.
Ahrefs is another tool you can use. With this keyword research tool, you can identify keywords and phrases related to your product and view search volume for each.
“We share recipes on our site to reach customers who may not know the names of our products or search for them directly,” Kular explains.
“For example, we first assumed people might be searching for ‘spices’ or ‘spice blends’ and we focused on those keywords, but over time we realized that if people don’t even realize that a product like ours exists, they won’t search for it in that way,” she adds.
“We realized they were more likely to search for names of the final products or recipes they wanted to eat, which could lead them to our products as a new way to make those dishes.”
4. Create a feedback survey
Once you understand your customer base, it is crucial to provide them with an easy way to communicate and give feedback. A free survey is the easiest way to gather customer feedback on your MVP.
Create an anonymous survey with Google Forms or SurveyMonkey. Include people who aren’t family or friends, as they may be less biased.
5. Start a crowdfunding campaign
A crowdfunding campaign is a helpful, proven way to see if there’s demand for your product. One key benefit is it sets a firm timeline, requiring focused effort to reach your goal.
If you’re interested in running a campaign, it’s important to find the right platform for your launch. Indiegogo and Kickstarter are well-known platforms, though many others have popped up in recent years.
Learn more: How to Do Crowdfunding: With Expert Tips and Examples from Successful Campaigns
6. Gauge interest on social media
Another way you can validate a product idea is through social media. Your followers know you best and will tell you what they want to see. Each day, millions of people express their feelings on social media, sharing what they’ve bought and their experiences with it.
Engagement metrics have become standard validation signals. Here’s what “good” engagement looks like right now, though these rates vary based on followers counts:
Clearing the median engagement rate for your category can be a strong buy signal.
Beauty brands like Cadence also leverage their social media community for research and development. Stephanie Hon, CEO and founder of Cadence, tells Modern Retail that their customers frequently reach out on social media, specifically about colors they want to see.
“I will say, for future product lines it merges with what we’re already on track making, which is a great validation point for us,” she says. “It’s very exciting to get a lot of requests and be like, Oh, just wait a few months. It’s coming. We’re always listening.”
For your product strategy, analyzing what customers say on social media helps you gain valuable insights and validate ideas quickly. You can also poll followers for product ideas, run live Q&As to understand their problems, and get direct user feedback on MVPs.
7. Create a pre-launch landing page
Create a microsite highlighting your value proposition with an email subscription field to gauge interest and market demand. Starting a relationship with potential customers by driving traffic to your website and collecting emails is a great way to validate genuine interest in your product.
An easy option is to use Shopify’s password-protected prelaunch page. Follow the instructions in the link to set up your pre-launch marketing page to capture email addresses. Your subscribers will also be synced automatically from your store if you use Shopify Email or an app like Klaviyo.
Learn more: 15 Creative Coming Soon Page Examples To Inspire You in 2025
8. Meet customers in person
Selling at a craft show or local market is another option Kular recommends. “This was so helpful for us when we started Jaswant’s Kitchen. It provided a convenient way to gather quick, first-hand feedback from potential customers,” she says.
Meeting people in person allows you to talk to potential customers, see their initial reactions, and learn if they’re willing to spend money on your product.
Find markets and craft shows that align with your brand and product in your area. Prepare a list of questions to ask customers, such as their color preferences and the competing products they currently use. In the early stages, experiment with different price points to see what works best for your product.
9. Utilize AI-powered validation tools
Nearly one-in-three (28%) companies now use AI for product and service development, making it the second most common business function for generative AI adoption. Teams can use that power to test ideas in quickly.
For example, with Shopify Sidekick, a conversational AI assistant, you can research markets, draft customer surveys, and build a mini-sales projection based on store data. Validations you can run on Sidekick include:
- Voice-of-customer survey: “Draft five poll questions to learn why visitors didn’t complete a pre-order.”
- Copy test: “Rewrite this product description in under 120 words for a TikTok caption.”
- Quick forecast: “Based on my last 60 days of hoodie sales, what revenue could a limited-edition drop do at a $75 price and 4% conversion rate?”
Another good tool for validating a niche is Exploding Topics. It scans billions of searches and social mentions and flags fast-rising keywords before they peak. You can also find tools in the Shopify App Store like Crowdfunder and Wait.li to help capture pre-orders and wait-lists.
Consistently launch successful products with a validation process
One final point all entrepreneurs should keep in mind is not to let validation turn into procrastination. Doing the initial legwork to validate your product is undeniably useful: it will give you the confidence necessary to put yourself out there, and it can help you avoid costly, time-consuming mistakes.
The truth is every business owner has to learn as they go.Trying to predict exactly how things will turn out just delays you from shipping and selling the right product. Dipping your toes in the water can teach you a lot, but all your product research and analysis ultimately leads up to that pivotal moment when you finally dive in.
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Product validation FAQ
How do you validate a product?
To validate a product, define what people need, understand your target audience’s pain points, conduct market analysis, determine willingness to pay, and iterate based on feedback.
Why is product validation important?
Product validation helps you find product-market fit faster and build better products. It also determines if a product will be profitable and meet customer needs. Product testing supports this by providing real-world insights.
What is product demand validation?
Demand validation checks if people will pay for your product. It involves methods like user interviews, market research, problem-solution fit analysis, and prototype testing.
Who is responsible for the company’s product validation?
In small businesses, the owner or manager typically handles product validation. Larger companies may have product teams or external firms manage everything from validation to distribution. See more on product design.
How has product validation changed in 2025?
In 2025, validation has become real-time with AI tools analyzing trends and forecasting demand. Social media engagement, pre-orders, and waitlist conversions now play a major role in assessing market interest.
What tools can help with product validation?
Shopify Sidekick: An AI copilot for market insights and forecasting.
Crowdfunder: Collect paid pre-orders via Shopify.
Wait.li: Build waitlists easily on Shopify.
Shopify Audiences: Run targeted ads to gauge product interest.
Exploding Topics: Track rising search trends quickly.
