After considering my options, I settled on using a survey, conducted through Microsoft Forms. On my excel spreadsheet, I ideated potential feedback questions about the product, pricing and demographics. I decided to only use the essential questions, as I didn’t want the human to lose interest and thus provide me with inaccurate data. I then chose to proceed with the key questions, pertaining to:

  • age group, name & gender – for target audience demographics and pre-order mailing list.
  • the desired price for laser cut cards – so I could get as much profit as possible
  • Rating of each design – in case one was significantly more liked (helps to avoid opportunity cost)
  • who the cards are sent to – so I could choose appropriate designs for the target audience
The ideating of my potential questions.

If you would like, this can be viewed at: https://forms.office.com/r/gmwijbe7GN

While I think that my questions are relevant, and provided useful granular data, I believe that the form took an unnecessarily long time to complete. The average time was 6:06 minutes, but this may have been due to the form being run on an iPad. On my computer, the average was around 1 minute. I don’t believe I’ll be running too many forms in the future, but next time, if any, I would run it on my computer so people can type with more ease. Either that or I would limit “typing” questions so it is easier to complete. Next time, I should use empathy (the cognitive type) to see what difficulties they might have in filling out my form.

The 2 potential ads I designed (without template). I used the one on the right, which proved to be effective.

I also created advertisements to draw people in. At first, I was slightly concerned about the effect of the early timing on the quality of my feedback. As Christmas cards or even cards don’t cross people’s mind’s in September, (unless you are a choral singer : ), I thought that most people would walk by my stall without a second glance. To counter this, I used sweets to lure people on the day so they would give me feedback. This turned out to be a useful tactic, as many (36) were willing to stop by, if only for a mint.

The feedback results with sensitive information removed.

The product validation provided many insights. Apart from learning about how to bait potential customers, I was able to gain a rough idea about pricing, as well as who my target audience was. I deduced that people thought highly of my product, which was equal across demographics, and design, and that my target audience was mainly girls, specifically those in Junior School.

A lot of Year 4-7 Children
A lot of female Year 4-7 children

This was probably due to them being impulsive customers, as their eyes are caught by colourful items, and their age means they don’t understand the value of money and are willing to spend on products. I will endeavour to use this information to my advantage, so I might ensnare even more customers on the day.

Ratings of my product

In the process, I experienced the importance of peer feedback and extrinsic motivation (to bait others). All things considered, I have benefitted from this course and gained valuable feedback.