Step-by-Step Instructions

Click to print worksheet.

Problems it Solves

Previously, we talked about what constitutes an MVP and what constitutes a Utility Test. In this exercise you'll understand:

• What features should you include in your Utility Test?
• What features should you test first?
• How many features should you test at once?

What is a Feature?

For the sake of this discussion, a "feature" is a piece of functionality that solves a piece of the customer's problem.

This is important: we are talking about the individual parts that go into designing a solution, not the solution in its entirety.

The truth is, you don't actually know which pieces of your product will actually be most effective in solving your customers' problems. If you go for everything at once, it could potentially be costly and - as you've seen before - if things go awry, you won't know which features to cut and which features to keep.

What features should you test?

The answer is simple: as few as possible.

The reason is that it is much faster to test a few features at a time. When you have fewer things to build, you can get them out there more quickly and get data back more quickly.

It is also much easier to course correct - change features or eliminate them - when you've only got a few of them in the first place:

• Each feature you build creates an emotional attachment...in you. Every time you add a new piece of functionality, that functionality took time, money and mental energy to develop. The investment you made to build that great piece of functionality, will make it difficult to throw away on an emotional level, even when you encounter evidence that says shows it doesn't belong.

• If customers care a lot about a new feature, that's great to know - you should keep going. If a feature doesn't appeal to any customers, then you know it's got to go. But what happens if a feature falls somewhere in the middle - some customers like it, but most don't? This is often the worst situation to be in because it's difficult to remove the functionality because it will involve upsetting your customers, even if it's relatively few of them. Again, emotional attachment, this time on the part of your customers, will hinder the best course of action for your product.

The fewer features you build at once, the less likely you and your customers are to get emotionally attached to functionality that doesn't advance your progress to your Victory.

How many features should you test at one time?

The answer here has two options: you either want to test one feature at a time, or as few as will get you the currency you need to continue down your Path to Victory.

In Currency Testing, you did some presales and it's possible you sold a "set" of features. Ideally, you only sold one, but if you sold many features that's fine. Regardless, in this phase you want to test the minimal number of features that will get you that currency.

It can be very tempting to approach and customer and say, "Here are the features you paid for, and here are some extra things I can do to help you!" You and/or your development team will be tempted to build as much functionality as you can for your customer. But more functionality doesn't mean more value.

In terms of features...

More isn't better.

In the end, building more than the customer is asking for, or more than you have to, is going to increase your time, monetary and emotional investment, all while potentially disappointing or confusing your customer.

The takeaway is simple. For the benefit of you, and your customer...

Don't build any more than you have to in order to get your currency.

Rest assured, you will get a chance to run multiple Utility Tests where you can add additional functionality. In this stage, you will test very few features, but this is only the beginning. In fact, the rest of your product's lifespan will be a series of Utility Tests, adding and modifying functionality.

At every step, you will be able to ask, does this feature solve a problem for my customer?

You will have many chances to improve your product, exceed expectations and blow your customers out of the water. In this stage however, you are simply trying to test if you are actually able to build the thing that solves the problem for your customer.

What is a feature's goal?

First, it's good to remind yourself that your goal is NOT to build something. Your goal is to solve the problem.

So, how do you measure whether or not you are solving the problem? This is difficult to do by simply asking the customer, "Have I solved your problem?"

Instead, you are going to measure your customers' emotional delta.

The emotional delta is the difference between what they were feeling when they originally encountered your Offer, and what they are feeling after that they have engaged with your solution.

In other words, how much have you helped to alleviate the negative emotions the customer associates with their problems, and how well have you replaced that negative emotion with a positive one?

If you go back to your Problem Synthesis worksheet from Offer Testing, you actually identified the emotions your customers were experiencing with respect to their problem.

One of the reasons you did this was so that you could measure how effective you are at helping to reduce this negative emotion and replace it with a positive one.

Here's an example that illustrates the power of emotional delta:

Imagine you bought a lottery ticket.

I love this example because there are so many times that we are asking "what problem does the product solve?" and there are so many times when it's frankly difficult to say. Does a chocolate bar really solve a problem. Does Facebook really solve a problem? Did the first generation of iPhones solve a problem?

You can get creative and identify "problems" associated with chocolate bars, Facebook and new gadgets, but when you think about emotional delta, the motivation to buy these things becomes readily apparent.

Think about why someone buys a lottery ticket, despite knowing that there is almost zero chance of winning. It is not because the buyer actually expects to win, or because playing the lottery is a likely way to solve their money "problems."

People buy a lottery ticket because there is an emotional change that happens as soon as they are holding a ticket in their hand.

That ticket means that they have gone from having a zero chance of becoming a millionaire within the next week, to a nonzero chance. Practically speaking, their odds of actually becoming a millionaire are almost exactly what they were before buying a ticket, yet that's not why they bought it.

They bought because something big happened when they when from zero chance to nonzero chance - their emotional state changed.

Going from a zero chance of being a millionaire next week, to nonzero can result in a wide range of emotional changes. With a lottery ticket in their hand, someone can temporarily distract themselves from monetary problems and fantasize about a life of luxury. They can experience feelings of hope, of excitement, of giddiness, not to mention the joys of wondering "what if I won?"

At the end of the day, that's why people buy lottery tickets - not to solve any actual problem. They play the lottery because for a moment in time, they get to feel something they wouldn't otherwise - hope, excitement, wonder, etc.

This also explains why people by lottery tickets over and over again, despite never getting any closer to solving an actual problem. They're buying the feeling playing the lottery gives them, more than they are buying a solution.

The same goes for chocolate bars, Facebook, and tech gadgets. In fact, the same goes for products that actually solve problems (solving a problem replaces a negative emotion with a positive one).

Emotional delta applies to everything a customer buys, and the result is always the same:

Customers buy emotions.

You are going to leverage this fact throughout your Utility Tests.

Testing Utility Features

Take out your Utility Testing Features List worksheet.

Step 1

In Step 1, you are going to write in the problem that you are trying to solve.

In my case it is Founders who do not know what to test and are not sure how to test it.

Step 2

In this next step, for the "Start" blank you are going to write in the emotions that you discovered in the Problem Synthesis exercise. This is the starting emotional state of your customers.

In my case, my Founders are starting with an emotional state of "overwhelmed."

Next, write in the feeling that you want them to feel after engaging with your product. This should be the antithesis of their starting emotion? What is an emotion that they want to feel, that they want to strive for?

In this case, I could say I want them to feel "not overwhelmed", but that's not enough. I want my Founders to feel Pride and a sense of Accomplishment: that they are confident in knowing that they are testing the right thing and that they know exactly how to test it.

It's the combination of relieving a negative emotion and replacing it with a positive one that will ultimately increase my customers' Lifetime Value and Viral Coefficient.

Step 3

Now that you know the emotional state you want them to end up in, write out all the possible things you can do to help a customer feel this end-goal feeling.

How can you help them move from one emotional state to another?

This includes all of the solution brainstorming you've done before, but this time you're going to do it with more of a lens on the emotional state change, the emotional delta.

Important: Don't worry yet about whether or not you can actually build the thing that you are promising, or if it's scalable. You'll worry about that at a later time.

This is another brainstorming exercise where you're casting a wide net. Don't worry about what you sold during your Currency Testing, just focus on what you can do to help your customers get from one emotional state to another.

In my case, I have listed a bunch of things, starting with Step-by-Step instructions, meeting with founders 1-1, and so forth.

Next, score these features on a scale of 1-5 where:

1 = I don't think this will create much of an Emotional Delta.

5 = I think this will create a substantial Emotional Delta.

You can see how I have rated mine. This is just a guess: a gut check. Just like any of the brainstorming exercises you've done, first you come up with a list of possible answers, then you prioritize that list.

Step 4

Here, you are going to pick your top 3 features and list them out. Each of these features will be a different Utility Test, a different version of your product that you will test.

For the most part, you want to pick the features with the highest scores. However, there's more to it than that.

In my case, Accountability has the highest score, but as I've said before, your first test will be the minimal number of features possible for you to get your currency (what you've promised your customers).

Start by testing the minimal number of features necessary to get your currency.

In my case, my pre-sales were not based on Accountability: this is not what I sold. In fact, I tested Accountability (by offering Mentoring), but people were not engaging with that offer (they weren't trying to open that False Door).

While from my "in the building" perspective, that Accountability will be a more effective way to create this state change, what people have given me money for is Step-By-Step instructions. Therefore, my first Utility Test is precisely that...which turns out to be this workbook series.

My second iteration will include a form of Accountability. If that version is not sufficient for creating the Emotional Delta that I want, then I will move on to v0.3, which is a form of positive Encouragement.

I will test each of these versions individually and in order.

Now you list out your v0.1, v0.2 and v0.3. This is your Roadmap for what to test first, second, and third, and will help you stay focused on testing just one thing at a time.

What's Next

In this exercise, you identified:

• That customers buy emotions.
• That the goal of features is to provide those emotions.
• That fewer features you test, the faster and easier you will achieve your Victory
• How to brainstorm and prioritize your features
• Your feature implementation road map

Next up, you'll learn how to build your first Utility Test.