Section 05: User Research & Validation Plan
MeetingMeter - Meeting Cost Calculator
🎯 Objective: Validate core assumptions before building
⏱️ Timeline: 8-Week Validation Sprint
📊 Target: 30 interviews + 500 survey responses
1. Key Assumptions to Validate
🔍 Problem Assumptions
Do users perceive meeting costs as a real problem?
💡 Solution Assumptions
Will cost visibility actually change behavior?
💰 Business Assumptions
Will companies pay for meeting analytics?
2. Customer Discovery Interview Guide
🎯 Interview Targets
Ops/HR Leaders
10 interviews • $50 gift card incentive
Department Heads
8 interviews • $50 gift card incentive
Individual Contributors
12 interviews • $25 gift card incentive
1 Part 1: Background & Context (10 min)
- "Walk me through a typical week - how many meetings do you have?"
- "What metrics does your team/department track for productivity?"
- "How do you currently measure meeting effectiveness?"
2 Part 2: Problem Exploration (20 min)
- "Tell me about the last meeting you felt was unnecessary - what made it feel that way?"
- "If you could reduce meeting time by 25%, what would you do with that time?"
- "How do you decide who to invite to meetings? Ever feel there are too many attendees?"
- "What's the most expensive meeting you've been in recently? How did you know?"
3 Part 3: Solution Reaction (15 min)
- [Show prototype] "If you saw this cost before scheduling, would it change your behavior?"
- "What concerns would you have about sharing salary data for this tool?"
- "Who would need to approve purchasing this? What objections might they raise?"
- "Would this data help you advocate for fewer/better meetings?"
4 Part 4: Wrap-up & Pricing (15 min)
- "On a scale of 1-10, how painful is meeting inefficiency for your organization?"
- "What budget would this come from? How is that budget approved?"
- [Price sensitivity] "At $4/user/month, how likely? At $12/user/month?"
- "Who else should I talk to about this problem?"
3. Survey Design
📋 Screening Survey
Target: 500+ responses via LinkedIn/Twitter
1. What's your role?
[ ] Operations/HR Leader
[ ] Department Head/Manager
[ ] Individual Contributor
[ ] Executive
[ ] Other: _____
[ ] Operations/HR Leader
[ ] Department Head/Manager
[ ] Individual Contributor
[ ] Executive
[ ] Other: _____
2. Company size?
[ ] 1-10
[ ] 11-50
[ ] 51-250
[ ] 251-1000
[ ] 1000+
[ ] 1-10
[ ] 11-50
[ ] 51-250
[ ] 251-1000
[ ] 1000+
3. How many hours/week in meetings?
[ ] <5
[ ] 5-10
[ ] 11-15
[ ] 16-20
[ ] 20+
[ ] <5
[ ] 5-10
[ ] 11-15
[ ] 16-20
[ ] 20+
4. Pain level (1-10) of meeting inefficiency?
12345678910
5. Interested in interview? ($50 gift card)
[ ] Yes, email: _____
[ ] No
[ ] Yes, email: _____
[ ] No
🎯 Validation Survey
Target: 200+ qualified respondents
Van Westendorp Pricing Test
Feature Prioritization Matrix
Privacy Concern Assessment
Integration Needs Ranking
Pricing Sensitivity Questions:
- "At what price would this seem too expensive?"
- "At what price would this seem like a bargain?"
- "At what price would you start to question value?"
- "At what price would this be too cheap to trust?"
4. Landing Page Validation Experiment
🎯 Experiment Goals
1,000+
Unique Visitors
5%
Signup Conversion
$80
Target CAC
📝 Headline A/B Test
Option A
"See the Real Cost of Every Meeting"
Option B
"Cut Meeting Costs by 30% with AI Insights"
Option C
"Your Meetings Cost $23,456 Last Month"
🎲 Fake Door Test Design
1
Pricing Page Click-Through
Measure interest in paid plans before building
Success: >8% CTR
Fail: <3% CTR
5. 8-Week Validation Timeline
Weeks 1-2: Problem Discovery
15 Customer Interviews
Screening Survey Launch
Assumption Review
Weeks 3-4: Solution Validation
Landing Page A/B Test
$500 Ad Campaign
Waitlist Collection
Weeks 5-6: Pricing Validation
Van Westendorp Survey
Fake Door Test
10 Pre-Orders Target
Weeks 7-8: Prototype Validation
Concierge MVP
20 Beta Users
NPS Collection
Go/No-Go Decision
✅ Go/No-Go Decision Criteria
| Metric | Target | Weight | Pass Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Problem Validation Rate | ≥70% | 30% | ✓ Must Pass |
| Landing Page Signup Rate | ≥5% | 25% | ≥4% |
| Price Acceptance Rate | ≥60% at $8/user | 25% | ≥50% |
| Pre-Order Conversions | 10+ | 15% | 5+ |
| Beta User NPS | ≥40 | 5% | ≥30 |
Decision Rule: Total weighted score ≥70% = GO, <70% = NO-GO or PIVOT
6. Research Synthesis Template
📋 Key Insights Capture
Validated Pain Points
✓ [Pain point 1]
✓ [Pain point 2]
✓ [Pain point 3]
✗ [Assumption that was wrong]
User Quotes (Evidence)
"I spend 20 hours/week in meetings but only 5 are productive..."
📊 Validation Scorecard
85%
Problem Fit
72%
Solution Interest
65%
Price Acceptance
42
NPS Score
78%
Overall Score
🚀 Immediate Next Steps
- Week 1: Recruit first 10 interview participants via LinkedIn
- Week 1: Deploy screening survey with $50 gift card incentive
- Week 2: Build landing page with 3 headline variants
- Week 3: Launch $500 Google Ads campaign targeting ops/hr leaders
- Week 5: Conduct Van Westendorp pricing survey with 100+ respondents
- Week 7: Launch Concierge MVP with 20 beta users