Michelle M. is very active in the environmental scene. She is concerned with saving as much energy as possible and doing business sustainably. Michelle has three small children who are oblivious to electricity consumption – probably because they are still too young to understand the issue.
Michelle would like to introduce the topic of saving energy to the little ones in a playful way but doesn’t know how.
One day Michelle saw a TV documentary about penguins. The (ant-)arctic animals suffer particularly from global warming. Michelle developed the idea of having a penguin figurine designed whose color is linked to electricity consumption. The figure is equipped with sensors and can be connected directly to the electricity meter in the house. The higher the electricity consumption, the brighter Pingu, the penguin figure, as Michelle calls her idea. Based on the intensity of little Pingu’s color, her children should be able to tell whether a lot or little electricity is currently being consumed in the household.
Including only one’s peer group can lead to misjudgments.
Michelle exchanges ideas with some colleagues and friends and tells them about her vision. When she tells her friends about it, they are so enthusiastic that they want to turn Pingu into a business idea. However, the investment is relatively high, and despite the enthusiasm of her friends, Michelle is not sure whether the penguin figure will find favor with a broader audience.
Check ideas for little money before high costs arise
Michelle has never done a survey before but knows from her professional experience that such consumer surveys are expensive and you need methodological support. She researches on the Internet and, by chance, comes across the Idea Test from deeptrue. Michelle is curious and follows the instructions for such a consumer survey. Within 10 minutes, Michelle has gone through the entire process and realizes that this survey with 100 consumers costs only 750 francs. Michelle consults with her friends. Each of them contributes, so the Idea Test is carried out.
Within a few hours, the results show that the high expectations for this business idea are unfortunately not fulfilled. “Normal” consumers cannot get excited about the idea of the penguin figure. The friends must realize that they have priorities other than the mainstream in the population. The potential to gain customers outside their peer group seems too small to risk investing.
Despite possible disappointments in the results, consumers’ feedback helps them make the right decisions.
Despite the disappointment in the results, Michelle and her friends are glad to have received feedback from the general population. They managed to save themselves a lot of costs for the investments of their Pingu with the survey and consumer feedback.
Do you have a business idea that you would like to test? On deeptrue.com, you can do it quickly, easily, and inexpensively.
Deutsch (Schweiz) 
English