The Product/Market Fit Survey (PMF) specifically asks the customer, “How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?” with a multiple choice response.
The Product/Market Fit Survey (PMF) specifically asks the customer, “How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?” with a multiple choice response. The survey is often used as a proxy metric for PMF. If 40 percent or more customers answer they would be “very disappointed” without the product, then it is assumed the product is ready for marketing to the entire segment that answers that way.
"Product/market fit" is a term originally coined by serial entrepreneur and VC Marc Andreessen in his epic post "The Only Thing that Matters." In short, it refers to being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market. If you really have it, typically you will be stretched to the limit with resources to deliver the product.
Having achieved product/market fit, you can safely say that you have fully proven the value hypothesis, where the value hypothesis is the key assumption that underlies why a customer is likely to use your product. Andy Rachleff of Wealthfront argues that you should achieve PMF before searching for venture money.
Product/market fit is also a proxy for customer excitement. Customers recommend you more frequently if you've achieved it.
This survey technique gives you a quantitative measure of whether you've achieved PMF.
Sean Ellis recommends sending the PMF survey question to people who have:
Setup form on website: .5-1 day.
...or...
Prepare a longer survey containing the question below: 2-3 days (see Closed-Ended Survey for more details).
How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?
Send the survey using any of the below:
If over 40 percent of your users are saying that they would be “very disappointed” without your product, you are building a “must have” product for your initial customers. You can also include an open-ended follow-up question to understand why the user answered this way.
Look for differences in qualitative responses between very disappointed and somewhat disappointed for extra clues. Most likely, either product or market segment needs to be improved.