Product validation

Some goals that we've encountered on the subject of product validation are as follows:

• "Determine whether it's worth it to continue the effort; is the app useful to users? Would they download it or prefer a website?"
• "The trigger is a relaunch of the app and website. We want to know what users think of the new product."

We don’t believe that a usability test is the most appropriate means for finding an answer to the question whether a company should continue to put effort into a product or discontinue it. The usability of the product is only one factor in determining how successful a product is; others may be whether it actually fulfills a need for the users.