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Is this the way to best validate my idea?

Idea threads
D

Deleted78083

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My partner and I got an idea that would solve a problem and we are now seeking to validate it (a bit too late, but still...).

I looked around for best ideas validation practices and here's what I found.

1. Determine your target.
2. Build a landing page explaining your product and the pain it solves.
3. Give people the ability to register to "know more"
3. Post the link of the landing page on social media
4. Create ads sending your target to your landing page
5. Look at the number of people that saw the ad, clicked on it, then signed up
6. Decide whether the idea is worth pursuing

Does it sound like a good idea validation point?

Anything else I am missing? Anything else I could do differently?

Furthermore, what is my minimum interest level? If 500 people get on the landing page and 20 sign up, that's 4% of interest....is this good, or bad? What would be my minimum interest level?

Thank you

Monfii
 
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mdot

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I don't yet have experience in this area but one comment I did want to make is that your minimum interest level would probably have to be based tightly on your product or service. If 20/500 people sign up for a pack of pencils, probably not worth going ahead with. If you are building yachts on the other hand...
 

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3. Give people the ability to register to "know more"
@monfii - "know more" is not enough. You still might end up with leads that wants freebies and that would skew your data.

Hardest proof you can get is fake "Pay Now" button after "Add to cart".

And as for ads - run $5/day budget test and see for how much you can get clicks.
See how many people from that clicks will push fake "Pay Now" button.
Check if number of "converting" visitors times your net profit per purchase (revenue) is higher than all clicks times cost per each click (cost).
 

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create a fake sales page for the item, run ads to it and then just cancel every order you get.
 
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mdot

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create a fake sales page for the item, run ads to it and then just cancel every order you get.
I've seen this suggestion on the forum before and at first it didn't sit right with me, but after thinking about it I've come around to it.

It's not unethical, since you aren't keeping the money nor harming the customer in any way. But what about brand reputation? Surely it's bad to start a new brand on a bad foot by cancelling orders?

Perhaps to soften the blow a you could send a (somewhat) tailored email to each buyer thanking them for the order, explaining some sort of mixup with supply, and giving them a coupon code and assurance they'd be emailed as soon as it came in stock.

But maybe "brand reputation" doesn't matter at all? Afterall, if 500 people see your ad and 20 people buy from it but get their orders cancelled, what are those 20 people gonna do? Tweet about your bad service to their collective hundreds of followers? Worst case scenario you cancel on an influencer and they rip your brand to pieces in front of millions in your target market. If your idea was validated, just go ahead and build your product, and rebrand before launch.
 
D

Deleted78083

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It's a broker platform for a service, so it's gonna be hard to sell anything. The service itself already exists, but it doesn't target the people we want to target nor do it in the way we think doing it will solve problems for our target.

Anyway, I made a landing page with converkit explaining what the project is and inviting people to sign up if they want to know more, but this isn't likely to be enough. I should say instead "sign up to access in exclusivity the beta version" or something like that. Maybe i can say "sign up and be the first to enjoy the service we are offering for free".
 

mdot

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It's a broker platform for a service, so it's gonna be hard to sell anything. The service itself already exists, but it doesn't target the people we want to target nor do it in the way we think doing it will solve problems for our target.

Anyway, I made a landing page with converkit explaining what the project is and inviting people to sign up if they want to know more, but this isn't likely to be enough. I should say instead "sign up to access in exclusivity the beta version" or something like that. Maybe i can say "sign up and be the first to enjoy the service we are offering for free".
Slap a glowing red countdown on there and say "Free Beta Signups Closing in X days!"
 
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Johnny boy

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I've seen this suggestion on the forum before and at first it didn't sit right with me, but after thinking about it I've come around to it.

It's not unethical, since you aren't keeping the money nor harming the customer in any way. But what about brand reputation? Surely it's bad to start a new brand on a bad foot by cancelling orders?

Perhaps to soften the blow a you could send a (somewhat) tailored email to each buyer thanking them for the order, explaining some sort of mixup with supply, and giving them a coupon code and assurance they'd be emailed as soon as it came in stock.

But maybe "brand reputation" doesn't matter at all? Afterall, if 500 people see your ad and 20 people buy from it but get their orders cancelled, what are those 20 people gonna do? Tweet about your bad service to their collective hundreds of followers? Worst case scenario you cancel on an influencer and they rip your brand to pieces in front of millions in your target market. If your idea was validated, just go ahead and build your product, and rebrand before launch.
Exactly. Just send the money back. Your first time doing something is when you overthink it.
 
D

Deleted78083

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The Facebook ad campaign is over. We started it to measure interest in our idea.

69 people clicked on my ad leading to a landing page. None of them signed up on the landing page where they could "know more" and access the beta version for free and before anyone else.

Also I ended up creating a survey with google form and spammed people with it. +20 answered it, and answers keep on coming.

The survey results validate that the problem exists. I also measured if customers were using existing solutions to solve the problem, and they are not. Our product is a better version of this existing service, so it's nice.

The only thing is that my partner isn't convinced at all.

Positive side: I learned how to make facebook ads.
 
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Diego Liu

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We decided to let the idea go.

We now focus on something else. We'll launch the test version this summer! If we happen to get traction, I will document it in a thread in the INSIDERS section (provided i have enough money left to pay for the fees ::: PPP)
Good luck

-Marko from Tropoja
 
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