How to gauge sales potential of physical product?

[YMCMB]

I am thinking of selling a product and have already had a sample manufactured. Before having a mold created and ordering thousands of the product I am going to be creating a sales page with a buy option. As I stated, I only have 1 product and was doing this to test if the item would sell or not. I am going to throw a bunch of traffic at the sales page. What method do you guys suggest for the test checkout process? I was considering just a form that look like a checkout page, once the buy button is clicked that asks for just email, name, address and a next button for CC info. This isn't a 100% sure method to gauge sales since many people abandon carts. I really am a bit confused on what way to go to test sales. Anyone got any ideas?


Thanks

 

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[socaldude]

i'm not a big fan of putting stuff online to test the waters. go to where the customer is and have the product in their face. for example if i'm going to start a new gym workout drink/ workout reliever , my best bet is to give out free samples to people at the gym.

 

[YMCMB]

I want to test the reception of online ad's to the product page. I don't have enough product to test. Instead of spending $1000's I can do this and spend a couple hundred.

 

[PatrickP]

I am thinking of selling a product and have already had a sample manufactured. Before having a mold created and ordering thousands of the product I am going to be creating a sales page with a buy option. As I stated, I only have 1 product and was doing this to test if the item would sell or not. I am going to throw a bunch of traffic at the sales page. What method do you guys suggest for the test checkout process? I was considering just a form that look like a checkout page, once the buy button is clicked that asks for just email, name, address and a next button for CC info. This isn't a 100% sure method to gauge sales since many people abandon carts. I really am a bit confused on what way to go to test sales. Anyone got any ideas?


Thanks

OP where will your product be sold? On your website as you describe?

If so then definitely do it the way you describe but then have them go through Pay Pal they can go through the entire process I believe(according to 4 Hour work week at least) but then when they click buy they are notified the item is not in stock.

If you do not have the book I would suggest you at least get hold of that part as the author describes 2 methods of doing what you are looking to do and both seemed very doable to me at the time I read them.

As for the suggestion of going face to face I really would like to learn new ways of testing a product before creating it.

How would you do this if you do not have the product as the OP has said he does not? It also doesn't sound like there is such a thing as a sample.

 

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[socaldude]

i don't know anything about this, but it looks like you have the right mind set of testing the market first instead of trying to shove something down the market's throat by making thousands of products without selling a few. remember baby steps count too!

 

[LightHouse]

i'm not a big fan of putting stuff online to test the waters. go to where the customer is and have the product in their face. for example if i'm going to start a new gym workout drink/ workout reliever , my best bet is to give out free samples to people at the gym.

People will typically lie to be nice... yes you can say ok will you buy now, but still... you wont get a clear picture.

 

[LightHouse]

I would either put a buy button that takes buyers to a page that lets them know the product isnt officially for sale yet but that you for your time we will get it ready for you soon and offer something to them to not piss them off. Or make an optin list for buyers and make sure they know they are opting in.

Or create a checkout page but plaster it with a notice that it is not real and to not enter real CC data, and track the conversion process. that will let you know potential buyers on the web if they have made it that far.

You have to make sure all the offer is up front like shipping so you dont skew your data. if you tell them itll be 30+5shipping and they hit the CC page you know it is legit. If you dont have shipping there, people may be looking for the total and not have a clear picture and may not be actual buyers, skewing data.

 

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[YMCMB]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I am going to make a sales page, buy button then go to a form with name address info then next and I will have an opt-in email submit. I figure with the email submit I can use that data to see how much interest I have.

 

[LightHouse]

Conversion funnel is way to long. Go buy button to an explanation page with a short opt in form

 

[max momo]

Woooa, caution flag. Do NOT take orders on paypal or credit cards for something you don’t own, or doesn’t yet exist. Not legal, exactly.

1. You are in ‘Pre-Sales’
Luckily for you, the path is well trod. Do research on that term.

2. Build the sales funnel FIRST. Get the page in place, (presumably you have checked patent/copyright and competition already), demonstrate how this product will SOLVE their Pain/Problem; build the hype first (sell the sizzle first); get some interest in the IDEA of your product, the product comes later

3. This guy provides some great answers, so I won’t plagiarize, just link

(On second thought, I don’t want to direct traffic away from our dear host. So, just use dogpile for the search: “pre sale research physical product”, see the warrior forum thread)

4. You are probably $$ scared to invest in the product b.c. you don’t want to outlay for 10K pieces.

5. When I was in that exact situation, I did some more research and realized I could BUY THE METHOD of PRODUCTION for the same cost as 10k units. That was a real eye opener. Here in the states, the means of production have become exceedingly cheap. Entire factories, and all the equipment therein, went out of business in the past 15 years. Extruding, sealing, machine systems are now auctioning for pennies on last decades’ dollar. Check it out. The flip side is that the regulations and labor price will likely drive you so the same breaking point that forced the original mfr out to asia. So, you may be able to crack that nut (Perhaps you already have ins with mfr or distribution) , but just know going into it.

6. Ultimately, I decided the market wasn’t what I original thought (actually, the market began to shift in a big way while I was shopping RFP/Q. So I tabled that venture (for now), and am currently skinning that cat from a much different angle.

But the only way to determine YOUR market, imo, is PRE-SALE…

For many, If they won’t bite on a pre-sale, they won’t likely fork over the $$. The reverse is true, many folks (especially guys) will BUY SOMETHING IMMEDIATEY if it was what they wanted. So, the two factors, more or less, equal out. SO, the pre-sale numbers can be a decent lead indicator.

Hope that helps a smidge, good luck.

 

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[PatrickP]

Woooa, caution flag. Do NOT take orders on paypal or credit cards for something you don’t own, or doesn’t yet exist. Not legal, exactly.

That is NOT what is being discussed.

What is being discussed is completely legal and is talked about in 4 hour work week. This is done every day as a legitimate way to test product sales.

When the person goes to place the order via Pay Pal they are notified it is not in stock. No money is every taken from their Pay Pal account, it is NOT seen as an order from Pay Pal.

 

[max momo]

Patrick, I understand EXACTLY what you wrote, as you stated that has ALREADY been published. My cautionary tale is for those that begin developing their ‘mock-up’ and think to themselves ‘I will just take the next step and book the sale then refund their money”.

Or, they mock up an inventory page for a beta run, than strip the inventory before re-launching site, not realizing some folks will buy off a cached page.

Just a couple examples where others have gone wrong…

Further, there is NO way I would build the sales funnel for my ACTUAL brand, ACTUAL product, on the ACTUAL site – get the prospective customer three steps into the process – and then tell them you can’t deliver the actual product! What a bitter taste that would leave.

There are better ways of doing your market research and taking a product to market that don’t burn the bridge before it’s even built.

Lighthouse already presented this argument. I agree.

 

[PatrickP]

As Mr Wonderful says the bottom line is money.

I built a multimillion dollar company using that exact method as did Tim Ferris and many others.

Could you please let us know if you built a company selling physical products?

How you test the product before launching?

How much are your yearly sales?

 

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