Testing the Market

[bmarone]

I had heard in the past of certain websites/forums which will allow you to test your market before you create a product. Users of the websites will give you feedback and advice to help find a profitable niche. I think reddit was one such website; are there any others?

Thanks for the help,
Brandon

 

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[Ãœbertreffen]

Creating your own website and checking traffic and conversion rates would give you real numbers. There's a difference from someone saying they would buy your product as to opposed to someone actually following through with what they said (actually throwing money at you).

You don't necessarily have to have them pay you but is one way to approach it. On your own website you can have them do some type of action. Such as provide you with their email address and you can update them when the actual product is released.

Otherwise forums in an area of the market interest can be used for research and to ask the community to fine tune and polish everything up on the final product.



- Devin

 

[johnp]

forums are good. websites are good. The best way that I found is actually going out in the real world and asking people. It's free ya know..well, other than your time invested into it. One of the things that I like is that you can engage in dialogue with them. It's much harder to do this via internet. for example, you ask a question, They respond, then you follow up based on their response. Good luck trying to do that through email or a forum.

If you really wanna be special, then do some pre-launch thing with your non-existent product. Figure out where your target market is, go find them, and incentivize them with a gift or contest. Try and build some hype. See how they respond. You will gain TONS of valuable information. Then you will have some more insights into whether or not you should build/promote, or whatever it is that you are looking to do.

 

[AndrewNC]

Find out where people in your niche gather and ask them what they will pay for. Setup a squeeze page and see if they will actually pay for your product (before it is launched). Have them go through all the steps of entering their credit card information and track all of this with analytics. They will fill out the form like they think they are buying.

That is when you know people will pay for your product

 

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[andyredsox]

The best way is always find the niche and research on it. Test it.

We will go back to the ultimate need qualifier- find the need, hit it to let them bleed.

You'll sure have an audience who would buy from you!

 

[bmarone]

Find out where people in your niche gather and ask them what they will pay for. Setup a squeeze page and see if they will actually pay for your product (before it is launched). Have them go through all the steps of entering their credit card information and track all of this with analytics. They will fill out the form like they think they are buying.

That is when you know people will pay for your product

This is what I'm leaning toward doing.

However, my only concern is that a lot of forums/websites do not allow submissions such as this. They will block you from using their forum in such cases. How do you recommend working around this?

-Also, what web software could I use for "pre-sign ups" and analytics?

 

[Ãœbertreffen]

This is what I'm leaning toward doing.

However, my only concern is that a lot of forums/websites do not allow submissions such as this. They will block you from using their forum in such cases. How do you recommend working around this?

Most forums don't condone spamming with company information and trying to sell on their forum if you're not a sponsor. Especially if you're new, you're showing red flags right away if you just start spamming the forum and not actually participating within.

However, there's nothing wrong with asking a community. Example: you have a golf club that has been tested to improve the oh so common slicing issues that many have problems fixing. Whether the product is the golf club or a device to help with form or a service with professional golfers, you could go into details if you like. However, if you found a need and can fix a pain problem for others, people may be interested. Simply ask them, if I have a product that can improve your form at the tee, would you be interested?

Listen to their responses. You could even have an admin or mod check the product out (free or at a discount) and have them provide credibility where its due.

Note: This is just a really random example and was just made up. Please keep that in mind.

Many forums have different rules. Read their rules. If you're unsure, contact an admin or mod and ask them for permission to ensure you're following all rules of the forum.



- Devin

 

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[AndrewNC]

This is what I'm leaning toward doing.


-Also, what web software could I use for "pre-sign ups" and analytics

I use OptimizePress (hooked up through wordpress) to create squeeze pages, and connect it to a mailing list client such as aweber.com (for future sales) - not needed in your case. But for now just focus on the button to buy it now.

Crowdfunder Secrets Revealed | CrowdFunderSecrets.com
(Ignore the sales copy because I'm working on that now).

For simplicity, I'll keep it short, but there is a lot more going on here.
Step 1- I send people to my website by buying google ads, posting on a forum, etc.
Step 2- I am going to use google analytics to compare:
1- how many people land on the sales page, compared to
2- how many people click on the purchase button, and then compare that to
3- how many people actually purchase my product.

1- So Andrew goes to CrowdfunderSecrets, and then leaves. It shows 1 view for visiting the homepage.
2- Bmarone goes to the site, then clicks the purchase button. He does not like the price and leaves. 2 views for the homepage, 1 view for the sales page
3- John goes to the site, clicks the purchase button, and then enters his credit card information to buy the product. When he completes his purchase, none of his credit card information is saved, and it goes to a page crowdfundersecrets dot com/page3. and it tell him "sorry, our product is not made yet, but enter your email and we can contact you when it is.3 views for the homepage, 2 views for the sales page, 1 person would have actually bought your product.

Each page tracks how many people visited that page. So set up:
Page 1- Your product
Page 2- Enter credit card info like they are actually buying the product (don't save the CC info)
Page 3- Sorry, but this item is sold out.

By doing this, you can see exactly where people stand in the process and do so BEFORE you wasting your time creating something nobody wants. I have a lot more strategies tied to this, but hope the basics make sense.

*WARNING, on the site i referenced above, I WILL take a payment if you try to buy it, it is NOT hooked up to a fake ordering system. With that being said.. feel free to buy it lol*

As far as getting people to your page...that is a whole different conversation.