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Ask HN: Is this a good format for minimum viable products?

3 points by ZerglingHands ↗ HN
This past week, I've been creating sites such as http://frostchat.com and throwing AdWords campaigns at them to test a few product ideas.

Looking at the landing page I just linked to, do you believe it's an effective way to gauge the public's interest in a product (combined with AdWords data), or am I ultimately just wasting my time and money?

This is the first time I've done something like this, so I'm sure it can't hurt to gather feedback on the landing page that I'm using to gather feedback. :)

11 comments

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jarrett
My experience with AdWords has been that it's hard to get enough traffic to give you meaningful data about interest or conversion rates.

That being said, if your particular keywords can bring you a lot more clicks per day than I've gotten, it's probably worth a shot.

I think if you really want quality feedback on your product, though, you'll need to reach out on a human level. Contact everyone you know, people you don't know but who might be interested, etc..

feralmoan
I don't think it really engages your target (ie: decision makers), particularly the general discussion example with 'lmfao' and 'breathe idiot'... that sort of thing. It really needs to pop with what differentiates it from an established product such as https://www.hipchat.com that sounds to do a similar thing (ie: how you're "developing a new way to communicate with your team online." isn't really obvious). Sorry to sound harsh but hopefully constructive criticism.
ZerglingHands
It doesn't sound harsh at all. :-)

As I (briefly) mentioned in the original post, I'm running a few sites similar to the one I linked to, and only used FrostChat as an example.

What I'm most concerned about is if I'm effectively figuring out which product idea is the most viable using this method (adwords + crappy landing page + comparing which landing pages get the most email addresses). I wonder if zeroing in on one idea to iron out all the kinks (like the language usage issue you brought up) would yield better results.

feralmoan
> I wonder if zeroing in on one idea to iron out all the kinks (like the language usage issue you brought up) would yield better results.

Definitely this, the best measure could only really be taken by engaging (or appearing to engage) with the market. I think you might be selling yourself short otherwise.

tylerwl
I think the real value of this type of testing would come from actually talking to people who are interested in your product.

With that goal in mind, I would change the "I'm Interested" button to a single email submission field with a call to action like "Get Started".

Once somebody submits the field, give them a confirmation message to check their inbox. Then in that email, explain that the product is under development and their feedback would be valuable.

Do you have some specific questions in mind that you want these leads to answer for you?

ZerglingHands
Do you have some specific questions in mind that you want these leads to answer for you?

I guess what I need to figure out is how to incentivize visitors to answer my questions (or if they even need incentives in the first place).

I like this idea (even if it creates more stuff for me to test). :-D

tylerwl
Although it's a cheesy title, check out the "Letters That Produced Miraculous Results" chapter in Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People". It will give you some great ideas about how to get a response from the initial email you send.
ZerglingHands
I hadn't thought of that. Good idea!

Would you say that the following is an improvement?

http://frostchat.com/images/contact.png

tylerwl
Nice work! I'm generally pretty immune to copy, but that would definitely get my attention.

Also, good job eliminating the extra page in between clicking the button and the contact page.

The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is the character on the contact page. It's a high quality illustration, but his expression might cause an upset/worried feeling when someone hits that page. Now that your copy is so good, I would consider removing him and just centering the copy & contact form.

Any plans to start a blog about your tests and subsequent product development? I know I'd be very interested in reading it, and I think a lot of other people here would as well.

tylerwl
"I'll think I'll have to run some A/B tests to see what effect the little guy and his different expressions have on visitors."

Excellent idea. And that's exactly the type of activity that would make for a great blog post!