I learned: What people say does NOT mean anything
I know there's a lot of controversy about how to validate your ideas, and about interviewing people and such things. However, after my last experiment, I came to the conclusion that it does not matter what people say at all for validation. Whatever they say does not mean they will pay. There's no connection.
For example, I did a poll recently on one of my sites about a mobile version of the app. The result was 10:1 for getting a mobile version. So, I went and build Android and iOS apps. However, I did the pricing a bit different than on the site and used a one-time payment for the mobile apps.
Not one sold copy so far. Testing it with various prices between 3.99 and 1. Only when making it free for a short time, the downloads came.
What did I learn?
- A Yes for "I want this" does not mean they will pay even a buck for it
- You will only see if your idea runs aka is validated when people actually hand over cash
- Stop worrying about validation; just put tiny stuff out in mass and see what sticks.
- Maybe it's better to go with how people are used to pay or not pay for apps. For example, in this space, many apps use the free with ads and pay for ads removal plus other IAPs
Have you read the book "The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you" ? If not I would highly recommend reading it. A very insightful look into what questions to ask, how to ask them and what to look for in their answers. Sometimes we can learn a lot not from what our customers say but also what they don't say. Hope this helps.
Thanks. The book is on my bucket list. Maybe I should move it to the top.
What did help you the most?
I second this advice. Stop whatever you're doing right now and read it first! Here are my highlights: https://buttondown.email/swap/archive/book-notes-the-mom-test-how-to-talk-to-customers/
can't agree more with @sands09! the shit is the best! that book changed my life. @robfitz is also lurking around...
I 100% agree that people saying they want something doesn't matter. But depending on the circumstances, there are a couple ways to still get validation without building anything. So, I just disagree with point #3.
If you don't have a product yet and the pain points can be solved by you manually doing work. Sell yourself first. Do work for your clients pre-product so that you know exactly what you'll need to build. That way you are getting money now while automating the service you provide, so you know what to serve the client. Does depend on you being able to do this.
Have people pledge some amount of money now for something later. Basically like a kickstarter. This can work for people that want additional features on the site etc. Basically have them put their money where their mouth is now. Even only contributing a penny is so much more telling than free that you'll get much better data.
If you are able to talk to them in person, collecting money upfront is a great way to do it again. Or if its more expensive, having someone write you a check and tell them they can give it to you when you deliver. Just puts them in the buying mindset and considering whether they would actually purchase or not.
Source: I've done all of these with great success at my previous company. Validation can save a ton of time on wasted building, but without getting people to pay, you are validating whether they might think about it, not if they'll buy.
Great tips!
Great answer. But no need to disagree. I think we agree here as your ideas would be tiny stuff in my words. Emphasis on tiny :-)
Is no. 2 just a landing page or do you put out more?
Landing page works if you are reaching out on mass. An email and a phone call with stripe ready works too.
Yep. Everyone will say they want something. The hard part is figuring out whether they will actually pay or not.
Thanks for sharing.
All I can say is if I like some web service and they ask: would you like a mobile app for this?
I will always say HELL YES. Everyone will because it's 0 commitment. Whether I will use it or not that depends... There is only win for me for voting yes.
Maybe the poll should be some kind of trade-off. Like would you rather use the web only for free or have web and mobile for a small fee?
Thanks for your Feedback. Yep, that might play into it also. Will remember that next time :-)
I hear your frustration buddy. It's painful after spending so much bloody time, only to find out no one uses it. I've been having a difficult time resisting building mobile apps, even though that's been asked multiple times (I make chrome extension). It's constantly a struggle to filter out feedback that's real vs just sound-good.
I like how InMotion (from YC) handles this. In their feature request form, they ask the feature first, and ask what you are trying to solve with this. All text box answer format.
I think one way to bridge the gap between money and feedback is to make it a little harder for users to answer. Have them write out answers such as when would you use it, why would you use it, and how you would use it. If people aren't willing enough to fill even that out, it probably is not much of a desire.
Thanks for the tip. I guess their approach works for them. My poll was on the other side of the spectrum and made it too easy to answer. So, yeah, in the next test I'll put in some hoops.
btw what chrome extension do you make and how do you monetize them?
This!!!!
Amazing post!
The best way to know if people will pay for your product is to see that they PAY for exactly the same service already. If money is exchanging hands then they want it.
I'd ask if my competitors have an app and are people using it? If so, go and make one, if not, stop and question why are there no (heavily used) apps in your domain?
I agree, thanks for sharing this. I plan to devour the book, “The Mom Test”, for this very reason.
Hey! Thank you for sharing about your experience.
What would you do differently?
I am trying to learn as much as I can from your experience :)
No polls. Maybe, next time I test with links to coming soon pages.
It was upfront price vs iap, so that is probably the next thing I will test with the same app. If that is still not working I might add almost annoying ads and see how that goes :-)
Ah using links to coming soon pages sounds like an interesting approach!
might be something we can try to (= learning from your experience :) )
Ahh good luck with the testing!
(Unfortunately, I am one of those that would almost prefer free with ads...)
Hmmm how many ads and what kind of ads do you tolerate before deleting the app?
I prefer ads which aren't personalized (= no personal information collected). One ad per level (predictable and thus I am not surprised is good). Depends on the kind of app though. Sometimes I pay for apps: For headspace for example (I tried the free version first). Found it useful => paid for it.
But for games etc, I don't feel like I can justify spending the money.
Sorry to hear, you are absolutely right.
There appears, to me, to be a weird social/behavioral barrier to paying for mobile apps. People will pay for to-do apps and habit trackers on the web but as soon as those are mobile apps the uptake seems to be almost bill.
For me, I'm very hesitant to pay for mobile apps because the Play Store insists on saving my payment details but I doubt that is a common objection. I'm just InfoSec paranoid.
Interesting observation. Could be because mobile apps have too many games, and people associate it with freebies.
Yep. I noticed similar things too, not only with mobile apps but with books and other stuff too. It's weird. On one hand, they don't pay even a buck for a mobile app and on the other spend 5$ for a coffee.
Out of curiosity, do they pay for trauma.chat?
No one has signed up for Trauma Chat. I've gotten positive feedback from my own medical team and friends. I've not marketed it because it's harder than I thought to talk about trauma and I don't want to be an ambulance chaser.
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