MVP Validation
Hi indie Hackers! I have some questions about a new MVP that I'm currently in the early stages of validation.
This is my second go at creating an online business, and I learned a lot after my last experience.. Namely the importance of finding out if people are willing enough to use my service by launching a really basic landing page/MVP to gauge interest. basically using the same approach that Buffer took by building out a basic landing page + signup form, and the signup form is essentially just collecting emails. (See https://buffer.com/resources/idea-to-paying-customers-in-7-weeks-how-we-did-it for background!).
Anyhow, it has been only one day since I launched the MVP and I am already getting a nice response in terms of people signing up after going down the main funnel from the landing page. My question is this -- what is a good metric to use to determine if it is indeed validated? It is pretty easy to see click rates with the ads that I set up in addition to some Google Analytics goals and events. I am wondering if I should just go head first into development or should I wait longer to determine if that is the right path. Thanks for any insight :)
Hi, can you post your landingpage to take a look?
Hey there, the product is now launched so feel free to check it out :)
https://www.accountbalance.io/
Hey there - I will when the full functional product is ready for launch! Thanks so much for asking :)
Good on you for validating early on!
Where are you running ads?
What product is this for?
If it’s in the B2B space, then you could try to get them to pay some amount for early access. That is true validation.
Not always necessary though. @robwalling had about 11 people who said they’d pay him when he and @derrickreimer started Drip.
I’d say if your response rate is good and the people opting in are in your target audience and not just the types curious about your progress, then you could take that as validation.
Otherwise, pick a number.
PS, make sure you email those customers. You don’t want them to forget who you are.
Thanks so much for the awesome comment and advice :)
I'm currently running ads on Google and Facebook. I definitely learned the value of analytics at my last couple of dev jobs, and it's been really helpful to see some real numbers.
The product is a basic personal finance tool that I think pretty much everyone with a phone and bank account could benefit from.
So far the response rate is awesome.. After a few days I will probably update the landing page funnel to include a pricing page to see if people will still click through that to sign up, and that way I can play around with some pricing models. But so far, it is cool to see that people are at least taking the time to sign up.
And yeah.. will definitely be emailing each customer. Thanks again for the feedback and really looking forward to properly launching it here once it is done.
you could try talking to the folks who have expressed interest and see if they would be willing to pay? : )
Absolutely! That is definitely going to be the net step. Perhaps after this step I will set up an intermediary pricing page to see if people will agree to pay before signing up. Beyond that I'll definitely be reaching out to each person who signed up.