Pre-orders VS waitlists? How do you validate?
Hey, I'm wondering what the IndieHackers community think of different methods of validating ideas (ie. early validation).
As I see it, there are a few 2 main ways people gauge initial interest —
Waitlists 📝
Waitlists seem like the most common method of pre-product validation and usually involve a simple email capture form, along the lines of "subscribe to be kept in the loop".
This seems popular because of how easy it is (for you and for people to sign up), but I think there is probably a lot of noise and not much signal (people signing up with no intention of becoming a customer)
Pre-orders 🤑
Rather than a simple form, you get your customers to pre-purchase your product (usually at a sweet discount or with an extended free period etc.
This method likely provides a lot more signal, with less noise (because now people have to actually buy something — they probably won't unless they actually want what you've made). However, it also seems a lot trickier to convince potential customers to pre-order (especially when you're pre-product).
Others? 🤔
I'm sure there are other methods that I haven't thought of. What are they?
What do you all think? I'm trying to gather some initial validation for a new SaaS I'm launching, jobly.so, and so far I've gone with the pre-ordering route. It's still too early to have any good insights, but I was curious about what the IH community thinks, and what method you used to validate your idea/MVP/product.
Cheers,
Pre-order seems an odd fit for a Sass product (not that I've ever tried it, so you never know!). Strikes me as a very high bar.
The bigger problem though is you're missing out on leads (which I think is a fine measure of validation). People don't just hand over their email for the hell of it, and you have the option to ask some further qualifying questions.
More leads -- more people you can talk to and get actual feedback.
More leads -- more opportunity to find out where your prospects are coming from.
More leads -- more people to sell to when you're ready.
More leads -- more people to share and promote you.
Other advice is really make the effort to be clear on what you're selling and where the value is. Think of your landing page as a filter -- one that allows people to self select if your product is right for them. You may loose a lot, but if you did a good job, the ones that pass will be looking for exactly what you're offering.
Ex: smallandroidphone.com << counter intuitive I know, but trust me, quality over quantity.
... And, you still have the option to ask for pre-payment once you get on the phone with them.
Hey good points Ben, I think the balance between leads/validation will be different for everyone, which is one of the reasons I was interested to hear from the community.
I can see what you're saying about leads too — any lead is some sort of signal, which is better than nothing. And then it gives your something to dig into.
I hadn't been thinking of it like that, thanks for your response.