Using Asshole's Validation for a Product Customers Don't Know They Want/Need

I like this article. I like it's pragmatic approach. This is my first time doing validation first, dev second. However, real world validation can be more of a soft science than how it's summarized in an article.

@AlexGilleran https://www.indiehackers.com/@AlexGilleran/the-asshole-s-guide-to-product-validation-how-to-test-your-idea-with-a-decoy-sales-page-e49ee422ca

I've built a project management tool for myself that has saved me tons of time and more importantly saved me from tons of PM mistakes and headaches. The tool makes me quite happy and more productive. I think there are many project managers and developers that would love a tool like it. The problem is that PM tools (Jira, etc) are generally used with resentment and instead of looking for a tool like I've built, people look for just another PM tool which they will soon also hate in a few months time. It's sort of the faster horse/car problem. But I'm not inventing a new PM style/method, my tool actually compliments PM tools you already use. So in that case, I couldn't even say "Ditch Jira! Try Blah!"

Back to the validation story - I've been running FB ads, Google Ad Words, LinkedIn ads. I come across 2 main problems:

1. Users are not looking for "automobile", they are looking for "a better horse". So the keywords I'm buying are peripheral to my tools utility. I cannot easily advertise my tool as "automobile" but more "Dinglehopper for horses!" (What's a dinglehopper?)

2. The asshole approach is harder when you're trying to sell complicated or new-paradigm application which requires extensive UX/UI design progress in order to showcase it on your landing page. For example, I'm sure many users come to my landing page and expect to see a fancy voice-overed video of how my product works. For me to create that, I'd have to spend a great deal of time figuring out the UX/UI and I'd also be committing to a UX/UI that I'm not sure works down the road.

What I end up with is an app that has gotten an amount of interest that would make you say "not a good idea" - but the validation depends on landing page design, showcases, demos, good ad copy, etc. How can you know if your product is bad or if the marketing is bad?

Some Stats

Click through rates so far:

• Google 1.76%

• FB 1.58%

• LinkedIn 0.03% (and expensive!)

• 50 visitors to site.

• 3 people clicked "sign up" and submitted their email. Oddly, all leads were on the weekend. No weekday-leads.

• 6 people clicked "sign up" but did not submit their email.