404 Test / Fake Door Test
Validate product ideas without building: the power of "Fake Advertising"
Using "fake advertising" or a 404 page to test user interest in a feature or product before fully developing it. It explains the process of implementing fake advertising and highlights its benefits, including speed, efficiency, flexibility, and the ability to gather concrete data.
GOAL
Validate product ideas without building them through the use of "fake advertising" techniques.
TOPIC:
DIFFICULTY:
Medium
In the dynamic world of product development, speed and efficiency are essential. Innovative ideas often arise from intuitions and hypotheses, but before investing valuable time and resources in their realisation, it is crucial to validate them. An effective and cost-effective method for doing this is "fake advertising."
How does "fake advertising" work?
Instead of building a complete and functional product, a simple landing page simulates its existence. This page should include a captivating description of the functionality or product, explanatory images or videos, and a button or link that redirects users to a "coming soon" page or a subscription form.
How to implement "fake advertising"
Define the hypotheses: Clearly define what you want to test and what questions you want to answer.
Create a landing page: Use an eye-catching design, persuasive copy, and a clear call to action.
Track metrics: Click-through rate, conversions, time spent on the page.
Analyse the results: Assess whether the idea has generated interest and decide whether to proceed with development.
Test different variations: Optimize the landing page to improve results.
Benefits of "fake advertising":
This method offers several advantages:
Speed: It allows you to obtain results quickly without facing lengthy development processes.
Efficiency: It requires minimal investments in development or complex integrations.
Flexibility: It can be adapted to different types of products or functionalities, from websites to apps.
Concrete data: It provides concrete information on user behaviour based on actions such as clicks and conversions, not on opinions or surveys.
In addition, it allows you to identify weak ideas early on, avoiding unnecessary investments; provides concrete data to support development decisions; optimises the product and accelerates time to market.
Success examples:
Polyvore: to test the "clothing sales" feature, Polyvore created a landing page with a fake clothing brand and handled payment and shipping in-house.
Tesla: to validate the demand for its first car, Tesla asked customers to make a $5,000 deposit to secure a build date, even before production started.
