Testing for a product that doesn't exist yet

[helgatheviking]

When throwing together a landing page for a test product that doesn't exist what do you do for testimonials and other confidence boosters? I mean the product doesn't exist yet, and isn't likely more than a general thought at this stage anyway... so how could there be a testimonial for it? And it's likely you've also not spent much building up your expert status. Atleast I can figure out how to make a proto/fake DVD cover or ebook. Am I putting the cart before the horse?

Also I read some posts by folks who like to test w/ an email capture test versus a fake order a la tim's PX method? Do you think that is better? If so, why?

Thanks all.

[Bring-it-on]

I guess the only thing you can get away with doing for testimonials is see what your friends and family think of it and paraphrase that? Eg "it is a beautiful design" or "I think its a great product" rather than "I'm really happy with it" which is reeeaaallly dodgy. I guess you're still suggesting a purchase with the first two though so it depends on where you sit with that kind of thing. I've decided not to do testimonials until I can get real ones but thats just me. I'm going to focus on getting a VA to blog themselves silly about how great my product is and go from there..

[liam75005]

I was facing the same issue as you a few months ago to do the testing. My muse is a gaming guidebook. (150 pages)

To get testimonials, I "recruited" gamers on a specialist forum, offering gaming gift vouchers for an online shop. I asked them to read a 20 pages sample I had prepared, which is a sample from the final book. They read it and answered questions about it (Good points / Points to improve). They agreed that this could be used for marketing the product.

Then I used some bits of the "good points" to serve as testimonials.

Maybe you can use a similar method for your product ?

[jon123]

Say you launch a test and receive some questions from potential customers about buying, but you don't actually have the ability to fulfill yet (and really won't unless there is a strong customer base, and at least 6 months time).

How do you tell the customer that/answer their questions?

More info:
The test is setup as if there is an actual business and product available, including a complete order page, as Tim suggests. I've taken no actual money/sales.

[helgatheviking]

OK. I guess it is not sooo dodgy (not too much for me anyway) to ask friends and family what they think of the idea and then use that. Still seems a step up from totally faking them myself. Or write a few test pages for an even more authentic review. Obviously, real testimonials can be gotten after there is a real product. Why am I letting minor issues like this get in my way!? Just how many times do i have to read the book to 'get it'? :)

As to your followup question Jon, I guess you could say the book is on pre-order b/c it is undergoing finally editing? backorder on an info book is laughable since you can't run out of an ebook! Or maybe you could say that it is limited and you are only selling 100 copies? scarcity does help sales. think the disney "vault". idk... i still need an idea. ugh...

[jon123]

Good call on the scarcity and going with a backorder, that idea will work well in my case. Thanks.

[Sunseeker]

Which site do you use to create the backorder page?

[kamakiri]

No testimonials are real. Write them yourselves. If you really need to rely on testimonials to sell your product, you are sunk any way. Are they good to have? They sure are, but not the normal crappily written crud you get from customers. They need to be well written cohesive statements, and that is not what you usually get.

You can see the ones I made up here http://gamebrain.us

Be careful that you do not single out the trees and ignore the forest. Testimonials are becoming as outdated as long copy sales letters, and the market is changing fast. Anyone can google, and if the only people talking about your product are the ones in your own testimonials, they will see that in a second. Might as well make them look good.

[AlexMoen]

My personal new test run of the testimonial is the video testimonial. Get someone who is easy to look at and doesn't seem like they're lying about your product or a horrible actor, and you're golden. Ask your customers or friends, and they'll be surprisingly willing to dish out a low-end 30 second video. Just don't make it look like a lame infomercial or it'll have the opposite effect.