
Ask HN: Story about a company using 404s to demonstrate customer demand? - myinitialsaretk
I have a distant recollection of hearing some big name company that had done this with a lot of success.<p>From what I recall, it may have been a travel company that would add a call to action link to some new area of business that would go to a 404 page.  Then they judged demand based on how many users click to that page and used that data to justify building $new_area_of_business<p>Does anyone know the story I&#x27;m thinking of or have any other successful examples of a similar technique being used?<p>Thanks!
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shanecleveland
I've done this on some small sites, and it doesn't have to be a 404. Though
that could work. I also do not recall the origin, but I definitely stole the
idea.

I tend to use a "call to action" – "Sign Up", "Register," etc. And then link
to a landing page with a "Coming soon ... " message. I have also had an option
to submit an email to get updates. So I could track both hits to the page and
compare to how many also submit an email.

I am not sure which is better. A 404 may detract from confidence of the site,
and it may also lead to a single user refreshing the page or visiting multiple
times, thereby skewing the results. Though, a landing page may also be
annoying for the user.

I do think it can be done in a way that can both test actual interest without
abusing the user.

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notpeter
I remember reading that the authors of Django framework (Lawrence Journal)
used some thing like this in the early days. Basically a 404s without a
referrer header but under another valid url were likely a case where someone
edited the url (think /list/export/csv -> list/export/json) and they used that
to demonstrate demand for a particular feature.

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myinitialsaretk
Thanks for the great other examples. For anyone else curious, I found the
original I was thinking of, it was Stephen Kaufer from TripAdvisor.

[https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/founder-stories-
tripadviso...](https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/founder-stories-tripadvisors-
kaufer-discusses-the-logic-behind-running-404-tests/)

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siquick
Mixcloud.com have done similar to gauge demand in new product features,
explained in this interview with the CTO

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtAIkEWebBA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtAIkEWebBA)

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jamestimmins
Bill Gross of Idea Lab has discussed doing this with whole businesses. The
example I heard him give was a website that allowed you to purchase cars
online.

