

Ghetto Testing: Avoiding products nobody wants - failquicker
http://researchaccess.com/2010/05/field-of-dreams-or-field-of-morons-how-to-use-ghetto-testing-to-avoid-building-products-that-no-one-wants/

======
frossie
So, I'm confused. I can see that people clicking through AdWords allows you to
gauge interest. But having failed to find what they were actually looking for,
people actually stick around and fill surveys about it? Really? There must be
a giant selection effect in who decides to actually go through with it. I can
imagine it ending up being quite misleading.

~~~
10ren
If it's presented as "We're building this product - tell us what you want it
for" it would tend to select the people who are _really_ keen. That's the kind
you want to start with - but you're right, it is a subset, probably a very
small one. So maybe this is better for operationally getting started, rather
than measuring market size.

A related idea is to build less of the product, eg. the backend is run
manually (ie. you are the backend). I like this one better, because it seems
dishonest to me to say "buy our great app!" and then not have it. But I guess
you can word it as a request for interest, like the HospitalVille example.

Question: has Zyngna actually been successful with this technique? (I've only
heard of Farmville).

------
nhebb
tl;dr: Before developing a product, test the idea by creating a landing page
with a feedback mechanism (survey, email notification, newsletter, etc.) then
setup an AdWords account. It's a recycled idea that he has re-branded as
"Ghetto Testing".

What he leaves out is that this is also a good way to gauge the cost of
acquisition. I've seen several products developed that never advertise on
AdWords because they discovered after development that the keywords were too
expensive to bid on.

------
btmorex
Who came up with that name? It's terrible. I'm not offended, but I have to
say, I think of way worse things when I hear "ghetto testing".

------
mahmud
The old name for this was "market research".

------
LarrySDonald
Innovative? This is just another name for vaporware, launch a small ad
campaign, see how it goes, discard failures brutally. It is also incredible
offputting to customers (who actually aren't complete idiots and can remember
a brand). I'm sure anyone who has googled around for a solution to something
knows the feeling "We have a product that matches what you want to do
completely! Click here! Oh btw, by 'have' we mean 'don't have but will.
Perhaps". Yeah, next time you offer something real, there's a good possibility
may say "Suuure you do".

------
ptarjan
Asking users is one thing, but all out trusting them is another.

"If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses" --
Henry Ford

------
damoncali
In practice, this can be very expensive. If you need to pay a couple bucks a
click, you could be in for thousands of dollars before you get meaningful
data. It can also take a long time. You may as well build a demo and test
that.

This is a tactic better suited to free traffic, which makes it tough to pull
off from a cold start.

------
mrmg
I'm guessing this was made by someone who has never been to the ghetto.

------
lancebailey
Ghetto Testing? (pause for effect) Really!!

