Dien Rice
June 25, 2014, 01:02 AM
Hi,
In old-school marketing lingo, the best way to test a product is to do a "dry test" - that is, to offer the product for sale, before you've even created it!
Many "old-school" marketers used to do this. They'd run an ad for an info-product (for example), and take orders. If there were enough orders to make it worthwhile, they'd create the product. If not, they'd refund the money (or not cash the checks).
However, laws came in that then made this illegal. As Denny Hatch (*) writes...
"The FTC has always disallowed dry tests—sending out an offer for a product that does not exist—because you're prohibited from offering a product or service that you cannot fulfill within 30 days. Dry tests are okay if it's clearly spelled out in the mailing that the product does not exist. But that destroys the validity of the test mailing, because it will have to be changed if the test is successful, and the product is created."
However, crowdfunding websites (like Kickstarter and Indiegogo) are kind of like dry testing! I guess they're legal because it is clear to everyone that the product does not exist, so there is no risk of deception.
Now, one guy has started a "Kickstarter-like" site for books! The idea is, you can put your book idea online... and see if people will "buy" it! (The site calls them "preorders"...)
If anyone's interested in it, you can read more about it here...
http://vr-zone.com/articles/kickstarter-publishing-industry/77088.html
And here is the site itself...
https://publishizer.com
If you try this out, let us know! (It'd be interesting, plus we can pre-order it, too...) :)
Best wishes,
Dien
(*) Two great articles by Denny Hatch on dry testing are these ones...
In Praise of Dry Testing (http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/in-praise-dry-testing-28838#)
The Art and Science of the Dry Test (http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/the-art-science-dry-test-direct-marketing#)
In old-school marketing lingo, the best way to test a product is to do a "dry test" - that is, to offer the product for sale, before you've even created it!
Many "old-school" marketers used to do this. They'd run an ad for an info-product (for example), and take orders. If there were enough orders to make it worthwhile, they'd create the product. If not, they'd refund the money (or not cash the checks).
However, laws came in that then made this illegal. As Denny Hatch (*) writes...
"The FTC has always disallowed dry tests—sending out an offer for a product that does not exist—because you're prohibited from offering a product or service that you cannot fulfill within 30 days. Dry tests are okay if it's clearly spelled out in the mailing that the product does not exist. But that destroys the validity of the test mailing, because it will have to be changed if the test is successful, and the product is created."
However, crowdfunding websites (like Kickstarter and Indiegogo) are kind of like dry testing! I guess they're legal because it is clear to everyone that the product does not exist, so there is no risk of deception.
Now, one guy has started a "Kickstarter-like" site for books! The idea is, you can put your book idea online... and see if people will "buy" it! (The site calls them "preorders"...)
If anyone's interested in it, you can read more about it here...
http://vr-zone.com/articles/kickstarter-publishing-industry/77088.html
And here is the site itself...
https://publishizer.com
If you try this out, let us know! (It'd be interesting, plus we can pre-order it, too...) :)
Best wishes,
Dien
(*) Two great articles by Denny Hatch on dry testing are these ones...
In Praise of Dry Testing (http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/in-praise-dry-testing-28838#)
The Art and Science of the Dry Test (http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/the-art-science-dry-test-direct-marketing#)
