Don't spend on promotion until someone has paid you at the price you plan to charge.
Fifty free testers can't tell you that. Say you've put your product in front of 50 people and the feedback is warm. They liked the idea, a few suggested features, two said they'd tell their friends. It feels like proof.
It isn't, because nobody was asked to pay, and praise costs nothing to give. What you have is fifty opinions and no conversion figure. The next decision usually gets built on them anyway: a promotion budget, a longer free trial, a hire to handle the demand. If the launch then goes quiet, you can't tell whether the product, the timing or the price was the problem, because the price was never tested.
Here is the other version. A founder messages three of the testers: "I'm planning to charge £40 a month. Can I send you an invoice for the first one?" One says yes and asks whether it works with their accounting software. One says it's lovely but they'd rather wait until next quarter. One doesn't reply. That's three answers where fifty comments gave none, and the founder holds the promotion budget back and puts the same question to twenty more people.
A price isn't the only test. A deposit says more, because someone has put money down for something that doesn't exist yet. So does an introduction to the person who signs things off, or a willingness to put up with the hassle of switching from what they use now. Praise is warm and general. Buying interest is more awkward and more specific, like someone asking whether you can deliver by Friday.
Run your own test through this
Five questions, in the same Yes or No format as the fast screen on the sheets. Answer them about your own testers, honestly, before you spend anything. Nothing is saved or sent.
- Has anyone paid you, or put a deposit down, at the price you plan to charge?
- Has anyone agreed to the price you plan to charge?
- Has anyone asked you something specific, such as when you can deliver or how it works with what they use now?
- Can you name the people who would buy it, and not only describe them?
- Is your promotion budget still unspent?
0 of 5 answered
This is a short version made for this post. The sheets work the same way, with more questions and a score. If you're about to put money into a first launch in a new market, the second question on the fast screen of the Expansion Evaluation asks the same thing in different words: do you have evidence of demand?
This is an illustrative case, not a single real company.