Module 1: Ideation & Validation
Testing Landing Pages & Commercial Intent
How to design smoke tests that measure actual purchasing intent rather than passive email signups.
Email waitlists are notoriously deceptive. An early prospect will gladly give you an email address to be polite, only to completely ignore your product launch months later.
Measuring “Skin in the Game”
Design your validation landing page to demand increasing tiers of commitment:
| Commitment Tier | Action | Validation Signal Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (Weak) | Free newsletter signup | Near Zero (Politeness only) |
| Tier 2 (Moderate) | 15-question detailed onboarding survey | Medium (Quantifies acute friction) |
| Tier 3 (Strong) | Booking a 30-min calendar workflow audit | High (Trades precious executive time) |
| Tier 4 (Definitive) | $50 refundable pre-order deposit | 100% (Real commercial intent) |
The Fake-Door Pricing Test
Include a transparent pricing table on your landing page:
- When the user clicks Buy Early Founder License ($199/yr), route them to a checkout step.
- If they click to pay, show a polite modal: “We are currently onboarding our initial pilot cohort in batches. Your card has NOT been charged. What is your primary bottleneck right now?”
- Track the conversion rate of visitors who actively entered card numbers or clicked purchase.
Continue to Module 2: Customer Discovery Interviews.
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