Sean: Mitch asks, how do you test the demand for your product or service before launching it? This is a really good question, especially for startups.

Erika: I used to do this back then and I did a pre-order. I think you guys all know what pre-order is. So you post about your product, you hype your product, tell them the benefits and for them to purchase your product, you offer them a little bit of a discounted price since it's a pre-order, before it gets launched.

Through that, at least, you don't have the product yet, you just order based on how many people would order your product or service through the pre-order. And then that's how you'll know if there's a demand for your product or none.

00:00:52

Sean: That's really good. Actually, that's one of the best ways to do it , because right then and there you have a working case study for you because there, they coughed up money. In pre-order, they actually pay you the money and you get the volume and you get to talk with them as well.

There is another way that follows the lean startup model. This is especially if you're going to be launching a software product or service. And that is going ahead and having a prototype and asking friends and family or your target market, your potential target market, how much are they willing to spend for such a service or such software for them to use it?

And the lean startup model really relies on what the author, Eric Ries, calls the fast feedback loop. This is a book you can actually buy The Lean Startup book. And the fast feedback loop is all about the MVP or what he calls the minimum viable product.

So if you're selling a titanium mug, for example, I have a titanium mug here. It's just filled up with water. Instead of paying and ordering 2000 units of this titanium mug, which costs a good amount of money, you just buy a hundred steel mugs. And then, tell people, what if this was titanium and this is that amount, would you still buy it? Something like that.

So you get that feedback and you get a good idea about how many people are willing to buy your product. With service, it would be the same. If I would do this for you or if I had the team that can do this for you at this amount, would you buy it? Getting that feedback and asking them why. Why would you buy it or why would you not buy it? That's going to help you tons. You just have to have the humility and the diligence to take note of the data. That's it.

Erika: Yeah, we also do that with our swimsuit designs. Sometimes if there's a new design coming up, we make them choose on Instagram stories, which one do you like better? And then if we get enough people who like this one and that's the time that we say, "okay, this design doesn't work. They like this one better, so let's release this one. Let's launch this one." Yeah, ask for feedback from your customers.

Sean: Yeah, perfect. That's A/B testing and really good stuff.

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