🚀 How to Secure Pilot Users with 3 Super Creative Strategies...
Elvorne Palmer
3 Smart Strategies for Strategic User Pilot Programs
And make some money at the same time…
One of the most vital ingredients for success is getting real and honest feedback on your product. It’s also something we don’t tend to think of, so you reach that awkward point beyond friends and family, where you’re kinda begging strangers to please just check it out…
But it doesn’t need to be that way or cost a lot of cash. You can get really strategic about your user pilot programme.
How to get strategic about getting pilot users
- Use the forums, but be strategic – Today we marvel at productivity software Notion’s huge online communities. But the story goes that Notion actually got started by founder Ivan Zhoe who would hang out in productivity subreddits (on Reddit) to see what people are complaining about, then quickly build a rudimentary tool to address that concern and offer it to the people who commented on that topic to test out. When it was time to build, he quickly put the best ones together and presto – they even already had a Reddit following who was ready to buy.
- The test ads method – A bit riskier, but apparently before he started BestOnlineTrafficSchool, founder Roney Yo created a website that just stated his idea’s Value Proposition, with a signup form (no product to buy yet). He ran some Google Ads to test people’s responses, then created surveys for people in the database before building his product. It’s smart because you kinda sort your marketing before you even build. And the idea is popular enough that some guys swear by it – there’s a YouTube vid series that promises to show you step-by-step, right here.
- Sell as a service first – Our Gold Idea is to not go directly to SaaS but offer it as a service first. Custom build a product on the go to solve a specific problem for a business, basically doing it as a consultant. It’s smart because 1) you can charge a lot more per user for a service (and start making a bit of cash) and 2) you get open, direct and one-on-one feedback from actual real-world clients, helping you refine that product idea until it’s ready to go full SaaS. The said client is literally giving you the blueprint to build your product exactly to their needs. Once it works, copypasta and SAAS you go.
How do you source pilot users? Hit reply and tell us so we can commend and praise you and your idea in front of everyone, like you deserve…