Rolling your own Pre-Launch Page for free
spking.com
spking.com
I'm getting really, really tired of pages that promise a service and then say "Sign up and we'll let you know when it's ready!"
I know it's a technique for trying to validate an idea before you spend time, money and effort implementing it, but my reaction now is "Screw you!"
I've signed up several times and never once has it come to anything. I've spent time filling in boxes, clicking through pages, being promised the solution to a problem, and nothing has come of it.
My reaction now is "Fuck off and come back when you've done something."
Just a data point for the next time you consider wasting the time of everyone who might otherwise consider being a customer, instead of using yours to actually build something.
========
ADDED IN EDIT: Apologies that you've got in the way of one of my rants about one of my pet hates. Thank you for your calm and considered replies. I do wish you good fortune. And remember, fortune favors the lucky.
I'm sure many people who are slaving away to try to produce a service will love that they can produce these "teasers that waste time and have no content but harvest your email" pages.
I'm sure that this will be considered a valuable asset to help potential startups save time.
I just wanted to point out that in some quarters these sorts of pages create real animosity and may have a net negative effect.
Feeling my age today.
</rant>
I agree with him about using pre-launch pages extensively as 'market testing' when you're not sure about whether you're going to build the product or not. As someone pulling together a product and wanting to use a pre-launch page after commiting to the build and during face-to-face research, I found your article most useful.