The Façade: Between a Landing Page and an MVP
We often discuss whether to start with landing page validation or MVPs. Some people like to validate everything with a landing page, others like to build an MVP and let the product speak for itself. I want to offer an example of going in-between... which I'll call the "façade".
TL;DR - I wouldn't recommend doing what I did and building out a façade. I'm sure it works better for some use cases, but I believe starting with a landing page and customer conversations will be a better use of your time.
Façade: A façade can refer to the front part of anything. It's often used figuratively, with implications of an imposing appearance concealing something inferior.
Fool me once, shame on you
Last time I built a product, I regretted spending so long making the functionality and design perfect. I didn't do enough validation through user interviews and marketing at the beginning. The project fizzled.
When it came time to start my next project, it STILL didn't feel right putting up a landing page and to get feedback on the idea alone. Advertising something I hadn't started to build felt dishonest. However, I didn't want to fall into the same trap twice...
"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —George Bush
So, I gave myself a rule. No functioning back end until I prove interest and build an audience. However, because I couldn't help it, I wanted to build a "demo" of my designs. I knew that visualizing a working customer experience helps me get excited. I thought I could cut my development time down to a month or so. More than a landing page, less than an MVP. Golden mean, like Aristotle says, right?
"Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency." — Aristotle
...or something like that.
Enter the facade
I built a website I could be proud of (openshare.ai) in 2-3 months less time than it would take to finish an MVP. For user input, I'm using Tally forms. Using Tally, which is awesome (no affiliate), I've been able to use custom css so it looks somewhat native on my site.
However, there are trade offs. By nature of being an iframe, it takes a few seconds to open on page-load and doesn't quite line up as I want. As someone who obsesses over UX, this hurts me deep, deep inside. Also, I haven't figured out whether I'll be able to correlate email conversions to a specific campaign in Google Analytics. For the quick development time however, its worth it.
Ads ads ads
It was a goal of mine to start advertising as soon as possible. I can improve the site, landing page, and value proposition as I go. Ironically, my landing page still isn't finished. But, the more performance data I have on the iterations, the more I can validate their impact and feel I'm making progress. I started buying ads and have been able to drive a 300+ people to the site over the past week.
So, how is it going?
Some positives and some negatives. From reviewing the interaction data, I've been able to glean some cool insights about which pages customers are visiting, where they are spending the most time, and which types of ad journeys are most effective. I wouldn't have this level of rich data from a landing page alone. I'll use this data to guide my backlog.
On the flip side, my main metric is still $$$ spent and visits per email conversion, which I could have done with a landing page alone. Also, customers may be getting distracted from all the pages and content, which I'll soon test by linking ads to the 'about' page directly. Lastly, I spent less time on a value proposition and landing/about page, which I have to do now anyway. I just moved the work from the beginning to now, which will be wasteful if the idea doesn't pan out.
Let's break it down
Was the façade effective? Let's break down the pros and cons.
Pros
- Early data on behavior: I can see how customers are engaging with pages on the site when they visit. It helps me understand the type of content that people are more interested in.
- Momentum: I have momentum knowing that the site is started, adding a back end wouldn't be too difficult.
- Clarity of design: Designs can become more complex once you start to implement them. Seeing the product come to life gave me more confidence in it.
Cons
- Extra effort before validation: The facade didn't end up differing much from my original designs. I could have stood up a landing page with the information I had when I first mapped out the idea.
- Distraction: Visitors may get distracted by the content versus focusing on a page with a clear value proposition. I don't have a way to prove this via data, though.
- Less focus on customer validation: Due to distracting myself with the site development, I wasn't focusing on my target customer's needs, the value proposition, or talking to people.
- Awkward UX: By not using a landing page platform and having a half baked front end with integrated forms, the site is neither a clean landing page or a streamlined MVP.
"Né carne né pesce" — translates to 'not meat not fish', an Italian idiom quote from a past colleague.
Closing thoughts
Stick to the conventional wisdom, start by talking to people and building a landing page. The cons outweigh the pros, I'm going to stop trying to make façade happen. It isn't clear to me whether people are more likely to be interested in the product due to being able to play around with it. I believe the facade added more effort than it was worth, and distracted me from focusing on the customer problem. You can always fast follow with a façade if your landing page data looks good.
P.S. Thanks for reading, if you liked the post I'd love you to follow my journey on twitter/X (link to account). I'm happy to follow back.
