Pre‑Launch Search Experiments: 5 Fake‑Door Tests You Can Run in 7 Days to Capture Intent and First‑Dollar Signals

Treat this as a short, instrumented product experiment—not a marketing campaign. Pick one idea, pick one audience, and run no more than two parallel pages. Your goal is to collect behavior that indicates willingness to pay or real commitment, not vanity metrics.

Use a simple stack: a single‑purpose landing page (Carrd, Webflow, or a lightweight CMS), an email capture and thank‑you page, an optional microcheckout (Stripe Checkout or a faux payment flow), and an analytics pixel (GA4, Plausible, or a basic server log). Annotate every conversion with the same UTM and a source tag so you can compare channels and copy variants.

Brief: a product page with a single price card, a short 3–line value proposition, and a 'Preorder — $X' CTA wired to Stripe Checkout or a fake checkout that requires card details but returns a delayed 'we’re building' message. Keep price simple (one tier) and include scarcity language only if you can honor it.

Telemetry: record page_view, price_card_click, checkout_initiated, payment_method_submitted, and checkout_completed. Track payment method submitted separately from completed — a submitted card without fulfillment is a far stronger intent signal than an email alone.

Brief: offer a refundable token (e.g., $1 or $5 deposit) for 'priority onboarding' or 'early access' and explain refund policy clearly. The low dollar removes psychological friction but still asks for a real payment instrument.

Telemetry: capture deposit_initiated, deposit_submitted, email_verified, and refund_requested. A deposit that’s not refunded in the first week is a usable signal; refunds requested immediately indicate mismatch or poor messaging.

Brief: replace or pair the CTA with a required 4‑question intent survey that ends in an optional demo booking. Questions should estimate urgency, budget, and current workaround. Gate the demo booking behind a quick calendar action to separate curious signups from qualified prospects.

Telemetry: record survey_started, survey_completed (with answers), demo_scheduled, and no_show. Use the survey answers to score leads automatically; combine with UTM/source for channel-level performance.

Brief: on your main product or marketing page, add a 'Buy this feature' toggle or button for a new capability (painted door). Lead the CTA to a short purchase page or a vote+commitment flow where users can choose features and optionally add a refundable deposit.

Telemetry: track feature_click, feature_choice, commit_submitted, and feature_refund. Collect context—why they chose the feature—via a 1‑line required field to collect qualitative signals.