Ask HN: Story about a company using 404s to demonstrate customer demand?

6 points by myinitialsaretk 8 years ago | 5 comments

I have a distant recollection of hearing some big name company that had done this with a lot of success.

From what I recall, it may have been a travel company that would add a call to action link to some new area of business that would go to a 404 page. Then they judged demand based on how many users click to that page and used that data to justify building $new_area_of_business

Does anyone know the story I'm thinking of or have any other successful examples of a similar technique being used?

Thanks!

shanecleveland 8 years ago |

I've done this on some small sites, and it doesn't have to be a 404. Though that could work. I also do not recall the origin, but I definitely stole the idea.

I tend to use a "call to action" – "Sign Up", "Register," etc. And then link to a landing page with a "Coming soon ... " message. I have also had an option to submit an email to get updates. So I could track both hits to the page and compare to how many also submit an email.

I am not sure which is better. A 404 may detract from confidence of the site, and it may also lead to a single user refreshing the page or visiting multiple times, thereby skewing the results. Though, a landing page may also be annoying for the user.

I do think it can be done in a way that can both test actual interest without abusing the user.

notpeter 8 years ago |

I remember reading that the authors of Django framework (Lawrence Journal) used some thing like this in the early days. Basically a 404s without a referrer header but under another valid url were likely a case where someone edited the url (think /list/export/csv -> list/export/json) and they used that to demonstrate demand for a particular feature.

myinitialsaretk 8 years ago |

Thanks for the great other examples. For anyone else curious, I found the original I was thinking of, it was Stephen Kaufer from TripAdvisor.

https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/22/founder-stories-tripadviso...

siquick 8 years ago |

Mixcloud.com have done similar to gauge demand in new product features, explained in this interview with the CTO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtAIkEWebBA

jamestimmins 8 years ago |

Bill Gross of Idea Lab has discussed doing this with whole businesses. The example I heard him give was a website that allowed you to purchase cars online.