Also called: Imposter Judo, Boomerang, Re-Label, Repackage
See also: Concierge, Pretend to Own, Wizard of Oz
Difficulty: Intermediate
Evidence strength
Relevant metrics: Acquisition, Activation, Customer feedback, Cost
Validates: Feasibility, Viability, Desirability
How: If competing products already exist, repackage them as your own as a simple way to gather quick feedback or ask customers to sign up and give feedback on a competitor's website as if it was your own.
Why: Why commit to expensive partnerships or spend time building a prototype when plenty already exist to test. Investigate whether repackaging a competing service in a new form will yield significant results.
This experiment is part of the Validation Patterns printed card deck
A collection of 60 product experiments that will validate your idea in a matter of days, not months. They are regularly used by product builders at companies like Google, Facebook, Dropbox, and Amazon.
Get your deck!Before the experiment
The first thing to do when planning any kind of test or experiment, is to figure out what you want to test. To make critical assumptions explicit, fill out an experiment sheet as you prepare your test. We created a sample sheet for you to get started. Download the Experiment Sheet.
Use what is already there
The Impersonator experiment suggests that if a similar idea to yours already exists, you should try to repackage that as your own as a simple way to gather quick feedback. This is especially effective when testing physical products or showing early-stage static mockups.
Skinning and posing an existing product as a new offer comes with the advantage that the existing product has known performance characteristics. Customers can have faith to put the product in the hands of test participants.
When testing desirability, the ability to test an actual selection and to purchase it in a retail environment is all that is required by the impersonator. Feasibility tests examining the properties and differentiation of the product comes later.
After the experiment
To make sure you move forward, it is a good idea to systematically record your the insights you learned and what actions or decisions follow. We created a sample Learning Sheet, that will help you capture insights in the process of turning your product ideas successful. Download the Learning Sheet.
Examples
Zappos
To test their business idea fast and cheap, Zappos initially purchased shoes from local shoe retailers as orders came in instead of investing in and stocking their own inventory.
Source: Is Your MVP Minimal Enough?
Tesla & Lotus Elise
When Tesla wanted to create a pure electric roadster in 2003, Tesla created a prototype of what the car would look like to convince potential buyers. The base for the prototype was a Lotus Elise, heavily modified and not functional. Still, with a relatively small investment, Tesla was able to show prospective buyers a close proxy to the final design.
Source: Lotus Position (Tesla)
Related plays
- Enterprise lean startup experiment examples by Moves the Needle
- Is Your MVP Minimal Enough? by Bobby Kilpatrick
- Pretotyping @ Work by Jeremy Clark