Dry-wallet
Type
Specialization
Definition
A "dry wallet" is a method used to measure user interest and willingness to purchase a product or service without requiring an actual financial transaction. A simulated "buy now" experience is presented to users, usually in the form of an e-commerce checkout process or a pricing page, followed by a message indicating that the product or service is currently unavailable or out of stock.
Some benefits include:
- Low cost: Saves time and resources compared to fully developing the feature beforehand.
- Early validation: Helps avoid investing in features nobody wants.
- User insights: Gathers valuable feedback to improve the feature before launch.
Some limitations include:
- Doesn't test actual purchase behavior: Users might be more likely to engage with a free "mock" checkout than a real one.
- Limited usability testing: Doesn't provide insights into the actual features usability.
Example
Let's assume you're a music streaming service and want to test a new personalized playlist feature. Instead of building the entire feature first, you can run a dry wallet experiment:
- Design a mock checkout page: Create a page that looks and feels like a regular checkout flow, but instead of processing payments, it simply says "Coming Soon" or "Pre-registration" when users reach the final step.
- Promote the new feature: Announce the upcoming personalized playlist feature through email, social media, or within your app, directing users to the mock checkout page.
- Track user engagement: Monitor how many users interact with the mock checkout page, sign up for pre-registration, or provide feedback.
From this experiment you can learn:
- Interest level: The number of users interacting with the mock checkout indicates potential demand for the feature.
- Price sensitivity: Include different price points on the mock checkout to see which options resonate more with users.
- Feedback: Collect feedback from users through surveys or comments to understand their expectations and concerns.