Ask HN: Can you get enough data from a smoke test web page?

Hey HN,

When looking to get customer validation on a new idea it seems a lot of people go down the route of web page smoke test.

Setting a page up explaining the proposed product features and giving customers the opportunity to pre register or buy. Then if you get a good response build out your MVP.

I have used this myself with mixed results and wonder what peoples thoughts are?

Do you think you can get a clear indicator on whether you are solving a problem from this method alone? Or do you need to build something as well?

All thoughts welcome.