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Travel Planning: How can we find users willing to subscribe to our marketplace service?
RG
RG
Ryan Gonzales, Director of Design with over 15 years' experience. answered:

Hey there! When I was building Partly Marketplace (an online aggregator and commerce platform for auto parts), we had the same general questions about acquisition. The problem with charging a subscription fee for tourist advice is that "Advice" is an on-demand type of product. Most users would activate your service and then go dormant after a vacation until their next trip. This would reduce the "value" users would see in becoming subscribers/customers. I would suggest sticking with the on-demand feel of Clarity for monetization.

To answer the big question of acquisition and where your customers will come from, that's a pretty broad question that has multiple answers.

Depending on your budget you can run targeted campaigns on Facebook to drive traffic. Since you're looking to mobilize travel bloggers, I would assume you have a few available to blog about your service, or perhaps you can share their articles to show off the experts your platform has. These are some pretty low-cost options. You should decide who your product is really for... Is it a younger generation of traveler where you're competing with Google? Or is it an older generation of traveler where you're competing with classic guides and research?

Once you know the answer, you'll be able to determine what's important to them and produce a service that fills their needs.

In short, your biggest opportunity is to reach out to your network of bloggers and get their support, since you'll need their expertise when the customers start to come.

If you want to chat about this or if you have any User Experience related questions, you should go ahead an schedule a call - I'd be more than happy to discuss this further.

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