Loading...
Answers
MenuCan someone help us asses our product, datacusp.com?
Answers


The site seems to be good. Let's discuss more over a call.


At this stage, my recommendation would be to focus on 2 things: 1. getting to your first $1 as fast as possible, and 2. understanding the language of the users that are convinced enough to pay you at least $1.
Talk is cheap, and (speaking from experience) directly asking people whether they'd pay for something you made is one of the most misleading (and easiest) user research mistakes you can make.
Step 1: Create a pathway to facilitate receiving your first $1 - create a pricing package/tier for your product, and a way to make sure people are aware of it when visiting your website, or returning to use the product. Like literally, stick a price tag on your product, and see who bites - you can change it at any time, and remember that both positive and negative feedback around that price means that *people actually care*. This is a great result - engage deeply with the haters, they often have even more to tell you than the contented fans.
Step 2: Once the payment pathway is built, track how many people are making it through to the end, i.e. actually paying you. It's ok, if that number is 0 - keep tweaking your pathway until you get to 1+.
Step 3: Talk to the people who pay - like, *really* talk to them. Call them up, even make the effort to visit them in person. Understand their needs, how they solved for those needs before your product came along, the specific language they use to describe your product, and why they stopped using it (this will inevitably happen).
Step 4: Use this knowledge to establish and widen your customer acquisition channels - the language they use should be reflected in your marketing copy, the channels you use to acquire them should be reflective of where they go to find solutions for the problem(s) your product solves, and you should prioritize in the short term fixing/improving the things that caused those early paying customers to leave.
This formula doesn't work forever - it's a kickstarter iterative process for pre-revenue products, that helps you establish the main signal of fit between what the market demands, and what your product provides. Establish that first signal, then widen the bandwidth =)
I hope that's helpful! I'm happy to chat if you have additional questions. ~Jason
Definitely, set up a call with me. What you have looks very interesting. Do you have a pitch deck? How much have you invested? Any subscribers for launch?
Related Questions
-
Is having "HOME" button in navigation menu necessary if I have a clickable logo? What makes most sense from UX POV?
We have been collecting usage data on the home button from about 750 websites we manage across North America in an effort to try to determine if it is necessary or not. While each website is different, and much of the data is statistically insignificant, we have started to operate with a few assumptions. 1.) Most users, particularly younger users, recognize the logo as a way to get to the home page. 2.) Websites without home buttons seem to get a comparable amount of traffic to the home page as those that do not. We don't see a significant difference between having a home button or not. 3.) Websites without a home button often will see an increase in direct traffic from returning users during a session indicating that users who do not know the logo is a route to the home page will instead clear the address bar back to the root domain to get back home. Based on our research, we have decided to omit the home button in most instances. Although when it is present, it is often used, most users seem to understand how to get to the home page regardless of the inclusion of a home button. With the complexity of modern websites, we are usually pressed for space in the header and can better use the real estate that would be dedicated to the home button for other UI elements. That said, if the audience for our website skews older, we will still include the home button. Our research has indicated older users are less familiar with the concept of the logo being a home button.
-
How should the dynamic between a ux designer and a developer who are working together look like?
It depends a lot of in the skill sets and experience of both people but in most cases the ux designer should be controlling the developer pretty heavily in order to make sure his ideas come through properly. The UX designer may just need to work on his approach so people don't feel bossed around and more like they are working together. In an ideal world, there would be a project manager who makes sure everything is communicated well and keeps the dynamic feeling great.
-
What exit strategies do angel investors want/prefer for a service business?
Keep in mind that investors invest for returns. Telling a prospective investor that you want his or her money to grow your business but don't plan on ever generating a liquidation event that pays him or her a dividend is not likely going to work; angel or not. You may be better served with debt financing where returns are generated in the form of interest payments not equity value growth. BUT, if equity financing is the plan, you're going to want to develop a strategic exit plan right from the start. That means identifying prospective buyers, strategic channels etc and characterizing the value drivers for each right up front. You'll find prospective buyers come in a number of forms; competitors, bigger versions of you, strategic partners, private equity, etc. Each will value your business in different amounts for for different reasons. Understanding this is vitally important for you to navigate to securing the right money, from the right sources, with the most favorable terms. Once you've qualified and quantified each of them, then determine what (specifically) you're going to need to do to align your business with those prospective buyers generating the highest returns. This will drive your business model and go to market strategy and define your 'use of funds' decisions. This in turn result in a better, more valuable business whether you exit or not. Do it this way and you'll have no trouble raising money from multiple sources. You can learn more about the advantage of starting with a Strategic Exit plan here: http://www.zerolimitsventures.com/cadredc Good luck. Steve
-
What's your opinion on using something like usertesting.com vs. real time usability testing (online and offline)?
UserTesting can be instructive in terms of understanding whether people understand your copy, CTAs, and intended flows but generally, I've found the quality of their panels to be pretty low. You're almost always getting people who are not your actual users, so the feedback can only be generally applied as above. I find whatever web analytics package or packages you're using are generally able to provide much better insights. I also really do believe in *real* user panels. Buying pizza or offering small financial incentives to real users to click through new flows where they are talking out loud or answering specific questions is going to give far more actionable insights than anything else. What I like to do is take my best guesses as to what's not working or what I'm looking to improve and then discover/validate via real in-person customer panels. Happy to talk through this in more detail with you in a call.
-
I have a great idea for a mobile app. If I can fund the prototype then how do I seek investors?
A prototype will not get you an investor, to be honest. This is just a fallacy. If you can fund the prototype, launch it in the market, get some traction from users. See if your mobile app resonates with your users. You need to track whether your app is able to retain those users so that they keep coming back to it. If you have a good amount of retention with the first few set of users (100 or 1,000), that's a good pitch to take to an investor. Investors are not looking at ideas, they're looking at businesses that can get, retain and engage a customer.