3 ms·

Please review my startup

15 points by fretlessjazz 16y ago

thecombjelly 16y ago
I like the design and feel of the site. I also like the pricing model. It is really easy to see what you get for what price. I don't think I would personally buy it because my brain does fine at the moment. I usually figure that if an idea is important enough, I'll read about it in my email enough to think about whether I should do it. I do however think this is a good way to show to your customers that you care and are welcoming feedback. Keep at it, I think it will do good.
alainc 16y ago
It might work well for those who have no vision for their own sites. Based on what I read, that's a large population of current sites.
- drusenko 16y ago
  talking with your customers is one of the most important things you can do, vision or not
betterlabs 16y ago
As you have agreed to in the comments, there are already a few competitors in this space and some of them have been there for a long time. I like your pricing model but I am wondering if that alone would be enough to win against the competition. The core idea is small enough that I can't imagine how different you can get. Have you thought of a customer acquisition strategy that would give you an unfair advantage?
p3ll0n 16y ago
I like the idea of 'ready made' customer feedback platforms with analytics but I still sense the hardest problem is left unanswered ... how do I get my customers to participate in the customer feedback process? And to do so with integrity? Kluster (http://www.kluster.com http://www.kluster.com) took a stab at this game by turning branding/marketing processes into social games, not sure where they are at today with those initial products but that did seem to garner a lot of attention early on.
- chrischen 16y ago
  kissinsights.com makes it really easy to participate. They also integrate it into the site, which is something you (OP) should consider.
barmstrong 16y ago
Nice work, congrats on getting it out there. First question: What are the advantages of using this over uservoice.com? They have a huge lead so I think you're gonna have to be a LOT better in some way if you want to catch up. Would love to see you highlight this difference on the homepage if you have a good one. Also, this may just be me but the pricing page feels overwhelming and I'm not a big fan of ala carte pricing in general. Would prefer to see just 3-4 plans based on volume. But I noticed someone else here said the opposite, so this may just be me.
- thecombjelly 16y ago
  > I think that you're gonna have to be a LOT better in some way Or maybe just a lot different, create/discover a new niche in this area. Or, as many people preach, ignore your competitors.
aymeric 16y ago
I am a user of uservoice.com. How do you differentiate from your competitors?
mshafrir 16y ago
On the pricing page, I would make each 'feature' button area clickable to activate the button. As of now you have to click on the checkbox or the text label.
citizenterminal 16y ago
When I tried to view the demo feedback site, I kept getting the following dialog: This web site needs a different Google Maps API key. A new key can be generated at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/ http://code.google.com/apis/maps/.
- fretlessjazz 16y ago
  Gah! Sorry about that; fixing now.
eli_s 16y ago
Seems like a reasonable idea. $19/month is very high for what the product does though. Any comparison to what your competitors are charging? Seems like more of a $5/month type idea.
- fretlessjazz 16y ago
  Thanks for the comments. My competitors (uservoice.com, ideascale.com, and a few others) charge a similar base fee, but they both have a tier-based pricing structure. I'm shooting for more of an a-la-carte model that lets my customers choose which features they want. If, after a few months or so, I find that my pricing is too high, it's a lot easier to lower prices than raise them:). Thanks again!
  - weego 16y ago
    You will only get 1 shot at making a good impression with a lot of potential customers. And not 1 shot per visit, 1 shot from launch to the point where you are a big enough name to force people who didn't like their impression to change their minds. I personally wouldn't be so cavalier sounding about something as critical as pricing, but the best of luck to you.
pbiggar 16y ago
To be honest, I have no idea what it does from looking at the homepage. From the other comments here it seems to be similar to uservoice. That wouldn't have been my first guess.
- bryanh 16y ago
  I completely agree with the above. Idea and Feedback management solutions. Who gives who feedback and ideas? On what? Too vague for me. Give me a hook that explains everything. Why not something like "Your business can collect customer ideas, suggestions and feedback."
  - coryl 16y ago
    Same thing, I was confused as to what the product was. I clicked demo, and was furthered confused. Can you fit a description of your product in one sentence somewhere on the landing page?
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
dpcan 16y ago
Whoa. Your pricing is way out of whack. As soon as I hit the page, every good thought I had about your service went down the tubes. It looks like you'll nickel and dime me around every corner. It's crazy complicated. Not to mention it seems expensive. In my opinion, it should be $9 per month and you just get it all, done deal. SECOND... Are you eating your own dog food here? Why couldn't I find your feedback site for your site?
- paraschopra 16y ago
  Plus things like Geolocation (which cost $10) don't add a ton of value. I'd recommend that he should get the pricing right before going ahead. First, the pricing page is surely going to scare away people. Even if they look into it they are going to think you are fleecing them. Why charge $5/mo for SSL, for example?
Alleyfield 16y ago
Selecting the features seems complex and very alienating for less geeky customers. "Idea Tagging" Okay, the average user has no idea whatsoever of what you're trying to sell. He clicks for more information. "Allow your users to tag ideas. Top tags are optionally displayed in a tag cloud widget you can drop into your layout." Now there's more questions than answers. I'd suggest that you'd keep in mind these two valid concepts: - Design for people who don't read http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062.... - You can't tell people anything http://habitatchronicles.com/2004/04/you-cant-tell-people-anything/ http://habitatchronicles.com/2004/04/you-cant-tell-people-an...
FreeRadical 16y ago
The demo site formatting messes up in IE7.
jasonkester 16y ago
I couldn't find your demo/feedback site link, and it wasn't until I got back here to complain that I saw that you do actually have one. Went back to the site and still it took 30 seconds of hunting (and another minute to notice the one up top in the little bubble). Nobody off the street will give you that much time. I'd make it as big a priority on the homepage as "sign up". And speaking of which, the biggest glaring issue with your site is that the "Support" link doesn't go to one of your own feedback sites. Why are you not using your own product? As a potential customer, the immediate answer that springs to mind is "because it's not good enough", and that's the last you'll see of me.
jasonkester 16y ago
The site doesn't do a very good job of telling me what it does. After scanning for several seconds, I'm now aware that I can "Listen, react and retain". None of those are things I need to do right now, so away I click... Now if you'd started off with saying something about the fact that you're for businesses and that you do customer feedback (instead of sort of whispering it up top), then we'd be getting somewhere. You see, my website might actually need to listen, react and retain stuff. So yeah, it's pretty, and it gets a message across. Unfortunately the message it gets across is not parseable without some forknowledge of what your site does. Here's a quick counterexample from a site I'm building right now: http://www.fairtutor.com/ http://www.fairtutor.com/ Give that link 5 seconds, then come back here and let us know if you can tell what the site does.
- guiseppecalzone 16y ago
  Great point. This is a really interesting startup and super, super clear about what it does. I couldn't help but think about this idea -- when I was in south america and paying less than a third of the price for private tutors. Good hunting! Looking forward to your launch.
chrisbuchino 16y ago
I like the design but don't really get the concept other than providing feedback and others do this already, and cheaper. Idea.informer.com is completely free and uservoice.com is cheaper. Need to get either explain features better or just simplify pricing altogether.

15 points by fretlessjazz 16y ago

I like the design and feel of the site. I also like the pricing model. It is really easy to see what you get for what price. I don't think I would personally buy it because my brain does fine at the moment. I usually figure that if an idea is important enough, I'll read about it in my email enough to think about whether I should do it. I do however think this is a good way to show to your customers that you care and are welcoming feedback. Keep at it, I think it will do good.

alainc 16y ago

It might work well for those who have no vision for their own sites. Based on what I read, that's a large population of current sites.

drusenko 16y ago
talking with your customers is one of the most important things you can do, vision or not

betterlabs 16y ago

As you have agreed to in the comments, there are already a few competitors in this space and some of them have been there for a long time. I like your pricing model but I am wondering if that alone would be enough to win against the competition. The core idea is small enough that I can't imagine how different you can get. Have you thought of a customer acquisition strategy that would give you an unfair advantage?

p3ll0n 16y ago

I like the idea of 'ready made' customer feedback platforms with analytics but I still sense the hardest problem is left unanswered ... how do I get my customers to participate in the customer feedback process? And to do so with integrity? Kluster (http://www.kluster.com http://www.kluster.com) took a stab at this game by turning branding/marketing processes into social games, not sure where they are at today with those initial products but that did seem to garner a lot of attention early on.

chrischen 16y ago
kissinsights.com makes it really easy to participate. They also integrate it into the site, which is something you (OP) should consider.

barmstrong 16y ago

Nice work, congrats on getting it out there. First question: What are the advantages of using this over uservoice.com? They have a huge lead so I think you're gonna have to be a LOT better in some way if you want to catch up. Would love to see you highlight this difference on the homepage if you have a good one. Also, this may just be me but the pricing page feels overwhelming and I'm not a big fan of ala carte pricing in general. Would prefer to see just 3-4 plans based on volume. But I noticed someone else here said the opposite, so this may just be me.

thecombjelly 16y ago
> I think that you're gonna have to be a LOT better in some way Or maybe just a lot different, create/discover a new niche in this area. Or, as many people preach, ignore your competitors.

aymeric 16y ago

I am a user of uservoice.com. How do you differentiate from your competitors?

mshafrir 16y ago

On the pricing page, I would make each 'feature' button area clickable to activate the button. As of now you have to click on the checkbox or the text label.

citizenterminal 16y ago

When I tried to view the demo feedback site, I kept getting the following dialog: This web site needs a different Google Maps API key. A new key can be generated at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/ http://code.google.com/apis/maps/.

fretlessjazz 16y ago
Gah! Sorry about that; fixing now.

eli_s 16y ago

Seems like a reasonable idea. $19/month is very high for what the product does though. Any comparison to what your competitors are charging? Seems like more of a $5/month type idea.

fretlessjazz 16y ago
Thanks for the comments. My competitors (uservoice.com, ideascale.com, and a few others) charge a similar base fee, but they both have a tier-based pricing structure. I'm shooting for more of an a-la-carte model that lets my customers choose which features they want. If, after a few months or so, I find that my pricing is too high, it's a lot easier to lower prices than raise them:). Thanks again!
- weego 16y ago
  You will only get 1 shot at making a good impression with a lot of potential customers. And not 1 shot per visit, 1 shot from launch to the point where you are a big enough name to force people who didn't like their impression to change their minds. I personally wouldn't be so cavalier sounding about something as critical as pricing, but the best of luck to you.

pbiggar 16y ago

To be honest, I have no idea what it does from looking at the homepage. From the other comments here it seems to be similar to uservoice. That wouldn't have been my first guess.

bryanh 16y ago
I completely agree with the above. Idea and Feedback management solutions. Who gives who feedback and ideas? On what? Too vague for me. Give me a hook that explains everything. Why not something like "Your business can collect customer ideas, suggestions and feedback."
- coryl 16y ago
  Same thing, I was confused as to what the product was. I clicked demo, and was furthered confused. Can you fit a description of your product in one sentence somewhere on the landing page?

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

dpcan 16y ago

Whoa. Your pricing is way out of whack. As soon as I hit the page, every good thought I had about your service went down the tubes. It looks like you'll nickel and dime me around every corner. It's crazy complicated. Not to mention it seems expensive. In my opinion, it should be $9 per month and you just get it all, done deal. SECOND... Are you eating your own dog food here? Why couldn't I find your feedback site for your site?

paraschopra 16y ago
Plus things like Geolocation (which cost $10) don't add a ton of value. I'd recommend that he should get the pricing right before going ahead. First, the pricing page is surely going to scare away people. Even if they look into it they are going to think you are fleecing them. Why charge $5/mo for SSL, for example?

Alleyfield 16y ago

Selecting the features seems complex and very alienating for less geeky customers. "Idea Tagging" Okay, the average user has no idea whatsoever of what you're trying to sell. He clicks for more information. "Allow your users to tag ideas. Top tags are optionally displayed in a tag cloud widget you can drop into your layout." Now there's more questions than answers. I'd suggest that you'd keep in mind these two valid concepts: - Design for people who don't read http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062.... - You can't tell people anything http://habitatchronicles.com/2004/04/you-cant-tell-people-anything/ http://habitatchronicles.com/2004/04/you-cant-tell-people-an...

FreeRadical 16y ago

The demo site formatting messes up in IE7.

jasonkester 16y ago

I couldn't find your demo/feedback site link, and it wasn't until I got back here to complain that I saw that you do actually have one. Went back to the site and still it took 30 seconds of hunting (and another minute to notice the one up top in the little bubble). Nobody off the street will give you that much time. I'd make it as big a priority on the homepage as "sign up". And speaking of which, the biggest glaring issue with your site is that the "Support" link doesn't go to one of your own feedback sites. Why are you not using your own product? As a potential customer, the immediate answer that springs to mind is "because it's not good enough", and that's the last you'll see of me.

jasonkester 16y ago

The site doesn't do a very good job of telling me what it does. After scanning for several seconds, I'm now aware that I can "Listen, react and retain". None of those are things I need to do right now, so away I click... Now if you'd started off with saying something about the fact that you're for businesses and that you do customer feedback (instead of sort of whispering it up top), then we'd be getting somewhere. You see, my website might actually need to listen, react and retain stuff. So yeah, it's pretty, and it gets a message across. Unfortunately the message it gets across is not parseable without some forknowledge of what your site does. Here's a quick counterexample from a site I'm building right now: http://www.fairtutor.com/ http://www.fairtutor.com/ Give that link 5 seconds, then come back here and let us know if you can tell what the site does.

guiseppecalzone 16y ago
Great point. This is a really interesting startup and super, super clear about what it does. I couldn't help but think about this idea -- when I was in south america and paying less than a third of the price for private tutors. Good hunting! Looking forward to your launch.

chrisbuchino 16y ago

I like the design but don't really get the concept other than providing feedback and others do this already, and cheaper. Idea.informer.com is completely free and uservoice.com is cheaper. Need to get either explain features better or just simplify pricing altogether.