6 ms·

I went to your website, and I can't figure out what your product is or does. I had to click in to individuals before I figured out what it does. Why not put "B

by db1 8y ago

I went to your website, and I can't figure out what your product is or does. I had to click in to individuals before I figured out what it does. Why not put "BeeLine Reader makes reading on-screen easier, faster, and more enjoyable. We use a simple cognitive trick — an eye-guiding color gradient — to pull your eyes from one line to the next." on your front page? Maybe you guys have already done some kind of testing and found out that the current layout is optimal?

tejasmanohar 8y ago
Agree with db1's feedback. I almost immediately closed the page after not finding the pitch.
gnicholas 8y ago
Appreciate the feedback. We recently redesigned the website to offer silos, and one of the goals was to make the landing page not offer too many specifics that would make some audiences bounce. But perhaps your suggestion is just what we need to do. Thanks for taking the time to share! One lesson learned: I should have linked to the /individual page instead of the generic landing page in my comment. Updating link now...
- azernik 8y ago
  It's good to keep market-specific language to market-specific silos, but you need to put some little (milquetoast, plain-info) bit up front. Otherwise you turn off every market.
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    Totally agree. Would you say that GP's suggested language is sufficiently plain? I would worry that it would turn off publishing partners, who want to hear things like "increase audience engagement" not "read easier". Maybe something generic like "improve focus while reading", which could appeal to individuals and publishing partners? Appreciate your taking the time to share feedback — this sort of stuff is not something we're skilled/experienced at.
    - azernik 8y ago
      I don't really have a good feel for any of those customers, so... ^_^
- willvarfar 8y ago
  The lesson you should have learned is to make the generic landing page actually describe the what the product attempts to acheive! You have just had a load of inquisitive wanting-to-be-impressed HNers descend on your page and nobody knew what the thing was about! :) Publishers, educators etc also need to understand what the value proposition is for their users. I also think the page ought to be written in longer sentences. The current silo buttons aren't even making it clear that they explain more. So, suggestions: You just have to take the few sentences from your Individuals page "Reading on-screen can be tough on your eyes, especially if you have to do it all day long. We’re here to help. BeeLine Reader makes reading on-screen easier, faster, and more enjoyable." and put that on your landing page instead of "A New Way to Read." Now change the "(choose)" subheading to "perspectives:", put it lower nearer the buttons instead of near the description, and perhaps left-align it. Change the buttons from meaningless colours with labels to something descriptive like "for you the user :smile:", "for the publisher $" and "for the educator :graduation-hat-icon:". Voila! good luck!
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    Super helpful, thanks!
- ImSkeptical 8y ago
  Adding on with a much more minor nit, I notice there seems to be a missing word in some of the explanatory text on the individual page. "flip through a few above color schemes and see how much faster you can read" "A few above" should probably be "a few of the above". For what it's worth I had to take your reading challenge and flip through the schemes many times before noticing they did anything. I'm not sure if I'm color blind or what, but I hard time telling anything was different. One final point, can I suggest using more compelling literature for your samples? I'm not sure who the intended person is for the reading test, but I think you should put in a couple that aren't aimed at teenagers. I'd suggest something from David Foster Wallace - he has some amazing short stories and articles. You might as well use captivating literature in addition to your color technique!
- CodeWriter23 8y ago
  I bounced as soon as I couldn’t find pricing information.
  - ak39 8y ago
    I have nothing to do with the website/product in question, but could you explain a bit more why you would "bounce" (assuming bounce means you would lose interest) if you didn't immediately see pricing information?
    - vidarh 8y ago
      For me, I almost always bounce if I don't immediately see pricing information as it is an important signal with respect to whether or not this is something that's targeted towards me and/or whether or not they think I'll get sticker shock if they show it to me right away. In either case, the lack of readily available pricing makes me negatively inclined to spend more time looking into a product where I don't know if I'd ever consider paying whatever price they don't want to tell me. It doesn't need to be a lot of detail, or precise. Even just a "from $..." or "plans starting at ..." would be enough.
      - freehunter 8y ago
        I agree. There have been a lot of times I’ve been interested in something that seems to be exactly what I’m looking for but when I manage to find pricing information it’s starting at $990/mo. And now I’ve wasted all that time on a product very obviously not designed to help me remember to pick up bread at the store.
        CodeWriter23 8y ago
        I appreciate that Citus Data is right out in the open that entry level is $800/mo. I know straight up I can’t afford it. But they also tell me the size of their minimum instances, which also tells me my product hasn’t yet scaled to the level to need their service. And by the time it does, $800/mo will be acceptable.
- ZgjimDida 8y ago
  I agree with the comment above. I wanted to ask you what your product does, then I thought "why should I ask you when I can check the website out". Then I checked the website and I didn't find a description. I think it will be very helpful to have a simple description in your site. First impression matters. p.s. I like the idea of your product.
- DougBTX 8y ago
  You'd already updated the link above when I first looked at the site, but having a look at the home page, I didn't immediately notice that the Individual / Educational / Partners text were links, so I'd have probably been confused too!
- zo1 8y ago
  I liked your reading challenge idea! Very interesting, even though apparently the results indicated that I didn't read any faster.
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    Yeah, as some here have pointed out, the topics are aimed a bit toward younger/less technical audiences, so it's perhaps not like your typical reading material. I should also note that reading ease is an important (but difficult to measure) piece of this as well. So if it felt better for you, then it might be worth trying out the browser plugin and then trying the reading challenge again. There could be a little bit of a learning curve, as your eyes adjust to how quickly you can jump from line to line.
- fastball 8y ago
  I disagree with everyone else! The silos are good, you just need to make it much more obvious that the user needs to select one of the silos in order to get at more information. It's not particularly obvious that your buttons are buttons. I would also recommend that the content be full height / width so that on desktop at least the user doesn't scroll at all. The stock photo is probably unnecessary for the main page. Also you don't really need left/right margins since there isn't really text on the page, and that's what large margins are good for (but I'm assuming you know that since you made this app!)

by db1 8y ago

tejasmanohar 8y ago

Agree with db1's feedback. I almost immediately closed the page after not finding the pitch.

gnicholas 8y ago

Appreciate the feedback. We recently redesigned the website to offer silos, and one of the goals was to make the landing page not offer too many specifics that would make some audiences bounce. But perhaps your suggestion is just what we need to do. Thanks for taking the time to share! One lesson learned: I should have linked to the /individual page instead of the generic landing page in my comment. Updating link now...

azernik 8y ago
It's good to keep market-specific language to market-specific silos, but you need to put some little (milquetoast, plain-info) bit up front. Otherwise you turn off every market.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  Totally agree. Would you say that GP's suggested language is sufficiently plain? I would worry that it would turn off publishing partners, who want to hear things like "increase audience engagement" not "read easier". Maybe something generic like "improve focus while reading", which could appeal to individuals and publishing partners? Appreciate your taking the time to share feedback — this sort of stuff is not something we're skilled/experienced at.
  - azernik 8y ago
    I don't really have a good feel for any of those customers, so... ^_^
willvarfar 8y ago
The lesson you should have learned is to make the generic landing page actually describe the what the product attempts to acheive! You have just had a load of inquisitive wanting-to-be-impressed HNers descend on your page and nobody knew what the thing was about! :) Publishers, educators etc also need to understand what the value proposition is for their users. I also think the page ought to be written in longer sentences. The current silo buttons aren't even making it clear that they explain more. So, suggestions: You just have to take the few sentences from your Individuals page "Reading on-screen can be tough on your eyes, especially if you have to do it all day long. We’re here to help. BeeLine Reader makes reading on-screen easier, faster, and more enjoyable." and put that on your landing page instead of "A New Way to Read." Now change the "(choose)" subheading to "perspectives:", put it lower nearer the buttons instead of near the description, and perhaps left-align it. Change the buttons from meaningless colours with labels to something descriptive like "for you the user :smile:", "for the publisher $" and "for the educator :graduation-hat-icon:". Voila! good luck!
- gnicholas 8y ago
  Super helpful, thanks!
ImSkeptical 8y ago
Adding on with a much more minor nit, I notice there seems to be a missing word in some of the explanatory text on the individual page. "flip through a few above color schemes and see how much faster you can read" "A few above" should probably be "a few of the above". For what it's worth I had to take your reading challenge and flip through the schemes many times before noticing they did anything. I'm not sure if I'm color blind or what, but I hard time telling anything was different. One final point, can I suggest using more compelling literature for your samples? I'm not sure who the intended person is for the reading test, but I think you should put in a couple that aren't aimed at teenagers. I'd suggest something from David Foster Wallace - he has some amazing short stories and articles. You might as well use captivating literature in addition to your color technique!
CodeWriter23 8y ago
I bounced as soon as I couldn’t find pricing information.
- ak39 8y ago
  I have nothing to do with the website/product in question, but could you explain a bit more why you would "bounce" (assuming bounce means you would lose interest) if you didn't immediately see pricing information?
  - vidarh 8y ago
    For me, I almost always bounce if I don't immediately see pricing information as it is an important signal with respect to whether or not this is something that's targeted towards me and/or whether or not they think I'll get sticker shock if they show it to me right away. In either case, the lack of readily available pricing makes me negatively inclined to spend more time looking into a product where I don't know if I'd ever consider paying whatever price they don't want to tell me. It doesn't need to be a lot of detail, or precise. Even just a "from $..." or "plans starting at ..." would be enough.
    - freehunter 8y ago
      I agree. There have been a lot of times I’ve been interested in something that seems to be exactly what I’m looking for but when I manage to find pricing information it’s starting at $990/mo. And now I’ve wasted all that time on a product very obviously not designed to help me remember to pick up bread at the store.
      - CodeWriter23 8y ago
        I appreciate that Citus Data is right out in the open that entry level is $800/mo. I know straight up I can’t afford it. But they also tell me the size of their minimum instances, which also tells me my product hasn’t yet scaled to the level to need their service. And by the time it does, $800/mo will be acceptable.
ZgjimDida 8y ago
I agree with the comment above. I wanted to ask you what your product does, then I thought "why should I ask you when I can check the website out". Then I checked the website and I didn't find a description. I think it will be very helpful to have a simple description in your site. First impression matters. p.s. I like the idea of your product.
DougBTX 8y ago
You'd already updated the link above when I first looked at the site, but having a look at the home page, I didn't immediately notice that the Individual / Educational / Partners text were links, so I'd have probably been confused too!
zo1 8y ago
I liked your reading challenge idea! Very interesting, even though apparently the results indicated that I didn't read any faster.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  Yeah, as some here have pointed out, the topics are aimed a bit toward younger/less technical audiences, so it's perhaps not like your typical reading material. I should also note that reading ease is an important (but difficult to measure) piece of this as well. So if it felt better for you, then it might be worth trying out the browser plugin and then trying the reading challenge again. There could be a little bit of a learning curve, as your eyes adjust to how quickly you can jump from line to line.
fastball 8y ago
I disagree with everyone else! The silos are good, you just need to make it much more obvious that the user needs to select one of the silos in order to get at more information. It's not particularly obvious that your buttons are buttons. I would also recommend that the content be full height / width so that on desktop at least the user doesn't scroll at all. The stock photo is probably unnecessary for the main page. Also you don't really need left/right margins since there isn't really text on the page, and that's what large margins are good for (but I'm assuming you know that since you made this app!)