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Thanks -- a demo of the export tool is definitely something I'd like to implement, but doing so would have postponed the launch by a week or two. I made the dec

by matt1 15y ago

Thanks -- a demo of the export tool is definitely something I'd like to implement, but doing so would have postponed the launch by a week or two. I made the decision to launch without it and that's that. Appreciate the feedback as it helps me prioritize what to work on next.

jasonkester 15y ago
Why would it take any more time? If you absolutely need to have user accounts behind the scenes, you can just point your "Try It Now" button to a page that creates a dummy user record "guest6772343/dummypassword" and logs in as that user. Forward to the application, and you're done. You can have this up and working 5 minutes from now. EDIT: For an idea of why this is important to do, and how important it is to do it (in terms of how many more users you'll unbounce), here's a writeup of the day we accidentally launched Twiddla, and the consequences of going through the quick 5-minute login-bypass exercise I describe above: http://www.twiddla.com/blog/2007/04/1000-signups-on-day-one.html http://www.twiddla.com/blog/2007/04/1000-signups-on-day-one....
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
dpcan 15y ago
You have to think about whether this person would ever actually become a customer of yours. From my experience, you could spend the next couple weeks building a perfect sandbox for people who will NEVER buy your service, or you can leave the login restrictions in place, and the people who may actually become customers will certainly take a few minutes to get in there. If they don't have the time to create a simple login, they may become real support nightmares anyway. - They won't take the time to read instructions. - They will think they can do things they can't and the service doesn't even provide. - They are the people who expect EVERYTHING for free including your help. Don't just jump on this. Remember, you are in charge. You know the service you are providing. This person already complained about something FREE, how much more of that do you really want to deal with?
- detst 15y ago
  You're making very unfair judgement about the types of people that might land on his site and not have the barrier of a form overcome by their perceived utility of his service. > You know the service you are providing. But someone landing on his site might not. Letting them in without any barrier but a click will let them see for themselves. At that point, a sign up form is no barrier because they have seen the utility. This should not take weeks or days. If built this way from the start, it should add almost no extra time. You gain nothing by asking for this info upfront but gain plenty by not.
- jasonkester 15y ago
  For the record, this person makes his living selling a few services in the same space as the original poster, and has been in the exact same position of having launched a product and watched tons of potential users bounce away because the "try it now" button asked for a single username and password. I also run a service that gets 100% of its business as a result of people converting from free trials to paid users, and the biggest lesson I've learned from that site is that the more people you can put into the top of the funnel, the more come out the bottom. It's not a matter of getting more trial signups at the expense of a worse conversion rate. It's a matter of the conversion rate staying constant and income going up in direct proportion to how much friction you can remove from the signup process.
  - dpcan 15y ago
    :) I didn't mean to offend you, so sorry. Your services appear to be SaaS, but I don't see much in terms of a design tool in your list. My company needs a tool like what he's providing, and I had absolutely no trouble with his sign-up process.
    - matt1 15y ago
      Hey, can you shoot me an email? I'd like to ask you a few more questions off-thread. matt@leandesigns.com

by matt1 15y ago

jasonkester 15y ago

Why would it take any more time? If you absolutely need to have user accounts behind the scenes, you can just point your "Try It Now" button to a page that creates a dummy user record "guest6772343/dummypassword" and logs in as that user. Forward to the application, and you're done. You can have this up and working 5 minutes from now. EDIT: For an idea of why this is important to do, and how important it is to do it (in terms of how many more users you'll unbounce), here's a writeup of the day we accidentally launched Twiddla, and the consequences of going through the quick 5-minute login-bypass exercise I describe above: http://www.twiddla.com/blog/2007/04/1000-signups-on-day-one.html http://www.twiddla.com/blog/2007/04/1000-signups-on-day-one....

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

dpcan 15y ago

You have to think about whether this person would ever actually become a customer of yours. From my experience, you could spend the next couple weeks building a perfect sandbox for people who will NEVER buy your service, or you can leave the login restrictions in place, and the people who may actually become customers will certainly take a few minutes to get in there. If they don't have the time to create a simple login, they may become real support nightmares anyway. - They won't take the time to read instructions. - They will think they can do things they can't and the service doesn't even provide. - They are the people who expect EVERYTHING for free including your help. Don't just jump on this. Remember, you are in charge. You know the service you are providing. This person already complained about something FREE, how much more of that do you really want to deal with?

detst 15y ago
You're making very unfair judgement about the types of people that might land on his site and not have the barrier of a form overcome by their perceived utility of his service. > You know the service you are providing. But someone landing on his site might not. Letting them in without any barrier but a click will let them see for themselves. At that point, a sign up form is no barrier because they have seen the utility. This should not take weeks or days. If built this way from the start, it should add almost no extra time. You gain nothing by asking for this info upfront but gain plenty by not.
jasonkester 15y ago
For the record, this person makes his living selling a few services in the same space as the original poster, and has been in the exact same position of having launched a product and watched tons of potential users bounce away because the "try it now" button asked for a single username and password. I also run a service that gets 100% of its business as a result of people converting from free trials to paid users, and the biggest lesson I've learned from that site is that the more people you can put into the top of the funnel, the more come out the bottom. It's not a matter of getting more trial signups at the expense of a worse conversion rate. It's a matter of the conversion rate staying constant and income going up in direct proportion to how much friction you can remove from the signup process.
- dpcan 15y ago
  :) I didn't mean to offend you, so sorry. Your services appear to be SaaS, but I don't see much in terms of a design tool in your list. My company needs a tool like what he's providing, and I had absolutely no trouble with his sign-up process.
  - matt1 15y ago
    Hey, can you shoot me an email? I'd like to ask you a few more questions off-thread. matt@leandesigns.com