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A screenshot can explain the product and how it works at a glance. One screenshot is worth 1,000 white papers. ;) For example, Userify (https://userify.com htt

A screenshot can explain the product and how it works at a glance. One screenshot is worth 1,000 white papers. ;) For example, Userify (https://userify.com https://userify.com, cross-cloud ssh key management for teams, with a nifty color-coded dashboard so you can actually see who has what access) doesn't seem to have any screenshots anywhere. Your question about whether I am the target market is an interesting point, but how does a screenshot (or lack) help in resolving that, and how does someone know if the target demo wants to see a screenshot?

verdverm 5y ago
That comment was less about screenshots and more about your general comment that all SaaS marketing is bad
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  Oh, I see. No, sorry, I didn't mean to make a statement like that at all. I meant that it's frustrating when (good) SaaS companies don't even take the basic first step of putting up a screenshot so we can see what it is. Sometimes, of course, it's not applicable or even easy to screenshot, but I can't think of too many SaaS's that can't provide at least a mockup of what it does for you (even the server-focused SaaS's). For example, I mentioned Userify; how about another (much better) example of Ansible Tower/AWX? It's great to just see a screenshot of the dashboard: https://www.ansible.com/products/tower https://www.ansible.com/products/tower This is an example of another great product that's much better marketed than Userify, IMO.
paulcole 5y ago
> how does someone know if the target demo wants to see a screenshot? How do I know they don’t want to see a purple cow? A significant portion of working as a marketer is understanding the needs and behavior of the target audience, making a decision based on that understanding, and then validating that decision. And hopefully iterating on that over time. If results are better when there are no screenshots vs. when there are screenshots, why would I include screenshots? Because a couple opinionated randos on HN who will never pay for my product claim to like screenshots?
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  I agree with your sentiment, even though it is burdened with a heavy assumption that SaaS companies have great marketing teams who are doing A/B tests. However, your argument would be more persuasive without that last sentence (especially because you don't know me; for all you know, I'm a dog![0]) 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...
  - paulcole 5y ago
    For the most part, I’m not trying to be persuasive on here. Just riling up the randos.

verdverm 5y ago

That comment was less about screenshots and more about your general comment that all SaaS marketing is bad

gunapologist99 5y ago
Oh, I see. No, sorry, I didn't mean to make a statement like that at all. I meant that it's frustrating when (good) SaaS companies don't even take the basic first step of putting up a screenshot so we can see what it is. Sometimes, of course, it's not applicable or even easy to screenshot, but I can't think of too many SaaS's that can't provide at least a mockup of what it does for you (even the server-focused SaaS's). For example, I mentioned Userify; how about another (much better) example of Ansible Tower/AWX? It's great to just see a screenshot of the dashboard: https://www.ansible.com/products/tower https://www.ansible.com/products/tower This is an example of another great product that's much better marketed than Userify, IMO.

paulcole 5y ago

> how does someone know if the target demo wants to see a screenshot? How do I know they don’t want to see a purple cow? A significant portion of working as a marketer is understanding the needs and behavior of the target audience, making a decision based on that understanding, and then validating that decision. And hopefully iterating on that over time. If results are better when there are no screenshots vs. when there are screenshots, why would I include screenshots? Because a couple opinionated randos on HN who will never pay for my product claim to like screenshots?

gunapologist99 5y ago
I agree with your sentiment, even though it is burdened with a heavy assumption that SaaS companies have great marketing teams who are doing A/B tests. However, your argument would be more persuasive without that last sentence (especially because you don't know me; for all you know, I'm a dog![0]) 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...
- paulcole 5y ago
  For the most part, I’m not trying to be persuasive on here. Just riling up the randos.