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The shocking truth about conversions is that businesses, including startups, spend crazy amounts of time tricking people into "converting", instead of building

by revorad 15y ago

The shocking truth about conversions is that businesses, including startups, spend crazy amounts of time tricking people into "converting", instead of building products that, you know, actually improve people's lives.

toumhi 15y ago
Don't you think KissMetrics provides a valuable service? A startup doesn't need to be focused on saving baby seals to improve people's lives.
viscanti 15y ago
I think you're conflating "tricking" with "doing a better job of communicating". For most businesses (including startups), there's a clear value proposition. Their product/service actually fills a need/want. Iterating design/marketing copy is an attempt to find the best (or at least a better) way to communicate that value proposition. In the vast majority of cases, the goal isn't to trick someone into converting, it's to properly communicate the benefits of converting.
- Czarnian 15y ago
  There's an argument to be made (not necessarily by me) that if you have to spend a lot of time communicating your value proposition to your market, there may be something wrong with your product. The value proposition of your product should be self-evident.
  - viscanti 15y ago
    Generally there are alternatives, so the challenge is in communicating why your product/service is a better fit for solving that problem than any of the other possible alternatives. There's also a greater than 0% possibility that your marketing copy is so bad that it confuses people and gets in the way of a solid and "fool-proof" value proposition. Even the best product/service can shoot itself in the foot with poor copywriting or unprofessional design. Making sure you pay attention to doing well with that isn't the same as "tricking" people into buying your product/service. It's about attention to detail and making sure everything you do is demonstrating the quality of your company.

by revorad 15y ago

toumhi 15y ago

Don't you think KissMetrics provides a valuable service? A startup doesn't need to be focused on saving baby seals to improve people's lives.

viscanti 15y ago

I think you're conflating "tricking" with "doing a better job of communicating". For most businesses (including startups), there's a clear value proposition. Their product/service actually fills a need/want. Iterating design/marketing copy is an attempt to find the best (or at least a better) way to communicate that value proposition. In the vast majority of cases, the goal isn't to trick someone into converting, it's to properly communicate the benefits of converting.

Czarnian 15y ago
There's an argument to be made (not necessarily by me) that if you have to spend a lot of time communicating your value proposition to your market, there may be something wrong with your product. The value proposition of your product should be self-evident.
- viscanti 15y ago
  Generally there are alternatives, so the challenge is in communicating why your product/service is a better fit for solving that problem than any of the other possible alternatives. There's also a greater than 0% possibility that your marketing copy is so bad that it confuses people and gets in the way of a solid and "fool-proof" value proposition. Even the best product/service can shoot itself in the foot with poor copywriting or unprofessional design. Making sure you pay attention to doing well with that isn't the same as "tricking" people into buying your product/service. It's about attention to detail and making sure everything you do is demonstrating the quality of your company.