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I agree with you on the guilt evoked by the site design. I immediately second guessed whether or not it was worth downloading and ultimately decided I would be

by brd 15y ago

I agree with you on the guilt evoked by the site design. I immediately second guessed whether or not it was worth downloading and ultimately decided I would be willing to pay if it proved valuable. I reviewed the table of contents and saw the chapter "The single most important thing you must do to improve your programming career" so I decided to download it. I skimmed the chapter, decided it wasn't worth my money, deleted the pdf, immediately unsubscribed from the website, and then came back to HN and wrote this comment. Is the design good because it urges a person to pay? Probably. Is the design dangerous because of the violent reaction people, like myself, get from the feeling of guilt it triggers? Probably.

raganwald 15y ago
Thanks for the candid feedback.
peterarmstrong 15y ago
We don't want violent reactions of guilt; sorry about that :( There is enough guilt in life. Please don't feel any because of Leanpub. What we were going for was more of a "little nudge", if you have the disposable income. That's why the slider goes from a pastel green to a neutral "meh" grey (instead of a red, which would make you feel bad) when you go lower, and to a nicer, darker green as you go higher. On second thought, I guess if we wanted to be evil about this we could have some graphic where you have a dinner plate full of food, and as you lower the slider you're removing side dishes (and say if you go free then the entree goes too), and if you raise the slider you add say a glass of wine, a dessert, etc -- now that would be a fun design to A/B test :)
billpatrianakos 15y ago
If I were you I wouldn't be feeling guilty. Its not the design that made me feel guilty. It was knowing that the author deserved to get paid for the work while not paying. So in my case I got something valuable for free. I think it's great to be able to get it, read a bit, then decide its not worth money and not pay if you don't find it valuable. But while this is great, I think there's danger on both sides. The author is giving it for free, allowing you to preview and decide the worth. Awesome. But if you've gotten it already for free and decide its worth your money, like in my case, what's to stop you from never going back to pay. You have to find the link again (which admittedly is super easy to remember -good job) then go through the payment process. There's not much of a barrier to paying after the fact but there still is one. I promised to pay but how will anyone ever know? So what's the best thing to do? Give it away free and hope the honor system works or force payment and have unhappy customers? I don't see a best answer here, unfortunately.
patio11 15y ago
I've mentioned a couple of times on HN, but just one more: increasing prices means you deal with less pathological customers. What does a pathological customer sound like? They get something for free and then want their money back. They also feel as other people have a moral obligation to comport their business affairs to the specifications of the pathological customer, and this is a very nonreciprocal obligation, because pathological customers will do absolutely nothing to change their desired behaviors as a result of a business relationship.

by brd 15y ago

raganwald 15y ago

Thanks for the candid feedback.

peterarmstrong 15y ago

We don't want violent reactions of guilt; sorry about that :( There is enough guilt in life. Please don't feel any because of Leanpub. What we were going for was more of a "little nudge", if you have the disposable income. That's why the slider goes from a pastel green to a neutral "meh" grey (instead of a red, which would make you feel bad) when you go lower, and to a nicer, darker green as you go higher. On second thought, I guess if we wanted to be evil about this we could have some graphic where you have a dinner plate full of food, and as you lower the slider you're removing side dishes (and say if you go free then the entree goes too), and if you raise the slider you add say a glass of wine, a dessert, etc -- now that would be a fun design to A/B test :)

billpatrianakos 15y ago

If I were you I wouldn't be feeling guilty. Its not the design that made me feel guilty. It was knowing that the author deserved to get paid for the work while not paying. So in my case I got something valuable for free. I think it's great to be able to get it, read a bit, then decide its not worth money and not pay if you don't find it valuable. But while this is great, I think there's danger on both sides. The author is giving it for free, allowing you to preview and decide the worth. Awesome. But if you've gotten it already for free and decide its worth your money, like in my case, what's to stop you from never going back to pay. You have to find the link again (which admittedly is super easy to remember -good job) then go through the payment process. There's not much of a barrier to paying after the fact but there still is one. I promised to pay but how will anyone ever know? So what's the best thing to do? Give it away free and hope the honor system works or force payment and have unhappy customers? I don't see a best answer here, unfortunately.

patio11 15y ago

I've mentioned a couple of times on HN, but just one more: increasing prices means you deal with less pathological customers. What does a pathological customer sound like? They get something for free and then want their money back. They also feel as other people have a moral obligation to comport their business affairs to the specifications of the pathological customer, and this is a very nonreciprocal obligation, because pathological customers will do absolutely nothing to change their desired behaviors as a result of a business relationship.