5 ms·

Got 99 Competitors and Bit.ly is One

57 points by dmor 14y ago

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
thezilch 14y ago
I haven't read the referenced, Techcrunch article, but I can't get from A to B on the competitor claim. From dmor's article, she wants me to try her product, but when I did, I would have no idea they are competing in the same space as bitly. I was presented a registration wall to what sounds like a text-based Pinterest; not at all a link-shortening nor analytics product.
- dmor 14y ago
  We took the link to this out because it didn't really work (at least according to our stats) but here is our how it works page: http://refer.ly/getting-started http://refer.ly/getting-started Sounds like we need to do a better job showing you what you'll get before asking you to click the big orange button
  - thezilch 14y ago
    Buried at the bottom of this link, the "How You Earn Rewards" section goes a long way towards depicting the product, more than any other memory I had retained from the existing and this landing page. Even still, I'm kept from using yet-another-link-shortener and an analytics dashboard without providing you with credentials. How about a limited-time experience without authenticating, if it's not within fiscal interest to offer "unlimited" features that "competitors" offer?
    - dmor 14y ago
      I think we just need to make it work when you are logged out - maybe set a cookie so you can claim all your links if/when you sign up if the cookie is still set. We're working on it, literally around the clock
pan69 14y ago
I thought there was something in Facebook's terms that you can't sell Like's etc. in exchange for any form of currency? Not to sure though.
- dmor 14y ago
  We don't sell likes, we only reward people if an actual purchase occurs as the result of someone clicking on a link
khangtoh 14y ago
I thought Referly was pretty cool and decided to sign up and created my own link for the new Apple MBP. But when I click on the claim rewards link: http://refer.ly/claim http://refer.ly/claim It's telling me a different story (compared to on their main page - Earn rewards like whoa.)about getting the rewards. "During the beta period we are not yet able to redeem your rewards, but we are saving them for you. We'll let you know as soon as you can claim them." I really felt like being Bait and Switch'ed.... Totally not whoa at this point.
- dmor 14y ago
  Sorry to hear that - your rewards won't disappear, we just have been going a little faster than planned and need to build the redemption process. In the meantime, feel free to email me at danielle@refer.ly if you earn more than $10 and want to claim your rewards and we can do that via PayPal. I'll add that to the site too. We're not cool with the bait and switch, so I'm glad you gave me that feedback
  - khangtoh 14y ago
    Thanks for the response. I think a disclaimer on the main page about claims during beta would have alleviated my disappointment.
    - dmor 14y ago
      Noted, will update. Thanks
      - cheatercheater 14y ago
        Upvote for quick reaction.
  - joering2 14y ago
    Danielle - everyone supposed to email you if they need "more than $10" from Referly to cash out? Seriously, you are damn too smart of a businesswoman not to know that by not putting this disclaimer on, you will get much less signups. At its best, I take it as deceiving marketing strategy.
AznHisoka 14y ago
Who are these customers you're talking to? Seems like everyone and their mom is a 'customer'.
grandalf 14y ago
Danielle is the marketing and PR genius behind Twilio. So yes, this blog post was sort of clever PR campaign designed to make the HN home page.
yelhsa 14y ago
this is what i want to do: shorten links, share products and earn rewards. the current ui is beginning to feel like a shopping site. kinda like amazon divorced ebay, married bitly and is having an affair with pinterest.
cheatercheater 14y ago
TLDR: completely content-less post just tells us how unknown Referly is positioning itself as Bit.ly's competition and how they're better than the rest of the crowd, with quips. No insights other than that. Call-out to my homeys in the downvote brigade, you still know I'm right. Sensationalist story leading to an underwhelming climax of "we're catching up to Bit.ly" written and submitted to gain publicity, at the cost of the quality of HN's new front page. What's the return on the investment of 5 minutes of my time? None. The total innovative content of this story could've been fit in two tweets: Our (Referly) competitor Bit.ly has launched, we're nearly done catching up and no, actually I can't think of a second tweet. This sensationalist, blog-us-at-all-cost attitude glued together with khangtoh's remark (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4097202 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4097202) about the bait and switch business model... well, compare khangtoh's complaint: > It's telling me a different story (compared to on their main page - Earn rewards like whoa.)about getting the rewards. > > "During the beta period we are not yet able to redeem your rewards, but we are saving them for you. > > We'll let you know as soon as you can claim them." > > I really felt like being Bait and Switch'ed.... Totally not whoa at this point. with: > Unlike a lot of other beautiful social sharing sites out there, we are revealling our business model from day one. You refer stuff, you earn rewards. No shenanigans (Hat tip: Twilio). While in beta we are passing through 100% of commissions to Referly users Not only completely incorrect information ("we are passing" vs "we are not passing"), but additionally what I can only understand as a quip at Twilio. Someone more to the point would just say "attention-whoring Bit.ly's limelight". You'll probably hate me, but I thought I'd give you a good ruffling since you seem new to the whole business communications thing. I only hit you cause I love you, baby.

57 points by dmor 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

I haven't read the referenced, Techcrunch article, but I can't get from A to B on the competitor claim. From dmor's article, she wants me to try her product, but when I did, I would have no idea they are competing in the same space as bitly. I was presented a registration wall to what sounds like a text-based Pinterest; not at all a link-shortening nor analytics product.

dmor 14y ago
We took the link to this out because it didn't really work (at least according to our stats) but here is our how it works page: http://refer.ly/getting-started http://refer.ly/getting-started Sounds like we need to do a better job showing you what you'll get before asking you to click the big orange button
- thezilch 14y ago
  Buried at the bottom of this link, the "How You Earn Rewards" section goes a long way towards depicting the product, more than any other memory I had retained from the existing and this landing page. Even still, I'm kept from using yet-another-link-shortener and an analytics dashboard without providing you with credentials. How about a limited-time experience without authenticating, if it's not within fiscal interest to offer "unlimited" features that "competitors" offer?
  - dmor 14y ago
    I think we just need to make it work when you are logged out - maybe set a cookie so you can claim all your links if/when you sign up if the cookie is still set. We're working on it, literally around the clock

pan69 14y ago

I thought there was something in Facebook's terms that you can't sell Like's etc. in exchange for any form of currency? Not to sure though.

dmor 14y ago
We don't sell likes, we only reward people if an actual purchase occurs as the result of someone clicking on a link

khangtoh 14y ago

I thought Referly was pretty cool and decided to sign up and created my own link for the new Apple MBP. But when I click on the claim rewards link: http://refer.ly/claim http://refer.ly/claim It's telling me a different story (compared to on their main page - Earn rewards like whoa.)about getting the rewards. "During the beta period we are not yet able to redeem your rewards, but we are saving them for you. We'll let you know as soon as you can claim them." I really felt like being Bait and Switch'ed.... Totally not whoa at this point.

dmor 14y ago
Sorry to hear that - your rewards won't disappear, we just have been going a little faster than planned and need to build the redemption process. In the meantime, feel free to email me at danielle@refer.ly if you earn more than $10 and want to claim your rewards and we can do that via PayPal. I'll add that to the site too. We're not cool with the bait and switch, so I'm glad you gave me that feedback
- khangtoh 14y ago
  Thanks for the response. I think a disclaimer on the main page about claims during beta would have alleviated my disappointment.
  - dmor 14y ago
    Noted, will update. Thanks
    - cheatercheater 14y ago
      Upvote for quick reaction.
- joering2 14y ago
  Danielle - everyone supposed to email you if they need "more than $10" from Referly to cash out? Seriously, you are damn too smart of a businesswoman not to know that by not putting this disclaimer on, you will get much less signups. At its best, I take it as deceiving marketing strategy.

AznHisoka 14y ago

Who are these customers you're talking to? Seems like everyone and their mom is a 'customer'.

grandalf 14y ago

Danielle is the marketing and PR genius behind Twilio. So yes, this blog post was sort of clever PR campaign designed to make the HN home page.

yelhsa 14y ago

this is what i want to do: shorten links, share products and earn rewards. the current ui is beginning to feel like a shopping site. kinda like amazon divorced ebay, married bitly and is having an affair with pinterest.

cheatercheater 14y ago

TLDR: completely content-less post just tells us how unknown Referly is positioning itself as Bit.ly's competition and how they're better than the rest of the crowd, with quips. No insights other than that. Call-out to my homeys in the downvote brigade, you still know I'm right. Sensationalist story leading to an underwhelming climax of "we're catching up to Bit.ly" written and submitted to gain publicity, at the cost of the quality of HN's new front page. What's the return on the investment of 5 minutes of my time? None. The total innovative content of this story could've been fit in two tweets: Our (Referly) competitor Bit.ly has launched, we're nearly done catching up and no, actually I can't think of a second tweet. This sensationalist, blog-us-at-all-cost attitude glued together with khangtoh's remark (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4097202 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4097202) about the bait and switch business model... well, compare khangtoh's complaint: > It's telling me a different story (compared to on their main page - Earn rewards like whoa.)about getting the rewards. > > "During the beta period we are not yet able to redeem your rewards, but we are saving them for you. > > We'll let you know as soon as you can claim them." > > I really felt like being Bait and Switch'ed.... Totally not whoa at this point. with: > Unlike a lot of other beautiful social sharing sites out there, we are revealling our business model from day one. You refer stuff, you earn rewards. No shenanigans (Hat tip: Twilio). While in beta we are passing through 100% of commissions to Referly users Not only completely incorrect information ("we are passing" vs "we are not passing"), but additionally what I can only understand as a quip at Twilio. Someone more to the point would just say "attention-whoring Bit.ly's limelight". You'll probably hate me, but I thought I'd give you a good ruffling since you seem new to the whole business communications thing. I only hit you cause I love you, baby.