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Just started doing some conversion testing on our pre-launch landing page and would love to hear what HN thinks: http://shadenut.com http://shadenut.com So fa

Just started doing some conversion testing on our pre-launch landing page and would love to hear what HN thinks: http://shadenut.com http://shadenut.com So far we we seem to getting many more newsletter signups with a simple one line message as opposed to a full list of features and benefits. Although results are also dependent on the source of traffic.

davemel37 11y ago
Maybe this resonates with "car guys" but I have no idea what you do or why I should join/contribute from the landing page. You seem to be asking for something but not explaining why I or your users should Give you the data you want. If this page is getting lots of signups...I would guess many of them are signing up because they want answers to those questions...but might have no interest in converting into users... I would be wary of opt ins that come looking for something unspecififed because many will immediately be disappointed when they don't find the answers on the other side of the opt in form.
- Lukeas14 11y ago
  Good points. The target market is specific to people who work on cars, whether it's their own or professionally. This assumes a certain level of knowledge about the subject and possibly a realization about how the product would help them. We could certainly do a better job of explaining the user benefits to a more general market.
  - davemel37 11y ago
    In general it's a mistake to assume your audience understands something about your product that you think is obvious or intuitive...even if most car guys do understand the value proposition...why exclude the rest of the market?
encoderer 11y ago
First, congrats on getting it up there. Your use of space here is peculiar to me. Traditionally your eye tracks to upper-left, where you have your logo, but there is nothing else there. Your eyes trace right and down from it, and there is just nothing else to look at. The next thing my eye catches is the social buttons top-right. Good design leads your eye to your CTA. You're giving as much space to some stock-photography hand as you are to the screenshot of your app. I get the "right hand man" metaphor but users don't care how clever you are. The primary call to action is actually below the fold on my 15" macbook pro. You could walk away from that site thinking the social links were the point of the page given their prominence. Your headline "a car guys right hand man" doesn't actually tell me what your product is. Few people will want to join a "beta program". You specifically ask for help but you're really making clear what the value prop is aside from "shaping the community" which is not something most users will care about. Finally, I would encourage you to put in the sweat equity to gather enough data to make the product usable. People aren't going to come in and do all that work for you, they will open the app, search for the car they're interested in, and never come back if it's not there. So you could do something like have all the data for recent model years, or specific makes, etc. Gathering that data is a schlep and THAT is your value proposition.
- Lukeas14 11y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. You make a good point about where the page leads the users eyes. I think moving the social links to below the call to action and raising the rest of the page up and to the left would help bring the CTA more in focus. Based on our tests we'll also be replacing the extra text with a simple message "A car guy's right hand man. Look up the technical data you need to work any vehicle right on your phone or tablet." The product will definitely have enough data to be usable when we start releasing it. However, it's impossible for a small team to gather every technical data point for every year, make and model ever which is where the community comes in. The landing page should probably state that more clearly, or maybe just leave the community aspect out completely since it's not relevant before launching.
chrisduesing 11y ago
> A Car Guy's right hand man An article, 4 nouns and an adjective. This isn't parseable without 3 or 4 passes. The idea is spot on, it's short and simple, but improve the English to make a reader's life easier. You have seconds to let someone know what you do and this is wasting time. > Torque Specs > Fluid Capacities > Body Dimensions > Tow Ratings > Maintenance Schedule Ruby, Python, Javascript... You told other commenter's here that this list is meaningful to people in the know. It's not, there is no context. Why are you listing these words? > We're building a community of comprehensive, accurate vehicle data. And we need your help gathering info about the cars and trucks you work on. Technicians and DIYers, join the beta program to get first access to the app and help shape the community. Now I know what you want, but not really why. What is in it for me? This will presumably take me time and effort to use, what do I get out of it. Don't tell me it is obvious, again if I substitute tech terms for auto terms I still have at best a vague sense of what I am getting myself in to. Paint a picture.

davemel37 11y ago

Maybe this resonates with "car guys" but I have no idea what you do or why I should join/contribute from the landing page. You seem to be asking for something but not explaining why I or your users should Give you the data you want. If this page is getting lots of signups...I would guess many of them are signing up because they want answers to those questions...but might have no interest in converting into users... I would be wary of opt ins that come looking for something unspecififed because many will immediately be disappointed when they don't find the answers on the other side of the opt in form.

Lukeas14 11y ago
Good points. The target market is specific to people who work on cars, whether it's their own or professionally. This assumes a certain level of knowledge about the subject and possibly a realization about how the product would help them. We could certainly do a better job of explaining the user benefits to a more general market.
- davemel37 11y ago
  In general it's a mistake to assume your audience understands something about your product that you think is obvious or intuitive...even if most car guys do understand the value proposition...why exclude the rest of the market?

encoderer 11y ago

First, congrats on getting it up there. Your use of space here is peculiar to me. Traditionally your eye tracks to upper-left, where you have your logo, but there is nothing else there. Your eyes trace right and down from it, and there is just nothing else to look at. The next thing my eye catches is the social buttons top-right. Good design leads your eye to your CTA. You're giving as much space to some stock-photography hand as you are to the screenshot of your app. I get the "right hand man" metaphor but users don't care how clever you are. The primary call to action is actually below the fold on my 15" macbook pro. You could walk away from that site thinking the social links were the point of the page given their prominence. Your headline "a car guys right hand man" doesn't actually tell me what your product is. Few people will want to join a "beta program". You specifically ask for help but you're really making clear what the value prop is aside from "shaping the community" which is not something most users will care about. Finally, I would encourage you to put in the sweat equity to gather enough data to make the product usable. People aren't going to come in and do all that work for you, they will open the app, search for the car they're interested in, and never come back if it's not there. So you could do something like have all the data for recent model years, or specific makes, etc. Gathering that data is a schlep and THAT is your value proposition.

Lukeas14 11y ago
Thanks for the feedback. You make a good point about where the page leads the users eyes. I think moving the social links to below the call to action and raising the rest of the page up and to the left would help bring the CTA more in focus. Based on our tests we'll also be replacing the extra text with a simple message "A car guy's right hand man. Look up the technical data you need to work any vehicle right on your phone or tablet." The product will definitely have enough data to be usable when we start releasing it. However, it's impossible for a small team to gather every technical data point for every year, make and model ever which is where the community comes in. The landing page should probably state that more clearly, or maybe just leave the community aspect out completely since it's not relevant before launching.

chrisduesing 11y ago

> A Car Guy's right hand man An article, 4 nouns and an adjective. This isn't parseable without 3 or 4 passes. The idea is spot on, it's short and simple, but improve the English to make a reader's life easier. You have seconds to let someone know what you do and this is wasting time. > Torque Specs > Fluid Capacities > Body Dimensions > Tow Ratings > Maintenance Schedule Ruby, Python, Javascript... You told other commenter's here that this list is meaningful to people in the know. It's not, there is no context. Why are you listing these words? > We're building a community of comprehensive, accurate vehicle data. And we need your help gathering info about the cars and trucks you work on. Technicians and DIYers, join the beta program to get first access to the app and help shape the community. Now I know what you want, but not really why. What is in it for me? This will presumably take me time and effort to use, what do I get out of it. Don't tell me it is obvious, again if I substitute tech terms for auto terms I still have at best a vague sense of what I am getting myself in to. Paint a picture.