The Lean Trap: Why You Still Don’t Have 10,000 Users
differential.ioHere is what we did to prove some demand for https://weighttracker.co. We had a minimum product (weigh in via email) and a simple landing page. We bought ads and AB tested the landing page. We learned we could get free trial signups for a reasonable price and got some ideas about headlines.
After solving some issues with the signup process, retention, etc. we've moved forward with mobile apps and are getting more traction and refining processes there. Progress is slow, but steady towards a working business.
If I were to do it all over again, I'd have a landing page with a sign up form and I wouldn't build the product until there were at least 100 people on the list. With a free trial or sign up form, you can probably AdWords or Facebook ads 100 people on your list for less than $1,000. Probably $100-500 if you don't overbid.
This also proves whether or not you can even remotely acquire users/trials for a reasonable amount of money. If you can't, you are going to have a lot of trouble scaling the business and it might not be a viable venture. $500 to learn that is a lot cheaper than dropping 100+ hours on a MVP.
We have been struggling with acquiring users, any suggestions would be highly helpful.
We built a tool that allows you to watch prices of products you love, when prices drop we notify you via email or Facebook. We support over 350 stores including Amazon, Zara, Asos, etc. Give it a spin at www.pricify.com
Do give us some advice on how you think we can acquire customers.
I plan on writing a follow up post with details and ideas on how to acquire users. I'd just say think outside the box. Particularly when it comes to writing. Don't just write for your own blog. Guest post with quality, useful content for other blogs (with readers). Also, always reference your product but you don't have to write directly about it.
Ex: 5 Ways to Get the Best Price on Christmas Gifts
I like your site. How do you support so many stores? Did you write web scrapers for each? Or are you using APIs?
Have you tried a ShowHN post? Relevant reddit channels?
Nice, I fell into this very trap with http://follower.io... We let our first 10 customers or so drive our feedback and direction picking.
It was only when we stepped back and started using our own product that we came out with a more clear direction for moving forward with development.
FYI link on iPhone redirects to homepage
On OSX FF with cookies disabled, page loads blank.
I used to fiddle cookie settings to test if that made a difference, now I just move on.
Mayhaps I am fanatical, but you don't get to use my disk without a good reason - you've got to give me value for me to open the door.
It may be an issue with data loading slow? Works for me on my iphone...