Investors told me they need metrics. Now running MVP to validate a bigger idea. Need your critiques
Hey all,
BRIEF BACKGROUND:
Long story short, I've been working on a dating app that integrates AI to help people become better daters/communicators. It will have dating coach chatbot (or "wingman") built into it to help users communicate effectively with their matches, choose the best photos, and write good profiles.
I've created 2 MVP Invision prototypes in the past to test some hypotheses on prospective users (which got me to add the AI into it after seeing certain problems).
ENTER CURRENT MVP:
Now, I'd like to show a more authentic user experience where we (partners and I) can actually help people while collecting data. We recently launched a "Text Icebrkr" on-demand SMS dating consultancy service.
Basically, text us and we give free advice (for 7 days - $19.95 after that) on anything from what to text a girl or guy, what photos you should have on your profile, date recs, etc.. We have dating coaches on the other end giving their advice so it's coming from an expert!
So far I've run some targeted Facebook and Twitter ads (~$30) and done some in-person marketing with some cards I created, but we've only gotten a few users to text. The ones who have, have gotten a lot of value out of it, but our goal is 100 users.
QUESTION:
This is our landing page: http://text.icebr.kr (It's mainly optimized for mobile as that's what I target for since it opens up a text message).
Do you have any feedback or ideas as to why people aren't converting (clicking the blue button)? Any and all thoughts are welcome!
Thanks a lot!
Mark
A couple of remarks about your landing page...
The main tagline doesn't hit on the main advantage/problem imo --> 'boost your dating skills' is quite a weak value proposition. Perhaps focussing more on 'get more girls/guys to say yes' or 'turn those flirty messages into fun mojitos' would resonate more with an actual problem people have (ok my copy is terrible, but you get the idea).
On desktop, the screenshot examples probably change too fast (I'm a pretty good speed reader and I only just get through the whole text)
Show me some social proof. I'm in a happy relationship, but even if I were completely single, I would need to trust you more to share such potentially embarrassing details with you (this is assuming that, as must be the case for your ideal customers, I don't have a high opinion of my dating skills)
The third point is pretty subjective, but perhaps something to think about there I hope.
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, Louis!
Great call on the value prop, that's been the #1 thing I believed could use improving, but wasn't sure if the message was getting across. I'm going to A/B test different copy to see which works best. Specifically, I think chatting/texting is people's biggest problem (from our data), so instead of being generic (i.e. "Boost your dating skills"), being more specific about helping them text.
I'll slow down the screenshot GIF a bit. The only thing I'm worried about here is slowing it down too much so the quick scroller won't notice it's actually changing. I'll try to call more attention to it though.
Would social proof in the form of client testimonials (my partners are dating coaches) or "We've helped create X amount of relationships/marriages" be good enough? Or more? Any suggestions on what would appeal to you?
Thanks again for the help!
No problem! Agree on the value prop.
You could always have the first few screenshots in the gif change quicker and then move at a more legible pace?
I think the testimonials/social proof needs to be tailored to your potential users' concerns. I don't know a lot about the industry so I won't make any specific suggestions, yet in general I am a big fan of 'real people' testimonials with photos/videos for building trust, quotations for explaining use cases or negating specific worries, and/or stats for proof of popularity/maintenance. I'd go for a mix of the most important things for your users/
Good luck!
Hi Louis,
I updated the site with everyone's feedback - would love to know what you think. Specifically if it addressed your previous concerns: http://text.icebr.kr (replying to everyone so they get the notification)
Thanks!
Good suggestion for the gif change - a super easy fix.
Definitely going to test the testimonials too. Their concern is most likely along the lines of "Who are these guys?" - so that can hopefully help close that gap a bit.
Thanks again!
Hey,
my first thought was "what should I text you?"And what happens next?
I found the process later after scrolling but maybe you could try to pack the benefit right into the first button/headline: Text 'test' to our number to receive free chatting advice instantly. What and what not to say to your match on Tinder
Might reduce the barrier of What should I Sven ask? And clearly states the outcome and next step
Try "instantly" instead of "in Minutes"
The part about not beeing spammy... It can be seen on a lot of email optins, I'd advise you to google for some A/B split test results which showed reduced conversion when mentioning and reminding the User of Spam... So better a/b test it yourself!
Hi patrics,
I updated the site with everyone's feedback - would love to know what you think. Specifically if it addressed your previous concerns: http://text.icebr.kr (replying to everyone so they get the notification)
Thanks!
Any possibility to pre fill the first message after clicking the blue Button? Maybe even "ok so how does this work?" to reduce the hurdle even more
Idea: if the conversion from clicking to actually sending a text is low you could try to catch them with something even smaller like "Text Tipps" and we send you the top 10 mistake people make in onlne Dating right now ... After they got that you can engage in an actual conversation / consulting.
If it is free anyway you can give Feedback during the first 5 days without mentioning any fee at all - just a friend who is really good at Dating
Thanks again for the feedback!
I actually played around with the pre-filled text, but unfortunately it's inconsistent between Android and iOS (problem with iOS).
I like the idea of adding a specific cta return like those text tips to get the convo going. I'm going to run some ads to get more traffic to get a larger sample size to see if there is drop off between clicking the button and actually texting. If there is, I'll build that in.
For now, I just added a little text underneath the buttons ("Text Break the ice for instant dating advice") to help give them some guidance.
I'll let you know how it goes - thanks again!
Thanks, patrics!
The "what should I text you?" has been one of the biggest problems we've been tackling the past couple days. We've noticed that the people who have texted say something like: "Hey how does this work?"
This question has got us to think about being more deliberate in directing the conversation - especially the initial message - to ease that uncertainty and control the flow.
I also like your suggestion of telling them what value that will get them: "Text X for value Y"
Haven't thought about the spammy part reminding users of spam, that's a good call! Sort of like saying don't think about the pink elephant...
All great advice to test, thanks a lot!
I've been out of the dating game for a while, so take this with a grain of salt.
Dating is a very personal thing. Your website makes absolutely no personal connection with your prospective clients. If I were a prospect and were just looking at your website, I would have no idea who is behind the service. I would like to see consultant headshots, biographies, etc.
For all I know, this could be some high school kid with no actual experience that is just looking to take my money.
I would need to see testimonials from other clients, success stories, etc.
Dating is personal. You have to connect personally with the propsect on your website and that's not currently happening.
Hi parkeragee,
I updated the site with everyone's feedback - would love to know what you think. Specifically if it addressed your previous concerns: http://text.icebr.kr (replying to everyone so they get the notification)
Thanks!
I think if you can get the credentials - the "who the heck are we" & "a few of our credentials" - stronger, it might help. Not sure which would work best but, either 1) a blog section with how you guys handled a past project or 2) a user success story or testimony might do the trick
I like the idea of a success story - akin to how Codecademy does to show prospective users an end result. Fantastic advice to combine with some of the feedback above!
Thanks!
Hi 3rdstringqb (great name),
I updated the site with everyone's feedback - would love to know what you think. Specifically if it addressed your previous concerns: http://text.icebr.kr (replying to everyone so they get the notification)
Thanks!
Really like how you changed the layout. The popup with more detailed stories is a nice touch. Great job!
Thanks! I put a lot of the feedback I got here into it and Julian Shapiro's (from a recent IH podcast) landing page guide: https://www.julian.com/learn/growth/landing-pages
Hopefully this turns to conversions!
Another possible point to think about - SMSing is usually pretty hard to convert to. Potential users might be concerned about their privacy, anonymity, exposure to ads, overpriced per-message services and so on.
Perhaps you should try converting to something easier - for example an in-line bot / chat window where users can ask questions right away. You can later convert that to an SMS conversion once the user clearly understands the value.
I hadn't thought about the chat window approach. There are probably some ways I can tinker with that - even running a test from ads where one points to the SMS and the other points to a page with the chat.
Good call on the anonymity part too - I think even assuring them on the page that everything is anonymous and their info won't be exploited could make a difference.
Thanks for the feedback, ohad!
Landing page looks nice.
Some issues with "social proof":
Just because you claim to have "experts" with years of experience and success behind them, you provide little evidence to back up these claims.
The most effective dating coaches are those who've proven their reputation with videos, interviews, etc. of themselves either showing their abilities to get dates, or real testimonials of people they've helped. Either a video, or some written "story" to back up your claims would go a long way. edit: I see the testimonials lower on the page.. ok that's a little better
Someone completely making up 100% of the claims you've made... would look exactly as it looks on your site. You need to think about how you can actually prove you are who you say you are. In fact, the claims you are making seem to require that you actually state the identities of the coaches. Who are they people with years of dating advice?... we should know their names and faces so we can believe they are real people.
Otherwise, I could go to youtube and look up "pickup artist" videos where real "experts" provide the same value you are claiming to, with a name and a face attached.
I think you need at least one video of someone talking... you, the coaches, a person that was helped with dating... someone.
Thanks for the feedback, cdock...
You're actually looking at the redesign of the site based off the feedback I received above. There are a few more additions I'm going to make today, including a couple bios on the coaches.
Also, just a note, we aren't pickup artists. Yes, you can certainly go on youtube and watch some jokesters talk about how to get laid, but our value is personalized advice on how to get in a relationship.
For example, someone was texting us last night after his date that we helped set up asking when it would be ok to ask her out again. This is not general advice, but very particular to his situation and the date. He described the date and we gave him our recommendations on how to move forward. That might be different for someone else.
I like your video idea and definitely might do that. However, this service is the MVP to get to the next thing. So I'm trying not to spend to much time and money on this. Just trying to get enough data to prove a concept. The value we're delivering to our current customers is clear, just need to market that better.
So what I'm doing now is making incremental improvements and continuing to test to find the sweet spot without putting too much into it (i.e. v1 - test, v1.1 - test, v.1.2 - test, etc.). The video would likely be a couple iterations from now.
Thanks again!