17 days in: signups weren't coming back — so I shipped a reason to return
Day 10 update: 119 visitors, 4 signups. Since then: ~250 visitors, 12 signups, ~5% conversion. But the real problem was underneath — half of signups never ran a summary, and nobody was around by day 7.
So last week went into one thing: you can now follow YouTube channels and get new videos summarized weekly, in your language, in your inbox. New-account onboarding is now "pick 2 channels" instead of an empty box.
Best moment: posted the update at 9pm. By morning, a user in Turkey had followed 2 channels and woken up to their first digest — in Turkish. The loop closed while I slept.
Honest state: $0 revenue, retention experiment is one day old. Three weeks will tell — I'll post the numbers either way.
This is a good example of how early usage data can reveal a different problem than the one you initially expected.
I’m curious — after seeing that many signups didn’t reach the first summary, what surprised you most about where users were dropping off?
Honestly? That the biggest drop wasn't motivation — it was a bug. We served both www and apex, and localStorage is per-origin, so people who signed in on one variant looked signed out on the other. They didn't churn; they assumed the product was broken.
Runner-up surprise: even activated users never came back — D7 was literally zero. That's why we shipped weekly channel digests. Too early for numbers; the next two weeks will tell.
Ever seen churn that turned out to be a bug?
That’s a useful distinction. I’ve definitely seen cases where what looks like churn is actually a product or onboarding issue. The D7 result is especially interesting, though.
Thanks! What made D7 click for us: the people who showed up actually used it — ~3 summaries each — then never came back. A summarizer is a pull tool; the need doesn't remind you of the product. So the digest is us bolting a push loop onto it: follow your channels once, get a weekly reason to return. That's the bet on the table — if it doesn't move week-2 return, more funnel polish won't save it.
That’s interesting. If you’re open to it, what’s the best email to reach you on?
Sure — info[at]sumwise reaches me. What's on your mind?
Thanks! I’ve just sent it over.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts whenever you have a chance.