2 weeks into building BuddyFinder

It has been 4 days since I last posted on Aug 2nd, 2021 (https://www.indiehackers.com/post/building-out-a-badminton-match-maker-a2798a2130) and I've added a ton of new features. I'll share them one by one.

The site is finally mobile-friendly. It is built in such a way that the website can detect a mobile device opening the website and will redirect it to a more native experience for web browsers on smartphones. This is likely going to increase my workload by 1.5 to 2x when building new features that need to be optimized on both desktop and mobile but it is very important because 55-60% of traffic right now is coming from mobile. This is based on Google analytics. Avg engagement is 5 minutes per session and 1.1 sessions per user.

I chose not to build a native app. While notifications (like push and badging) can help with retention, the action of downloading it might be too much friction and the amount of work it takes to develop is way too much for a single person to keep up and maintain.

I've built in many optimizations to growth hack the site while making the experience better for users. The objective is to make it easier for users to engage and for the site to be quickly active. For instance, there is a new onboarding flow that ensures a new user submits at least one availability to play a match before being able to use the site. Getting users to submit at least one is critical to getting the site populated and engaging. Those who simply consume availabilities will have a better experience and those looking to play will have a higher chance of getting matched. This is a little like facebook's early-day growth tactic of optimizing one thing - getting new users to 7 friends.

I also simplified the match creation flow so it is more intuitive and requires fewer clicks. It is now located at the top of the page - front and center. I decluttered the create match page so users can focus on what is important. I took away my favorite part of the page - the Google Maps visuals. It was fancy but maybe not the most practical

In the onboarding flow and on the home page, users now provide their city as input. This information is important because it allows the site to scale to many more cities without clustering the existing user's experience. Posting availabilities to games is also more customized based on location. I save all the preferences (including skill level, phone number, etc.) so users do not have to re-enter them again next time. Super time saver! I am going to soon expand to more cities like SF, Dublin, and key cities in California.
A lot of people told me that the profile page was the most "beautiful" page. I've spent a little bit more time optimizing the visuals (esp on mobile) and added information like # of games played on buddy finder & community ratings. There are some thoughts around building a ranking system but this might come at a later stage. This could have potential as players challenge each other and can do it at ANY location they desire. For example, they can play someone in California and go to NY to play and continue to grow or maybe lose their rank.
Email notifications are starting to be built. I am cautious not to build too many because I want to respect the user's time. So far, I've added the most basic - an email when users are matched. I plan to build:

(1) People You May Want to Play With - a recommendation based on past preferences and players who are currently available with similar preferences like Skill Level and Location
(2) Need More Availability to Match - a recommendation for those who submitted only one availability to match and is clearly not enough to get a match
(3) Recommended matches - when both players have availabilities submitted but are not matched for some reason, I will recommend them to create a match together

Finally, I've built four Match Management features. This allows users in a match a) rate each other after the game is over on their attitude and punctuality b) leave the game if they absolutely cannot make it c) confirm attendance d) or add more players into the game. Users may have too many things to do now and so it might be a bit of an overkill. But I strongly believe this is what differentiates other options people have to find local badminton players, which are Facebook groups or Discord channels. They have no rating to provide credibility and a quick visual to display confirmation of attendance. The leaving or adding players is a requested feature that made a lot of sense but may not really help make it a better experience than Facebook/Discord.

Finally, beyond product enhancements, I've also started to look to expand further into more geo-locations, more FB groups to share this site, and potentially other forums to get traction. This BD, Marketing, and Operations work is time-consuming but absolutely critical.

Since starting in July 23, 2021 (now roughly two weeks), we have ~70 sign-ups and ~30 active match requests at any given time. Considering this is only the bay area, it is a good start but I am sure it can scale further.