#idea-validation flat fee conversion tear downs. Good or bad idea?
#idea-validation flat fee conversion tear downs. Good or bad idea?
Preface: People are always asking for feedback on their product landing pages, website, product in general. At least on IH, they get some good advice, but a lot of the comments are likely rushed recommendations - they are good at times, but I imagine people don't have the time to really sit down and do a thorough mini visual audit.
Problem: professional audits are expensive and take a lot of time. They are not for everyone. Yet, they can have a tremendous impact on your business, a lot of times just turn it completely around, especially if you already have users and revenue. People need good recommendations.
Solution: offer product tear downs at an affordable price for entrepreneurs, startups, small / medium sizes businesses.
Instead of doing the super exhaustive audit that I typically do, I could offer a visual audit priced per page, with optional add ons for a more detailed look based on what data you have available.
Maybe you are not the right audience to ask, but what do you think? Is this something you'd pay for? Off the top of my head I'm thinking $120 for first page and $60 for subsequent page.
Or would you rather just get the free feedback you get here on IH and call it good enough?
Thanks!
My willingness to pay is directly correlated with your background and experience. The question I'd ask is why is paying you better than getting free replies from the community?
For me, I don't believe in the value of teardowns from folks that aren't my target audience. If you have a magic process that includes target customer feedback, I'd gladly pay a much larger fee than 120 bucks.
Thanks for your feedback Andrew. Yeah I totally get that, reputation is everything here, hence all of my work currently is referrals (I don't try to convince anyone of my service and its effectiveness (hell, my website doesn't say much about it either).
I actually do have a process where I look specifically at customer feedback as part of the audit - but as you stated, this process is much longer, more detailed and a lot more expensive.
My goal with this productized service would be to help the smaller guy , the single founder, 2 co-founders just starting to gain traction but need a little boost in how to position themselves (copy, layout, etc). By all means, this would not be as detailed as getting feedback from your actual customers, BUT, some people just don't have that feedback or are too early in the process to get it. YES, they could go out of their way and ask for it - I would prefer it really, but they just don't.
Community replies are pretty good sometimes but you have to question whether people have the time or the energy required to give you very valuable feedback - not the guessing sort, but the kind that actually considers some responses from you regarding your target audience. Sure, people can tell you to add reviews, trust symbols etc.. but how many will take the time to research your audience at least a bit to see how your message aligns with their needs? My guess is not many.
The service itself is valuable (did it myself for a while, other people do it or have done it like CopyHackers or Draft.nu), all you're asking here is a pricing question essentially.
Very hard to give a straight answer to that. I think very price-sensitive startups won't bite, or it won't be worth your time. That's why consultants tend to price those audits more reasonably, and target more established businesses.
Thanks David, good point. I will need to re-consider this idea or shelve it for now. I just opened up your landing page product, looks interesting. If you don't mind me asking, are you having success with this?
If you mean the book, it's a nice stream of passive revenue for sure. :)
Hey Gene, it's great to see you here! Not sure if you still remember me, I had a small period of activity on the Freelancer slack channel that you run :)
As for my opinion on this. I'd really pay for something like that but only if I get a free audit first, that isn't as good as the paid one but it's enough to draw me in. Know what I mean? :) I think Profitwell have something like 25k for an audit so there's definitely a market for it!
Hi Serge, yeah I remember you! I shut down that slack group for lack of time and opened one up specifically for designers, but don't put much time into it.
Thanks for your feedback. I am not really in the business of free, but you have a point. These days it's so easy to get SOME feedback, whatever quality it may be. I have not seen / heard of Profitwell but may need to look into it. My full audits are not cheap, but nowhere near the 25k figure (although that would be nice).