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๐Ÿ•ฏ๏ธ 8 Principles for New User Onboarding & How to Write a Good HN Headline

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I'm your competitor & I'm going to crush you by @indigoblue

Scenario: You are busy building your business. Then you get an email that says this:

"I'm a competitor in your space and I'm going to make your business bleed money."

Replies:

  1. Ignore and keep working, don't respond. That's the best response.

  2. "Temporary failure 550: your email was not delivered.
    This mailbox is protected by SpamHaus. Your email was rejected for looking like spam. Please resend your message with longer content."

  3. Ok, boomer.

  4. Sure! Glad to hear it- I was about to stop because the market is pretty small and not competitive. That is the scariest thing on earth.

  5. Thanks for validating my business model!

  6. Go ahead

  7. With a Barney Stinson gif/meme that says " Challenge Accepted"

  8. Print it and hang it on the wall above your work station.

  9. Show, don't tell.

Comment down what was your favorite reply on "I'm your competitor & I'm going to crush you" post.


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How to write a good HN headline by @UCConsultant

Do...

  1. Start the Headline with 'Show HN:' if you're linking to your new site or app. This will get you onto the Show page and the main page
  2. Provide a clear benefit for clicking on the link - what will the audience receive in return for their attention
  3. Give your site/app credibility - this may be because of who the author is, how many subscriptions/users you have so far, ratings, etc
  4. Give an early reason to sign up / subscribe/buy your product. This will warm the audience up to signing up once they hit your landing page

Don't...

  1. Include the name of your site - it's already in the link and doesn't make the user want to click
  2. Be generic - instead, be very specific about what the person is clicking on and why they should

Are you a Quora power user?

Then join some of these spaces where I contribute content regularly

  1. SaaS Marketing+Growth
  2. Freelancing
  3. Startup Mindset
  4. Blogging & SEO
  5. Create & Sell Courses
  6. Podcasting
  7. Marketing & Growth Facebook Group

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8 principles for new user onboarding by @conordewey3

  1. Break onboarding into two phases: The first session and all follow-up engagement. You must win the first session.
  2. Tease the experience that awaits them when they are done. Even better, preview the magic moment before they go through the slog.
  3. Don't leave users empty-handed at the end of onboarding. Give them a small dopamine hit of accomplishment.
  4. Treat onboarding like any other product feature. Continue to maintain and iterate on the experience.
  5. Use a laser, not a shotgun. Be extremely focused on what you want users to do during their first session.
  6. It's normally better to be active than passive. Instead of showing how to do something, help them do it.
  7. Set intelligent defaults. Most users won't change the settings. Be opinionated about how your product is used.
  8. Make every first moment delightful. First login. First landing. First emails. These are all opportunities to leave an impression.

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The root cause of procrastination by @cara

Sometimes, the main cause of procrastination is a lack of clarity on what needs to be done.

So, the next time you see yourself procrastinating. Ask yourself - "How completely do I understand the next task I need to do?"

Some resources to overcome it:

[1] Manage emotions not time

[2] See how creator Adam Stanton uses checklists to tackle big creative problems

[3] Specific tasks use specific verbs.

[4] More on how my team does brain-dumps


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1. The complete online advertising guide for makers by @NxAlessandro

2. Seven tips to write landing page text without sounding like a salesman by @MrAtiebatie

3. Sixteen vital lessons from 60 days of writing online by @joebalcom


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  • Followchain - a follow for follow community for Instagram by @notlhw
  • SEOdity.com - complete SEO toolkit for improving your projects by @marcinpastuszek
  • Price2spy.com - track your competitors in real-time, optimize prices, and grow your business with well-informed pricing decisions by @justlikeapi
  • Rorvswild - performances and errors monitoring for Ruby on Rails applications by @antoinem
  • Getsplashpad - website that helps you write marketing emails that sell by suggesting language as you write by @ryanh1

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1 / My last Reddit Ad got 600+ upvotes and resulted in a large number of email signups

2 / Are you using abandoned cart tactics to convert lost leads for your SaaS & 3 ways to backup your database

3 / 38+ lessons learned bootstrapping company of one from 0$ to $9k MMR & A/B test your CTA with 1st person perspective

4 / SaaS makers: 6 reasons why you should verify the user's email & how to prevent automated sign-ups from bots

P.S I will not share all these newsletter issues here. Subscribe now, so you never miss any of these highly curated newsletters.


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๐Ÿ‘ Thank you for reading until the end. You are awesome.

  1. 2

    For anyone interested at the behind the scenes look at IndieLetters check out the latest episode of the Newsletter Crew here https://newslettercrew.com/podcast/ep8-growth-tips-launching-and-workflow-with-falak-sher-of-indieletters/

    1. 2

      Seriously, I have to work on spoken English.

      And I think the best way to do so is by practice. So I will launch a podcast soon as I have purchased bCast lifetime hosting deal.

      1. 2

        Your English is good! Totally understandable. Yes running your own podcast will help with this a lot.

    1. 1

      ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’–โค

  2. 1

    Awesome issue this week :)

    1. 2

      Thank you for your admiration.

      P.S Have you published my episode?

  3. 1

    ......what was your favorite reply on my I'm your competitor & I'm going to crush you post?

    Mine was 3. Ok, boomer.

    1. 2
      1. Ok, boomer
      2. Show, don't tell.
  4. 1

    LOL, thanks for the coverage man

    1. 2

      I enjoyed reading your post

  5. 2

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 2

      Yup! According to rules, you are allowed one time only. But many people submit more than once.
      Yesterday, I submitted my newsletter there. It got 21 points(I asked friends for it) and I got 29 visitors only.

      My submission remained there on 7th spot in "Show HN" category, then moved down and remained on the page for 5-7 hours. So I think it's not fruitful to launch on HN unless you get featured on the HackerNews main page

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        This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

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          Maybe I am wrong, but "Show HN" is not worth the effort. You may get more clicks by a tweet than SHow HN.

          1. 2

            This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    2. 1

      Note that "Show HN" is not like Product Hunt i.e. open-source, DIY projects get the most love via that space although its rules doesn't necessitate that your submission should be open-source or DIY.

      Personally speaking, I like it that way as there are other platforms to demonstrate our products and so a home for open-source/DIY through 'Show HN' seems right.

  6. 2

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 2

      I am glad you like it.

  7. 1

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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