Keep going or shut down?
Keep going or shut down?
Hey fellow indie hackers! I launched an Uber-for-x web app for a very niche home service a week ago. The market for this service exists, but is definitely a niche, though I was hoping to make it more accessible by making the service on demand. I’m at a crossroads as to whether I should shut the app down or keep going, and could use some input.
Here’s what I’ve done so far. I’ve spent around $200 on FB ads targeted toward my audience over the past week in three major cities in Texas (where I live), had 16,335 people see one of my ads, and had 345 people click the link (~2% click through). From there I have about a 65% bounce rate on the site itself.
I’ve done several retargets of people who clicked the link, spent significant time on the site, interacted with my facebook page etc. I’ve promoted it on my personal social media accounts, talked to friends/family about using it, contacted local papers, and had a booth at an event where my target audience would be. However, I have yet to have a customer convert.
I’ve had people look over my ads/site, and there doesn’t seem to be any large discrepancy that would scare people away (ie the site looking phishy/phony/bad design etc).
Everyone I’ve told about it thinks it’s a really cool idea, but after talking to a few friends who initially expressed interest, I’ve realized while people would like to use the service, the service doesn’t hit a pain point, as much as a this-would-be-nice-to-use-but-I’ll-do-it-in-the-future-someday point.
All that to say, I feel that it’s not a good product-market fit, but other people close to me think that I need to give it more time. However, I don’t want to spend my time and money on something that isn’t working.
Have any of you been in this boat, and if so, what did you do?
Thanks!
#question
I think a week is too short to decide anything.
If you're eager to make this fly give it a decent chance for survival.
I have tried the ads-for-validation route in the past but learned the hard was: just serving ads does not help at all to learn about your customers. Only 1-on-1 talks do. With ads you dont know If it fails because of the ad Copy, message, ad visual, targeting, Timing, Platform, your landingpage Copy, visuals, offer, price, Benefits, whatever... You get the Point. Visitors drop Off at any stage and you dont know where and why.
hm.., hard to say without knowing your business.
But in general, Uber for X kind of businesses are very capital intensive, and even if there is product market fit, it is usually who spend most money gaining market share the fastest wins. (Read the book Blitz Scaling by Reid Hoffman). Therefore, can be very difficult business for indie hacker.
I completely agree that a week is way too short to consider shutting down. I had a similar experience when I launched my e-commerce business a while back. The first few weeks were terrible. It turns out I had the wrong assumptions about who my target audience was, and I needed to be a lot more specific in ad targeting (keywords and demographics).
With a new niche product, I wouldn't blast users on social media unless I had a really good marketing plan in mind and a ton of budget (more like $100-$200 a day). You're basically raising awareness at this point, and most people won't commit to buying on their first visit. They'll explore the idea and leave, that's your 35% that cares enough to figure out what it is they landed on.
My advise would be to go to Google Ads instead. There, you can be a lot more specific and you're closer to the purchase/booking action. Start with a very specific set of keywords that users who are looking for your service would normally search for. Use a bidding strategy that lets you set a target CPA (say you want to pay $5 per conversion) and sit back and monitor how it goes. Allow for a couple of days before you could rely on conversion data - it takes time to settle (they're not live/realtime). Connect your Google Analytics with your Google Ads accounts and monitor conversions.
After 2 weeks, look at your performance by Keyword: remove keywords that cost you too much to bring in customers and add more related keywords to those that did well. You could also boost bidding for certain demographics (say, 18-24 yr olds) if you think they're more relevant and hence want Google to adjust your bids accordingly.
In summary, be a lot more specific in your marketing efforts since you're after a niche. Avoid facebook ads until you know exactly who your target audience is.
What will really help as well is to collect user emails so you could convince them with the idea via marketing campaigns.
Good luck!
Haven’t been in that boat, so take with grain of salt.
What’s the "x" specifically? Would be easier to suggest something then.
2% CTR seems reasonable, nothing unusual there. Some people will disagree, but I’m in that camp who think buying ads early (for validation or whatever reasons) is not a good idea, it’s just burning money.
Even if there are no orders, why do you consider shutting down? Except for running ads, are you losing money?
What's the product? Who are your ideal users?
What's the product?
This comment was deleted 7 years ago