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33 Comments

Got my first hate mail

I got my first hate mail today :(

I'm transitioning timestamps.fm from a free web app to a paid product, and my first experiment was charging a flat $1 per usage. Apparently, that really pissed off this person.

I know it shouldn't bother me, but to be honest, it does a little.

Do you ever get hurtful feedback, and how do you handle it?

  1. 15

    Hey Mark -

    Just a rite of passage. There will always be users who complain regardless of the circumstances. There are users that think software grows on trees and there isn't someone who has worked hard to make it happen. I have a free product (serves as lead generation for the paid product), and a paid product. The free users are almost always harsher.

    It's especially painful when they post it on public forums like app store reviews. That said, the sooner you can post something on the homepage that there are paid versions or add-ons the better. Users hate the idea of signing up for something they think is free, only to be told later it's paid.

    This will be the first of many unhappy users. As long as happy users outweigh them, you're fine :)

    1. 2

      Thanks Johnny, guess it's something to get used to!

  2. 9

    losers are ALWAYS going to chat shit.

    This is an achievement unlocked moment. You're levelling up.

    1. 1

      You're levelling up
      i like that way of thinking of it :)

  3. 5

    Sucks.

    There are definitely folks out there who don’t understand the costs we entrepreneurs incur to put our products (and ourselves) out there.

    As @johnny_am said, you will be fine. This comes with the territory and learning to not engage or waste your energy on those who don’t appreciate your work is part of all this. Not all feedback is equal.

    1. 2

      Appreciate the encouragement, thanks Ben!

  4. 3

    Haters gonna hate! Keep going!

    Some time ago, I wrote a few blog posts about how to use certain functionality of a Python framework. Once, I got a comment calling me everything: "wannabe programmer, fake smartass, arrogant" because there was no code in that post. There were 3 posts with code he could copy/paste linked to that post.

    Did he know how to do what I explained? No, that's how he landed on my post.
    Did he even bother to read the post? No.

    Let them hate!

    1. 1

      thanks for the encouragement! :)

  5. 3

    You're on the right track! 👍

    If they didn't care about your solution they'd ignore it.

  6. 2

    Users who doesn't want to pay at least 1US$ for something they need or want to use are not your users, they are resource-consuming freeloaders and tire-kickers used to take stuff for free and think they're entitled to free stuff indefinitely.

  7. 2

    Take it as a badge of honor. It means you have reached the second level. However, the third level includes stalkers.

    1. 2

      good way to look at it :)

  8. 2

    I think a key element in business is preparation.
    You can't foresee everything of course, but when you add a feature like this, you know some people will be angry. And some of them will tell you :)

    Mentally, even thinking "Let's see who gets mad with this" before launching something new helps you cope with the aftermath.

    1. 1

      hm, yeah personal expectations was big here

  9. 2

    How relevant, I just got one yesterday.

    Free trial user sent me an angry email because they used my app (Zlappo) in a way that wasn't an intended use case (I'd even call it an abuse of it), and then blamed me and asked me to "delete his account" when in fact specific safeguards were put in place to stymie this type of abuse.

    It happens, and what you must accept is that you can't win every customer, you don't want to win every customer either.

    If hate mail is the rare exception to the other overwhelming love mail that you get, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.

    Sure, if they bring up a legitimate criticism, address it, maybe change something even. But truthfully, you should only target and appeal more to your best customers (i.e. easiest-to-handle, highest-ROI, lowest-support overhead, etc.).

    You entertain the trouble-makers, you get more of them.

    You entertain the good customers, you get more of them.

    1. 1

      I like that outlook a lot, thanks!

  10. 1

    Consider making some features premium

  11. 1

    Do you ever get hurtful feedback, and how do you handle it?

    When I launched my app on the Play Store, someone quickly called me an idiot and said my app is a scam...apparently because their phone ran out of memory or something.

    That review sits there to this day quietly reminding me that haters are gonna hate. I handled it the only way you can publicly: by politely rejecting the idea that my app is a scam (it is not) and giving them a phone number to contact me for help (they did not).

    There is always some valuable insight though from feedback like that: in your case, make it clear on your website that there's a fee - people only feel scammed if you surprise them with it later on!

  12. 1

    Trolls seem to be acceptable in the online world. They would never dare say things like this in person. Accept that it hurt then let it go. Well done on the transition.

  13. 1

    Now you have proof that you're making something people want.

  14. 1

    You are moving up in the business world :). No seriously. This is part of business and consider it a stamp of legitimacy that you have a real business. Haters gonna hate.

  15. 1

    Negativity is a growth medium. Making it public can help you gain more support.

    If it hurts, that's okay. Let it hurt. Resistance draws attention and power to it. Breathe and allow it to pass. You're okay.

  16. 1

    Perspective: At least you GOT feedback. The reality is most people don't ask for it or have a way to solicit it in order to help them find the right product market fit (or keep the right kinds of customer).

    Me, personally, if I got 398,987 negative reviews then that is positive feedback as far as I'm concerned. It tells me what the market will or wont tolerate, what to trash or keep, and even the when to pivot or double down.

    But keep going. Ignore the nonconstructive criticism. Good luck.

  17. 1

    Congratulations! You should look at this as a milestone :) If you're doing anything B2C then you should expect to have customers that get angry and send hate mail.

    We had one for our product Viyo the other day who was a subscriber ($5/mo). He was mad that our product didn't work and he called us a scam. We reached out to him and offered to give him personalized help, but he never responded. The funny thing is that he didn't cancel.

    Sometimes people just need to vent. Try to let it roll off your back... or bring it here to vent! Always love hearing a good mad customer story!

    1. 1

      that's an interesting story.. thanks geoff!

  18. 1

    Yeah, it hurts in the moment but the best thing to do is to delete the email as soon as you get it and just move on. Thinking about what they say won't lead to anything good so try not to.

  19. 1

    Hopefully I can bring some levity, because I know the situation sucks: I read the complaint in that nasally, self-righteous voice from that one annoying kid in school. Guy (or girl) probably makes comments like this on the regular.

    One thing that I do with feedback is put it all in a big spreadsheet. The columns are as follows: Source (name/handle), Content (of feedback), Context (where it came from), Type (comment, metric, other), Sentiment (positive, negative, question), Actionable (yes or no), Action Steps Taken.

    I found this spreadsheet really helps me put negative feedback in context when I receive it. I've found that most of my positive feedback is thoughtful, well-constructed comments, whereas negative comments are more off-the-cuff. Negative comments that are more thoughtful are actually very valuable and constructive, which is why the Action Steps Taken column is so important: it helps you realize that there are some things you can't do anything about, and other things you can.

    1. 1

      will start doing this! thank you!

  20. 1

    Imagine how bloggers, like on youtube, receive 10000+ negative comments :)

    Technically you should analyze if the message has something you should fix or take into account, if it's not - don't bother.

    I spend a lot of time in a cafe, and I see how from day to day they got someone complaining about price or something else. It's alright, there are always people who are not satisfied by everything :)

  21. 1

    There will always be a certain percentage that come up with such crap. Don´t take it personal. I got a few death threats when working the music business in 2010. E. g. I was in contact with a girl who I as hoping would do some promo work for me in Los Angeles area. A few days later her boyfriend told me if I ever come to LA he would kill me. Well, 2 months later I went to LA and I told him before. Certainly, nothing happened. Keyboard warriors are annoying, but harmless

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    This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

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    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 2

      great idea, i'll do that! thanks!

  24. 1

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

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