How do I niche down my product?
I've created a lightweight status reporting tool called DoneMyBit (http://donemybit.com), but I'm still struggling to recruit users.
It must be due to the fact that it's not targeted at a very specific niche, but I cannot really figure out how to do that.
I'd love to hear your input on this.
Thank you!
You have a good point that it does not target anyone specifically. My first thoughts were:
There are so many open questions. It might help to identify your ideal customer profile (not persona, but real people). Check out the template "How to sharpen your ideal customer profile" on https://thesalesplaybook.io/resources/
Useful questions, thank you. The USP is that DoneMyBit focuses on progress, not tasks. It's super lightweight, and by having your progress reports in a structured format, you can analyse the data, look for productivity patterns, common blockers, and other non-trivial connections. These reports can be used to optimised workflows, utilise in 1-on-1 meetings or when it comes to employee evaluations.
About your 2) & 3) question, I don't have an answer yet, but I understand I need to start thinking about those, as this will lead me closer to finding my niche. Thank you for asking those!
Can you sell me on the idea?
Previously we'd handle this via Slack. And that was fine. If I was going to replace this I'd want slack integration and maybe Jira/Trello/Notion integration.
But it's really a small advantage so to having that vs. just typing in my status into Slack, so who are you selling to and what is it that they are getting by using this product?
Your examples are great, in fact, I really like the tool, so it looks like you'd be pushing toward managers?
Let me try to sell you on the idea! :)
The main advantage reporting on a specialised platform versus doing in Slack (or any other non-centralised written format) is having a structured format. That way, you can analyse the data, look for productivity patterns, common blockers, and other non-trivial connections. These reports can be used to optimised workflows, utilise in 1-on-1 meetings or when it comes to employee evaluations.
Currently, there are a few charts on DoneMyBit to make it easier for you. In the future, I'd like to have add new visualisations and also have all this automated, generating reports regularly, from the data your team submitted.
How does that sound? :) You say you like to tool, what would it require from my part to make you give it a try?
So who is the decision maker when it comes to using this product?
When I worked there was always an aversion to new tools - so any tool just needs to fill a greatly needed void - and to pay for it, well it's got to be a really greatly needed void.
I'd use this, but I don't work in any teams at the moment ;)
My initial thought is the manager, asking the team to report statuses in the product. But I also think this could function as a self-motivator, where team members starts using it proactively.
The wording on the landing page, however, talks to the managers.
It does indeed sound like a very broadly marketed tool right now.
I don't have an idea of how you could make it more specific but perhaps you could get inspired by these daily standup tools that have a similar use case or monday.com which is a very general planning tool, but they also try to switch up minor things to target different niches and use cases.
Thank you for the shared resources, I'll have a look and try to extract some ideas from those!
Even if your product isn't targeted at a specific niche, you could perhaps research and find a niche that's currently underserved, create some content or marketing around their use cases, and sell it to them?
For example, school teachers?
Thank you for your input! I was hoping for someone to say that!
I'm a bit lost about how to come up with (and then research, and then validate) a niche. Can you guide me in the right direction? :)
Like @Accomplished_Clerk07 said, "Are there more people like you?". This is the best place to start.
If you're using it for yourself, can you find others like you and solve the same problem for them?
If you're not using it for yourself, then this may be a solution in search of a problem. Then you have to do some more research and find a group of people with a problem that your app can solve. In this case, I would do some digging and look for forums where people discuss remote team issues and see if there are any pains you can uncover.
Well, why did you decide to solve this? What niche were you in? You must have built this for a reason. Are there more people like you? Where do they hang out?
This space is also crowded so I imagine you need to really think of a way to stand out. Nice job with the site and progress so far though!