How startups can gather their first reviews?
Listen up, Indiehackers! 👋
Don't repeat my mistake - when I first started building, I waited a whole year before starting to collect my first review. A YEAR! That's 365 days of missed opportunities and valuable feedback down the drain.
Hey, I'm Donald, founder of Mida.so, a free and lightweight A/B testing tool, and I want to share how we finally tackled one of the biggest challenges for new startups: getting those crucial first reviews.
Here's what worked really well for us and you can just copy this strategy.
Provide GREAT support
We aimed to respond to support tickets in under 2 hours.
Happy customers = more reviews
Capitalize on upgrades
When free users upgraded to paid plans, we'd ask for a review while they were feeling good about the product.
Identify and leverage power users
These are your goldmine. We looked for users who:
- Logged in daily
- Used advanced features
- Had high engagement metrics
We didn't just ask them for reviews - we conducted interviews, created case studies, and invited them to beta programs.
Incentivize for review
We offered:
- Extended free trials
- Free upgrades for freemium users
(Just make sure to follow platform guidelines!)
Build relationships through user interviews
This helped us understand our ideal customer profile and gather product insights.
Automate the process
We set up email triggers for review requests after positive interactions or upgrades.
Leverage reviews for growth
We embedded reviews in our sign-up form and saw a 56.94% improvement in sign-ups!
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-we-doubled-our-sign-up-rates-in-5-minutes-e41d20ecb3
Remember to be:
- Be genuine
- Time it right
- Make it easy (provide direct links)
- Follow up
- Respond to ALL reviews
You can read about the full write up on this strategy at https://www.mida.so/blog/how-startups-can-gather-their-first-reviews
What strategies have worked for you in gathering early reviews? Any challenges you're facing? Let's discuss!
