Is it a mistake to start a side project in a crowded red-ocean market?
Verimail.io (email address verification) have been around for over a year now with just a handful of customers and little to no growth over the last few months.
I tried Google search campaigns with no results.
Is this market saturated already? or is the problem elsewhere?
There's nothing wrong with red ocean. Look at productivity tools, design tools and travel industry.
I think to take your company the next stage, you need to narrow down your customer segment. Start small, grow fast. @AdilBEK You've a great product :)
You are absolutely right. Its just that when we keep trying without results we tend to loose sight of the target. One segment at a time, roger that.
I may be interested in your service later this year:-)
Such a comment is a great morale booster :) thank you
No, but the question is can you actually focus on specific niche within the market or build a better product?
Good examples are:
You just need to be in a big red ocean market, its actually easier than to create a blue ocean one.
When you put it this way, its true. There must be a thousand ways to reach those customers. I just need the right strategy. I guess the final word here is 'keep trying' :)
Thanks
At first I didn't know this existed. So I had a quick look and found a few competitors via Google (like loqate). In general this is good, when there is competition there is a market. You either need to be find first, be better, or tailer to specific needs (niches).
You have a very tight audience; they either need to find you, or you need to find them. I wouldn't focus on blogs, seo, etc.
For them to find you, I would recommend Google Ads. I do the same for my platform; feedback52.com. It's specific & users know if they need it. It surprises me that this didn't bring success.
For you to find them, I would recommend finding users & offering a great deal. Make sure that the advances of your service a clear. I find loqate more attractive in their offer. For example; is see 18 reasons on your site (which is a lot to read), while loqate has 3. With some A/B testing & growth hacking you can find what works best for your visitors.
Good luck !!
You are right, google ads has to work, the problem is either in the keywords or in the website. I will think it over again. Thank you for the valuable analysis.
Hi Adil. In any red ocean, there are likely to be customers who are dissatisfied with the current options for one reason or another. You would want to think about what those reasons could be and how your product can be positioned to be the answer to those problems. You need to find a way to speak to their pain. Right now your website headline is ''Email address verification. Clean email address lists of any size, or use our powerful API for real-time verification.'' This talks about a feature of your service, but what is the benefit or result of using your product? The benefits are hidden down at the bottom of the page. So you might reframe the headline to say something like: ''Did you know that if over 10% of your emails are undeliverable that less than half of your emails will reach subscriber inboxes? Make sure your messages get seen by using Verimail to clean up your addresses today''. If you want to know which messages resonate, the easiest way would be to set up and track several low cost Facebook ads and send them to a landing page where the benefits of using Verimail are front and center.
I was under the impression that email verification is a comodity that doesnt need market education anymore. But am wrong.
The way you put the value proposition makes a lot of difference. Thank you for the inspiration. I will definitly use that to redo the copywriting.
If you compete as a commodity, you will always be competing on price, and there will always be someone who can undercut you. It's best to take yourself out of the commodity market by positioning your product as a new opportunity and adding massive value to the offer. Dan Kennedy has said “If you can’t be the number one lowest-price leader in your market, there is no strategic advantage of being the second lowest price leader in town, but there is a huge strategic advantage of being the most expensive.”