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Looking for alternative ways to find first 50 users

Hello everyone,

This is our first post on here and we were seeking advice on how to get users to use our application. We have tried paid ads across all platforms (FB, Google, Reddit Ads, Tiktok) and they seem to not be working to the intended extent.

We are a group therapy application and we're on the iOS App Store. It's called Moodshare and you can join live therapy groups led by licensed therapists on it. The main limitations that we have are:

  1. Our application is only functional for users in the state of Georgia (state licensing laws prohibit therapists to provide mental healthcare outside state borders and all of our therapists are in GA) and

  2. We don't really have much social proof on the app store with 7 ratings and 3 reviews so far. We are starting a blog to increase our SEO and we are building our Instagram page slowly but I feel like the problem is that people come to our app store page and they feel like nobody is actually using the app since most people are used to seeing 1K ratings on apps. How would we alleviate this problem I don't know.

We are looking for unique ways to address those problems so any help would be much appreciated by our fellow entrepreneurs!

Sincerely,

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    It's true that people want to see lots of ratings and downloads to have trust in an App. Also, if an App is effectively a marketplace, matching people into groups or matching providers with customer then the more downloads/ratings the better chance the marketplace has someone to match you with.

    On the other hand, people pick a licensed therapist based on no more data than you have today. A picture and a bio may be all you get.

    If someone believes in the therapist who is leading the group, they don't need any social proof about your app. The fact that the therapist is leading the group USING your app is enough. They are buying the therapist, and the App is just a delivery method.

    If I were in your shoes, I would think about what my team can do to help your current roster of therapists get more customers. How can you make them more successful? How can you bring them more customers?

    At first, it will look inefficient. You are building someone else's brand and someone else gets the lion's share of the revenue when a customer buys.

    But, you will get a roster of therapists who will give amazing testimonials (I doubled my income with Moodshare!) and a playbook for how any therapist can be more successful by adding group therapy with Moodshare. At that point, either let the therapists run the playbook themselves, or charge them directly to run the marketing playbook.

    At some point, you will have enough traction that ordinary consumers who buy APPS will come looking for you on the App store. You will be able to do what you're trying to do now. But that comes later, I think it is too early now.

    I am in a similar stage to you guys - have a working App and trying to develop repeatable marketing. Would be happy to talk anytime, my contact info is:
    https://app.contactlink.com/to/jesse.hercules

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      Hello Jesse,

      Thank you for the amazing info! That was very helpful. Also, yes the platform is essentially a marketplace. We find groups for users for their specific issues and if we can't find groups for them we'll find therapists who specialize in their problems and we let the group populate from there.

      In your opinion do you think it is wise to stop paid ads altogether or decrease the budget as were spending almost $100 a day?

      I really appreciate your response,

      Ozzy

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        My opinion is, paid ads aren't working so they go to $0. Paid ads are really hard for a smaller company to succeed with.

        Read what Rand says here: https://sparktoro.com/blog/when-choosing-marketing-channels-visualize-the-curve/

        Glad I could be helpful!

        One thing I'd think about for you guys - you want a really warm, friendly onboarding process for new Therapists. Right now it looks like you have a contact form where they have to upload sensitive info, and there's not really a calendar link or a phone number where they can get in touch and get comfortable with you first.

        That's the kind of problem we fix at ContactLink. I can get you a link for free, since I'm building up our user base also.

        See what we do by visiting our site at www.ContactLink.com or visiting my link: http://app.contactlink.com/to/jesse.hercules

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    I know this is kinda ridiculous but someone suggested this to me...
    and I'm kinda trying this out for the next few weeks...
    But I'm using Bumble & Lunchclub HAHA

    Since I plan on onboarding users one by one anyway. If I can help people interested in shared topics and I don't have to shout into the void, I thought why not.

    Will let you know how it goes~

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      That is very interesting Fu! Let me know if it works out, please. 😊

      Ozzy

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    Are you all signing up therapists using group finders like this one?
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/groups/ga/atlanta

    I am wondering if a good growth model would be to reach out to all the licensed therapists doing group in-person therapy and offer them your App as a better technology than whatever they are using today (Zoom?).

    Then say you have a budget to help them promote the MoodShare groups, and have them tell you how they would spend (say) $500 promoting their first online group that will run on MoodShare. Then if you do say 20 of these efforts you can find what works best and take it to other areas / groups.

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      Reaching out to those therapists a great idea Jesse and one we have already implemented. We contacted almost all therapists that do groups on Psychology Today. We were able to attract some of them to our platform but I'm willing to go at them again one more time as some time has passed.

      I didn't quite understand the last paragraph. Are you saying "Ask the therapists how they would market their service with $500 and try that marketing method"?

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        Sorry I was unclear, and glad you are already leveraging the PT directory! Imagine I'm a therapist running 3 groups weekly and wanting to start a 4th one. You approach me and say, Jesse you can run your group better on MoodShare than Zoom, and here are all the reasons. And you say, Jesse if you start your new group on MoodShare then MoodShare will spend up to $500 promoting this 4th group so you can get a group of patients quickly. This offer exipires in 1 week. Are you in? How do you want MoodShare to promote it? This gives you some urgency to close the deal, and the therapist with 3 successful groups already is going to tell you how and where to find new patients to join a group. So for the same $500 you would spend on 5 days of ads, you are getting new learning that you can re-use and adapt forever. Once you learn how to bring in groups of new patients, then you will be able to go to therapists and say, "I have a group of 9 patients that want to start therapy for newly divorced dads (or whatever) next week. I am sending this to 5 qualified, licensed therapists... if you want to lead this group sign up for MoodShare here...."

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