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18 Comments

MARKETING SUCKS! Haha

Any advice on how I can get users to try my application?
I listen to the IndieHackers podcast every day with @csallen and after the last episode on Ahrefs I feel like I need to go all in on SEO. Haha

Any advice on how I can get people to try CloseLine.co?

#product-feedback-request

  1. 3

    Well the first thing is that are there even any searches for this?

    SEO is just demand harvesting, if nobody is searching for it, impossible to optimize for those searches...

    1. 1

      @henrikharju we would probably do SEO around our competitors, not the app functions itself.

      We could also shoot for topics like call center lead software and/or lead capture widgets.

  2. 1

    You need to do direct outreach first to your ideal customers and have conversations with them.

    This will:

    1. Help you understand how to warm up cold people.
    2. Tell you where your product falls short in solving pain points.
    3. Identify objections from folks that you need to overcome to make a customer.
    4. Get your first 100 customers that kickstart your business.
    5. Help you identify your message so your SEO can kick butt.

    "Build it and they will come" isn't a thing. You have to go and get your customers, especially in the beginning.

    1. 1

      Thanks @rlfrahm
      My plan is to do everything you said. We want to get 100 people on the platform so we can learn. To your point though, I am having trouble getting the first 100 even with the word "free".

      The problem is, I don't have an email list to go after. All I have is Indie Hackers and a few Beta Users websites. 😉

      I am finding that participating more in variuos forms has found some success.

      1. 1

        If a person doesn't see the value in something that is "free" they still won't go for it. Make sure that you're conveying the pain points that you solve very clearly to anyone you reach out to.

        And the first 100 takes time. Be patient and remember that the 1% of people that ultimately find the success they are after, found that success by pushing through when they felt like nothing was working or "no traction".

        You don't need an email list. You need to find pockets of your ideal customer that you can start to reach out to on a 1-on-1 basis to gain interest. Facebook Groups is the classic first recommendation, but the way I'm doing this for my new venture is by reaching out to followers of my IG account who fit my niche. When you target the right audience with a message that shows clear value, they don't need the work "free" to push them over the edge.

        Lastly, maybe the first thing you should do is get on the phone, or a chat with a couple of people who are your ideal customer and ask them questions to dig deeper into how they talk, what their pain points are, and how motivated they are to solving that pain point. They key here is that this about your learning, don't try to sell to them. Every time I've done this, It's shown me that I need to pivot my product to better align with their needs.

        1. 1

          Thanks @rlfrahm
          I like the insta strategy! Great Idea!
          Stay posted and I will let you know how I land my first 100!

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            Can't wait to hear back how it goes!

  3. 1

    The positioning of chatbot vs live call feels off to me. In my kind, they're two different things, both needed, but not competitive. Chat is a great, low investment way to get questions answered. As a consumer, I use them when I'm in exploration mode. I use live phone calls when I'm ready to make a purchase...it's a much more involved conversation.

    As a maker, I don't want to use a phone call for things a chatbot or chat interface can be used for. If a potential customer wants to walk through a specific use case or talk about buying, THEN I want to hop on the phone. I very much view it as an "and" situation, not an "or."

    1. 1

      @andrew_bpco I think you are 100% right!

      Our original intention/pitch was to reduce bounce rate and capture more leads. The problem we thought we were solving was "response time", meaning, a lot of time people leave a site before an agent can respond to their chats. Which therefore gave birth to the AI based chatbots (also known as hell). Haha

      With CloseLine.co we thought/think that by creating an immediate call we have removed the response time problem. What we are finding is exactly what you said! There are fewer conversations being had then a normal chat app, but the conversations that are being had are much higher converting conversations.

      In my option there is a simple solution, I think in the future we will add a chat piece to the app. Then if users want they can escalate the conversation into a call.

      As it stands today, the app works good for sales but great for people for support.

      @andrew_bpco Thanks a ton for the feedback!! Confirmed at lot of things we are thinking.

  4. 1

    Excellent. It's all about online chats these days, and here's one that's uninventing the chat bot, and reinventing the telephone. Bell would love you for this.

    To get users started on your platform, I think your homepage needs to explain the working process of your system. I'm still wondering why exactly I would want to utilise your software, instead simply having a simple call button, linked to tel:.

    In other words, breakdown the benefits and help your users understand the process. Afterwards pitch to B2B companies. I believe you can capture a market there.

    Honestly Spencer, I think there's too much text on your landing page. That could damper your conversion rates.

    1. 1

      @Ihsan Bell does love us! haha

      Thanks for the feedback! We are constantly trying new landing pages.

      In fact, I just launched this page on our site: https://www.closeline.co/spencer

      Can I get your feedback on this page?

      1. 1

        This is an excellent step in the right direction. I'd say if you took off the second question that could increase click through rates on your Call-to-action.

        Prior to closing deals every prospective customers comes through a sales funnel (I'm sure you've heard of sales funnels).

        With websites it's pretty much the same.

        When the visitor enters the landing page, you need to present him with just one message. Like telling a story.

        But telling him the process, will not help.

        Rather, telling him the final goal, is like showing him and letting him smell, and taste a scrumptious dish.

        Telling him the process, would be like telling him how to eat that dish before he even sees, smells, or tastes it.

        Your landing page, partly tells him the process, and not the goal, when you say: "What if your website called you".

        When you said "hot leads", I understand that you're presenting a somewhat marketing platform to businesses. Which means, your selling B2B.

        The right way in my honest opinion, would be to present the final goal to the visitor by headlining on your landing page:
        # Increase visitor conversion rates
        ## From Visitor, to Customer in just 02 steps.

        And your call to action would then be "Try CloseLine, 100% Free. Forever."

        In small letters below that call to action button would be text that read: "How does it work?"

        I could guarantee that the probability of conversions on that landing page would be higher insha Allah.

        *When I say insha Allah, the translation is "If God Wills", and I believe it is better and more guaranteed to succeed if said.

        Wish you the best!

        1. 1

          @Ihsan this is an amazing response!
          I will take your feedback and run with it. In honesty, looking at other landing pages on betalist.com and betapage.co I think I am puting too much content on our pages.

          In the future, I plan to make the landing page much simpler with a much clearer message.

          @Ihsan as we iterate our landing pages, do you mind if I send them to you for feedback? The above post was truly helpful!

          1. 1

            Most welcome!

            Yeah no problem, do send me your landing page once complete, and if time permits a reply asap, I'd be glad to drop in my two cents.

            *smiles, we build landing pages, and draft marketing campaigns, and analyse data a lot of the time (at LeapDifferent.com); so this is right up my street.

  5. 1

    Makers underestimate the online visitor. And how to warm audiences. Visitors rarely take action on the first visit. https://blog.popcornmetrics.com/how-to-warm-and-convert-your-cold-traffic/

    1. 1

      Solid article @gator70

      Thanks for sharing! We are looking into running some ads to get early adoptors, plus that will help us with retargeting.

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        After tests you will get an idea if the busines you build should continue or die.

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