Ryan, thanks for writing this post. It really spoke to me, especially this:
I asked myself those three questions from Hiten "what here is painful, urgent, and frequent?"
As a whole? Nothing. In the parts, though, there was a lot of potential. The pieces were there. They just weren't organized in a way that was meaningful enough to encourage a want response.
I felt like you were talking about my app! I too need to find a way to create a "want response". Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Super helpful!
Great article, and I concur with the author's conclusions.
The key thing which I think needs to be highlighted, is that you have to communicate the core benefits to your audience succinctly and effectively. I think the OnCommand website does that.
We we first launched, we kept trying to sell "Simple and Beautiful HR", but we were getting no bites. The strapline was just too broad and vague.
When we changed the message to "Make employee leave approval processing a breeze", then we started to move the needle. You need to communicate what you product does in a way that engages your intended audience's pain points - then they will sit up and take attention.
I was checking out your website and for some reason, something wasn't quite resonating with me. Then I figured out what it was – it was too hard for me to piece together exactly which apps Command is supposed to replace.
You say "Command brings together all of the tools small teams need to manage their SaaS product and help eliminate the overwhelm, stress, and cost of juggling multiple apps."
But it's not clear to me what "multiple apps" means.
Then I scroll down a bit and see your first screenshot and I see:
Improve > Cards ... not exactly sure what this is. Issue tracker? To-do list? Team project management? Is this a replacement for Jira? Or Trello? Or Asana? All of the above?
Support > Inbox, Help and Documentation – this one is more straightforward, I assume this is a help desk replacement. But what is "customer"? Is that a replacement for Intercom? Or is it a CRM?
Grow > Revenue, Behavior – not sure what this is again.
After reading the rest of your page. I have a better sense but still some things are a bit foggy.
I think what would be helpful is a header that is very clear and explicit, something like:
"Your command center for Project Management and Development, Help Desk/Customer Support, Financial Reporting and User Analytics." (Not sure if that's an accurate depiction, but hopefully you get the point.)
I didn't move forward with it but there's an earlier version of the Command site that did exactly that—just didn't look/feel right.
Ultimately I've decided to move away from the current direction for the exact reasons you're outlining above. I want to be in a position where people "get it" immediately without having to piece it together.
The update I'm working on should help with that quite a bit.
Ryan, thanks for writing this post. It really spoke to me, especially this:
I felt like you were talking about my app! I too need to find a way to create a "want response". Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Super helpful!
Hey Steven! Good to hear this resonated with you and was helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
By the way, why don't you have Command listed as a product in your profile?
I had added it but I didn't complete the approval process! Derp. Thank you for the heads up, I would have completely missed that.
Great article, and I concur with the author's conclusions.
The key thing which I think needs to be highlighted, is that you have to communicate the core benefits to your audience succinctly and effectively. I think the OnCommand website does that.
We we first launched, we kept trying to sell "Simple and Beautiful HR", but we were getting no bites. The strapline was just too broad and vague.
When we changed the message to "Make employee leave approval processing a breeze", then we started to move the needle. You need to communicate what you product does in a way that engages your intended audience's pain points - then they will sit up and take attention.
Thanks for the feedback, Devan :)
This is 100% it.
Hey folks, OP here. Hope this helps some other folks currently working on their 1.0. Any questions or feedback, just leave them here for me!
Hey Ryan,
I was checking out your website and for some reason, something wasn't quite resonating with me. Then I figured out what it was – it was too hard for me to piece together exactly which apps Command is supposed to replace.
You say "Command brings together all of the tools small teams need to manage their SaaS product and help eliminate the overwhelm, stress, and cost of juggling multiple apps."
But it's not clear to me what "multiple apps" means.
Then I scroll down a bit and see your first screenshot and I see:
After reading the rest of your page. I have a better sense but still some things are a bit foggy.
I think what would be helpful is a header that is very clear and explicit, something like:
"Your command center for Project Management and Development, Help Desk/Customer Support, Financial Reporting and User Analytics." (Not sure if that's an accurate depiction, but hopefully you get the point.)
Also, this seems relevant to Command:
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/basecamps-pricing-page-is-worth-stealing-5529018c3b
Thanks for all of this feedback, Steven :)
I didn't move forward with it but there's an earlier version of the Command site that did exactly that—just didn't look/feel right.
Ultimately I've decided to move away from the current direction for the exact reasons you're outlining above. I want to be in a position where people "get it" immediately without having to piece it together.
The update I'm working on should help with that quite a bit.
Sounds good. I look forward to seeing it!