RSVP Keeper
Online RSVP's made easy
Hey Hackers!
Today is the day! After about a four-month development term, I'm officially launching RSVP Keeper. And of course I'd like to share it here with my fellow grinders. I've also posted it to Product Hunt today https://www.producthunt.com/posts/rsvp-keeper.
Long story short - I had gotten married recently and had to of course work on getting the wedding RSVP's in order. As a dev by trade, I was kinda astonished that I couldn't find any online options that were pretty, simple to setup, and easy for guests to fill out.
A lot of what I found out there was super difficult to use and seemed to be made years ago and just treading water now.
So, after I licked the last envelope I started working on RSVP Keeper.
The main goal, and complete focus, for RSVP Keeper is simplicity. I wanted it to be easy for hosts and easy for guests.
You know, I sorta see online RSVP's as somewhat of an untapped market - I mean look at my situation, I'm literally a developer and still sent out paper invites to my wedding just because it's tried and true. Although geez it was expensive, $500+ - and that's normal I guess when I asked friends.
So I want to bring some of that tried and true to the online RSVP world, so that people feel confident their guests were able to fill out their posts, and that the setup process is simple and streamlined.
RSVP Keeper supports Additional Events, Custom Questions, Seating Charts, and more - and everything is included in the initial free plan which serves 50 guests. If you need more guests, that's when you'll pay - $19.99 for up to 250 guests or $29.99 for up to 500.
One thing I'm really happy about with this app is that there is a direct way to make money for me. As stupid as it sounds I've made a bunch of apps in the past but they basically all failed - mainly due to the fact that there wasn't a direct way to monetize the content other than ads. I was sorta waiting on the viral-nature of it all, which of course we all know is more miss than hit.
Anyways - thanks for checking it out. I really appreciate the support!
Ok so I'm just getting done with a 10 hour run of posting RSVP Keeper to a bunch of the sites that are for new business/startups.
I posted to: crunchbase.com, angel.co, stackshare.io, betalist.com, 10words.io, startuptracker.io, alternativeto.net, got my Product Hunt post ready for next week, cleaned up the Twitter page, and more I'm probably forgetting.
Jeez - after four months of intense coding, it feels like that was just the beginning of the work that will be needed to launch the app properly!
I've made other apps in the past - but honestly they all basically failed. The main problem I think was that I want to make so many apps - I just don't give each one the proper attention they deserve/need to grow nicely.
Well I'm going to do something different with RSVP Keeper - I'm not going to start another project right away - I'm going to stick with it for a good long while, so my focus is slowly on growth. I guess I just have too many ideas for my own good.
It's just been a long road already with the development - it's so funny how the marketing can, in some ways, be an even bigger endeavor. That's what makes these things fun though!
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The site looks great! I think I'm in the same mode as you were I often work on an idea, minimally launch it, and then move on to something new. I'm finally realizing that marketing and sales has to be a big part of the project. Need to find ways to stay motivated about that part of it as it is more challenging than the coding part. Keep going!
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Good reminder. I saw this and went through all those sites. 😂
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Ha yea I sorta landed on these ones being the most important - based on my recent research. Although I'm sure there's more.
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Your post reminds me of Sahil of Gumroad’s tweet. It’s one that I come back to as I resonate with what you’ve described above of starting too many times but not finding success.
Throw things against a wall hoping one sticks.
Or, throw one thing against it and then spend a few years holding it there until it does.
Hope much success comes your way John!
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Thank you for this - it's good to hear about others who went through similar hurdles. I'm going to go back now and read more about his experience. Thank you.
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Good Luck Bro!
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Thank you!
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Congrats on getting all of the marketing pieces moving - whew and there's a lot. There's been a theme for me this week that I thought I'd share. Comes from Gary V and Paul Jarvis. Most people think we have to focus on width and reach to be successful but that allows depth to break through the noise. Try going the extra mile with new customers and do the things that don't scale even if it's slow going. It'll pay dividends in the future. Good luck, brother!
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Thank you and thanks for the valuable points - totally make sense.
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@alexwawl posted a link the other day to an article by Paul Graham that's along these lines, I found it to be a really good read:
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Thank you for mentioned me.🙌
Yes, this really works for me. Just go to the place where your customers can be - and just start to speak to them.
Maybe it sounds boring and too simple but it's really works. You get know your customers and can get honest feedback.😉
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Now that RSVP Keeper is launched, I looked at what assets I'd need for marketing.
One thing that seemed obvious right away was the need for a video of some sort. The app itself is a bit complex - due to the nature of RSVP's - so I figured a video walkthrough would be the best idea. Also I noticed a lot of my competitors have videos on their landing pages.
I spent a long time researching how to accomplish the task. I'm not a big outsourcer - which is probably one of my faults. But I've edited many videos in the past for friends' bands - so I figured I'd just buckle down and record a screencast and then comment over it.
Well - it's launched now and I think it turned out ok! I'd like to see what you all think. For zero dollars - it's right in my budget and doubles as a good tutorial on how to use the app! Ha.
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMqMVRX0T44
RSVP Keeper landing: https://www.rsvpkeeper.com/
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hey, the video walkthrough explains the complete process indeed. as a product explanation, it is perfect.
now marketing-wise, I'm not sure about the length of the video.. most people won't take the time to see the complete video, I think you could have better results if you break the video into the individual steps or the main pain points and focus on them. dealing with a different list for events, and menu selection I believe will be the biggest ones.
on a side note, as a UX designer, I'm curious who is your target audience? because the interface is pretty complicated for a one-time family event planner, it looks geared up enough for event organizers who need to deal with long lists and many events at a time.
and just a tip, keep names and terms easy, "edit party data" " edit guest data" sounds very technical, even more for a party rsvp, you could change data for details and it sounds more casual already.
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Thanks for the great feedback! You're def right about simple label naming having a big effect. I'll seriously take a look at that.
About the target audience - it's anyone hosting an event like a wedding, bar mitzvah, stuff like that.
I know it seems complicated, and it is because of the nature of the content, but if you've checked out some of the competition you would find RSVP Keeper is actually simpler! I know - seems crazy right. Although I still need to continue to work and make it simpler even still.
Thanks for checking it out.
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Great video! Really shows the features well.
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Thank you! I've been in such a vacuum with this recently it's good to hear some things are hitting as intended.
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It's official! RSVP Keeper is now launched.
After about 4 months of development, I'm proud to see RSVP Keeper live.
Some core RSVP Keeper features:
- Email sending, with the ability to send RSVP links manually to Parties if you wish.
- Additional Events - good for a shower or rehearsal type side events where you want to utilize the Guest List you've already worked to build.
- Custom Questions - because there's a whole bunch of questions you may want to ask in addition to the standard meal options.
- Seating Chart - simple seating chart with export to .pdf and .csv.
I'll continue to update here as time progresses!
I recently got married and had to organize RSVP's with my wife. A full-stack developer by trade, I began researching online options, figuring there would be a go-to app for us to use.
Long story short - I didn't find something that was:
Pretty to look at.
Simple to setup as a host.
Easy to fill out as a guest.
Priced in an easy to reason way.
After licking the last envelope, I decided to create an online RSVP app for the modern host. I did a bunch of research - polling my friends and family, studying the needs of a host, and rethinking the RSVP process itself.
7 Comments
Would the wedding planners be a good target audience for this?
Congrats on the software. And marriage!
Thank you x2 ha. And yea I could totally see event planners loving this as it's really easy to host multiple separate events.
Awesome work. Good luck with PH, interested to hear how it goes.
Thanks - yea I'm not expecting crazy things from PH as this isn't super tech related, but it'll be good to put that stake in the ground.
Congrats on the release dude I wish you as much success on your first week as I did with https://trackmylift.app 💪🏻😎
Thank you - great job on trackmylift!
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Thank you! Appreciate you checking it out, and for your research.
I'm very familiar with the sites you linked as those are my direct competitors. I did a ton of market research in trying to find out exactly where those apps are lacking. I hope after visiting a few of them it becomes apparent why I feel so strongly about the need for an app like RSVP Keeper.
Really it's all about simplicity and a clean, modern design. I look at it like this - you're going to have all your guests come and use this form, and you're going to spend a ton of time in the app setting up your guest list - you want it to be as modern and clean as possible - especially because you want to capture as many RSVP's as possible.
Thanks again!
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
This comment was deleted 7 years ago