4 May 2010
Your Web App has Launched – Now What?
Editors Note: In his first article for Think Vitamin, Des Traynor – UX Lead at Dublin based Contrast, outlines some extremely useful post launch strategies for ensuring the success of your web app. You can hear Des share more development stories at Future of Web Apps Dublin 2010.
Launch Time
Launch is a stressful time for web start-ups. It’s the culmination of many month’s hard work, arguments, agreements, feature debates, and design decisions. Someone runs a deploy script and poof! You’re not in Kansas anymore, and you’ll certainly need a brain, a heart and a fair share of courage.
Since most start-up advice covers the period before you’re live, I thought I’d write about two of the most common issues I see in web applications post launch.
Budget for Further Development
You’re planning on being successful, right? One thing you should know is that the vast majority of development will happen after you go live. Only when the rubber hits the road will you know what’s essential, what’s a priority, what features are “nice to have” and what ones are preventing sign ups, and real revenue.
You need to budget for development that will happen when you’re live, and you need that money in the bank when you launch. You can’t count on product revenue. You don’t have that much time.
Even if things are going really well and three hundred customers sign up for your app and eventually convert to paying customers. These days you have to at least offer a thirty-day free trial to let customers find their feet. So on day 31, you’ll have three hundred customers ready to pay you their $19.
When you strip out fees, hosting costs, etc, you’ll be left with maybe $5,000 to plan further development. That’s a long time to be running your application without any development, and $5,000 probably won’t buy you what your three hundred customers have been screaming for all month.
Design still Happens after Launch
At MIX10 this year, Bill Buxton spoke about the development of the Seattle public library. One point he made about the design process has massive parallels with application development…
“The design of the building wasn’t finished until the building had opened and there were people using it, because there are some decisions that you can’t make properly until you’ve seen the building occupied, because you’re just not gonna get it right.”
Market research, wireframing, prototyping are necessary to get you a good start, but once you’re live your users will show you how it all should work. Hopefully you got most of it right, but there will be changes, and you need to budget for them.
Where Revenue Comes From
The sad reality is that unless you’ve already amassed a significant following, through your reputation, your blog, your previous company, or by winning a competition, you most likely won’t have three hundred paying customers on day one. Try three. But that’s okay, you’re just getting started.
A motto I drill into client’s heads is that web applications don’t sell themselves. Even the beloved Network Effect still requires a network to begin with.
It’s easy to obsess over the one bug that stops one ancillary feature working in one version of one browser, or dwell upon one user who swears they’ll pay for Ning integration. This isn’t why you’re struggling to hit three digits. It’s just your scapegoat to hide a bigger problem.
Number of users, times value of plans equals revenue. Right? So all you need are more users and you’ll have more money. It’s simple, and that’s the problem with it. Saying “we need to increase users or “we need to increase our revenue per user” reduces you to the sleazy, pin-stripe consultant who chirps in with truisms like “guys, we need to move forward”, and “let’s aim for our deadlines”.
This simplistic way of looking at your application leaves you with no next step. There is no lever called “more users”. There is no obvious next step associated with “increase value”.
You need to focus your efforts. That’s why I draw this second diagram for clients (full size diagram).
This highlights the real issues. It shows exactly what goes into a typical customer acquisition. If you have some basic analytics tool installed, you can quickly quantify all of these numbers and see where your problem lies.
If you’re losing customers on day one of your free trial, you need to evaluate what the first login is like, and talk to your customers.
If your analytics highlight a lot of errors at the sign-up stage, or your funnel view shows that very few get past it, then you need an easier sign-up form, or more motivated users.
In my experience, it’s rarely one of the above problems. It’s usually far earlier in the process; no one has heard of you or your application. In analytics speak, the number of new unique visitors to your site each day is too low to see a solid increase in your userbase, and it itself isn’t increasing.
If/when we agree that’s your problem, then we look at that in detail. This usually involves a third drawing.
How can I put this in a way so as not to offend or unnerve? Basically, start-ups all suck at marketing/branding/pitching and most of all, selling. I don’t mean selling up-and-to-the-right bar-charts to VC’s, I mean actually selling the application you built to the people you built it for.
This is one problem that you can’t code your way out of. There comes a point where coding is procrastination. Unless of course your business depends solely on your respect from software developers, in which case programming is your best marketing tool.
Shouting isn’t Selling
As I type this post, there are four people in my twitter stream “marketing” their application by posting tweets saying “guys, I’d love some feedback” or “Check out xyz.com for all your xyz needs”. Using a link monitoring service like Bit.ly shows you exactly how ineffective this approach is. It’s the online equivalent of storming into a nightclub and screaming “Okay ladies, who wants a drink?”, and it’s about as effective.
By way of comparison, I often receive personal e-mail from both friends and strangers asking if I’ll try out their new project/application/piece-of-fun. These e-mails explain why they’re writing to me, how they know me, why they value my opinion about this app. It’s clear the author has taken their time to speak to me.
These guys get a 100% click-through rate. Some of them will get a “looks cool, but I’m not your target user”, some get tweeted, some get blogged, some will get a list of show-stopping issues, but they all get something, because they showed me some respect.
Broadcast mechanisms such as tweeting, blogging, sponsoring, advertising, even speaking at a conference are all great for making noise. But the value diminishes very quickly afterwards. Having genuine conversations with genuine people, is a far better approach to selling your application. It’s a far scarier prospect too.
It’s much easier to hide between your tweets saying “I’m doing all I can, users just aren’t coming”. The difference between broadcasting and communicating is that communicating involves answering tricky questions like “why is it so dear?” or “can it import Excel files?”
Lessons Learnt
You need to work hard for every user in the early days of a web application, and as you get them you need to have budget and plans for what you’ll do to make them happier as the relationship grows. Getting one hundred paying users is a huge milestone, getting to the mythical 2,000 takes patience and hard work. Act accordingly.
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Kat Neville
# May 4, 2010 - 1:00 pm
Great article! It’s true the whole industry has a ‘if I build it, they will come’ mentality; most aren’t lacking good ideas, but good follow-through. I think I always knew this, but have always had trouble articulating it, especially to some of the start-ups I’m working with.
Also, I love your diagrams. You can explain things to me anytime :)
Derek Organ
# May 4, 2010 - 2:11 pm
Nice one Des.
Been through it all so I can absolutely agree. Selling in a traditional sense is so important in getting your initial 100 customers. And selling isn’t selling to fellow web professionals its selling to the non-techie in your target market.
Its hard but as time goes by you’d be surprised how much you can achieve if you just stick at it and keep selling. Any time you get an enquiry about the product. Call them. talk to them and help them solve their problems in there business and explain how your product can help them.
Its not one thing that makes it all work, you still need good product, price etc but once you have those, selling is so so important.
Selling = Talking on Phone and going out and meeting your potential clients.
Selling != Tweeting / blogging / talking to other techies (there are benefits but its not selling.)
Dave Concannon
# May 4, 2010 - 2:49 pm
Great Article Des. A lot of your points fit in well with some of the philosophies from Lean Startups – Delivering the minimal product so that after launch you can tweak and polish based on actual user feedback, concentrating on metrics and user activities that are actually important (AARRR etc …http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2007/09/startup-metrics.html).
Good points on the ineffectiveness of broadcast marketing vs personal contacts.
Dave
Pk
# May 4, 2010 - 2:57 pm
nice one. I’ll have it in mind when I launch my site.
Fusion Accounts
# May 4, 2010 - 2:58 pm
Great article, We totally agree with your point ‘You need to work hard for every user in the early days’
jai
# May 4, 2010 - 3:01 pm
Awesome…Critical and important stuff told in a very simple manner..:)
DL
# May 4, 2010 - 3:14 pm
Fantastic article. We’re always looking for a magic bullet to marketing our new product. But the truth is that there is no magic bullet. We simply just need to start as many meaningful conversations about our product as we can. Time and quality will do the rest.
Rachel
# May 4, 2010 - 4:28 pm
Excellent article…very useful..thanks for post…
Inspirationfeed
# May 4, 2010 - 4:50 pm
Great article, very helpful!
James Pearce
# May 4, 2010 - 5:12 pm
An excellent & fresh point of view, thanks.
Now, back to procra^H^H^H^H^H coding.
Wolf Becvar
# May 4, 2010 - 5:18 pm
Very profound article Des. Seems that 270 is our hurdle and our #1 question asked: “can I export as HTML” ;) And indeed it’s almost all about communication.
- Wolf
Kieran Masterton
# May 4, 2010 - 5:26 pm
Great article Des! A good deal of what you say rings true as we’re at this stage with our web app having just launched on March the 1st. Thanks for your insights, I’ll be following the links to the Contrast blog to read more :)
K
James F.
# May 4, 2010 - 5:45 pm
As a startup founder that is nearing the launch date; this article hit many, many points. Thank you very much for the heads up and bringing the “real” and “truth” on how a real launch will be.
I think why many startups fail is they fail to realize just because you launch doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful. Users are going to come in very little. And most times aren’t even targetted users, but friends/family/etc. just to test it out.
- James F.
Des Traynor
# May 4, 2010 - 8:58 pm
Hey guys,
Thanks for all your kind words. It’s often hard to tell how a post like this will go over. Some will see it as an unnecessary bucket of cold water, some will be happy to see some reality amidst a world of “Build, Profit, Retire” articles.
@Derek
I 100% agree re: selling to your target market. This is a danger with beta lists, they’re packed full of people who just like trying out apps and give feedback that whilst well intentioned, can add noise to the channel.
@Dave C – Thanks, I’ve followed the Lean Startup, and in particular Eric Ries has a lot of good stuff to say. http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/
@Kieran – Glad you liked it, be sure to follow our Contrast blog, we have lots to say about this stuff.
@James F – Hope the article helped, do let me know when you launch (des at contrast dot ie), always happy to help.
@Everyone – if you are launching something cool do please let me know – des at contrast dot ie)
Thanks for reading !
Des
Andy Moore
# May 6, 2010 - 1:08 pm
Great article, it’s smacked me in the face with the procrastination issue, I could spend five months building features I think folks want and as such delay the relaunch of the site I’m rebuilding.
I’m pulling my finger out and cutting the extra dev out till I know for sure it’s what users want.
Thanks!!!
Paul M. Watson
# May 7, 2010 - 4:04 pm
How do you pick who you email? You say strangers email you asking you to check our their site. Could that go from a gratifying few a week to an annoying hundred a week? Or are most of us so afraid to directly email someone well known that very few of us actually do?
I’m assuming also that CV/resume rules apply here. No mass emails. Customise each one. Know who you are emailing and why you think they should check out your site. No pestering if you don’t get a reply, move on.
And are free gifts/offers ever mentioned? Do you get a years free Plan A?
Dropping a link on Twitter is easy but you are right that it doesn’t get the feedback an email would.
K. Srikrishna
# May 7, 2010 - 7:28 pm
Great article and even nicer illustrations.
Spent the better part of last month, trying to understand how long it took folks to get to that magical 2000 paying customers, as we get ready to launch the beta for our first SaaS offering. So rather than the bucket of cold water (ok, maybe a fistful) your article is a good reality check of what to expect. Your suggestion of emails, not merely to friends and family but at times to strangers, albeit influential ones, seems to have worked for some of the folks we spoke to. But as with all relationship building, acquiring SaaS customers is a long lead time item requiring investment (emotional and otherwise), patience and a (fair) bit of luck! Keep up the good work.
Jeroen De Paepe
# May 8, 2010 - 2:48 pm
Like the article. I fully agree that the best strategy to increase your customer base is by making your current customers happy. Happy customers talk about your product. This is the best marketing one can dream of.
Also, I don’t like the word ‘selling’. It reminds me to the guys on the street selling mobile phone subscriptions. More important is to go out there and just talk to people.
john barnes
# August 13, 2010 - 2:15 pm
Good article
Very true, its proving to be more difficult than I thought to get those initial visitors to my site so will be using some of the advice provided here.