

Ask HN: Review my startup, SimpleTing.com - Pearce

I am hoping to get some of you to take a look at my site and particularly review the UI. I feel the benefit of the business is solid, what I need to do is make sure the UI is streamlined so users have a smooth experience and take advantage of the benefits the site provides.<p>The site is currently in BETA so you will need a code to create an account. The beta code you can use is: x914h<p>URL:  www.SimpleTing.com<p>Registration page: https://www.simpleting.com/users/register<p>my email: pearce (at) simpleting.com<p>Notes:<p>- I am working on a redesign of a home page, if you have any ideas that would be great.<p>- There are some bugs, but the site is fully functional. If you find anything odd then please send me an email.<p>- I outsourced a good portion of my development so if you find any bugs the it must be their fault :-p<p>- I currently work as a programmer for Adobe, that is why you will see tracking code that is different then Google Analytics.<p>Questions:<p>- Would this be something you use? The main market for this site is working people who are busy.<p>- What you would change? Or are there features you think would be greatly beneficial?<p>- (feature idea) Would you like a free trial?  Maybe get one or two birthday cards free if you sign up sort of thing?  This is a feature I am thinking about building but I don't want to invest the effort if it will not be valuable.<p>Thanks for your input, once I polish the site up I am going to start pitching to angels.  So I am definitely interested in what you have to say.
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pbreit
I hate to be harsh but I am not keen on the idea or the implementation.

Regarding the idea, I'm not sure how compelling it is to be able to pre-order
birthday cards too far in advance. Picking out a card is quite a personal
experience that many like to do "in the moment". You are competing with both
offline card shops that offer superior buying experiences and online card
shops that offer superior products (albeit, you may need to stick the card in
the drawer for a week or 2).

Regarding the implementation, it is just OK. First, there are some fantastic
online card shops that you are competing with. TinyPrints comes to mind but
there are many. And their offerings are cheaper, too. The whole "Create and
Event" doesn't sound right. The images of the cards are poor. Zooming in to
read the cards and see the detail is awkward. The whole is trying to give the
impression of uniqueness when in reality it's just a card shop where you can
delay shipping.

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Pearce
I appreciate your honest feedback.

I was hoping the event or occasion driven focus of the site would be more
compelling then the standard practice. Also the focus on sending the card to
the purchaser is not completely novel, but again I hope the focus on a
personal hand written note being the most important part of the card brings a
unique approach to the industry.

The whole "Create and Event" doesn't sound right. Do you think it would be
better to say "Setup and Occasion" is better?

Thanks again for your feedback.

