
Dissection of a viral launch - Facens
http://www.iubenda.com/blog/2011/10/25/dissection-of-a-viral-launch/
======
Silhouette
This seems an awfully risky way to get this sort of business off the ground.

Privacy policies are one of those convenience things. If you don't have to
write one yourself and outsourcing it saves precious time and money, great.
However, if you do, it's hardly the end of the world: it's going to take you a
few hours to write at most and not a huge amount of money for a lawyer to
review it.

You're hardly going to wait around to launch your entire project because
someone didn't want to let you use their pet social experiment^W^Wprivacy
policy generator tool. Moreover, there are plenty of free alternatives from
reputable sources already available[1] if you just want something to make sure
you're covered legally and need it Right Now. And of course, once you've done
one, chances are you know enough to do any future ones yourself anyway.

My guess is that if these guys really do only have 200 or so active users but
2,700 or so on their waiting list, they are blowing a massive opportunity and
going to waste most of those 2,700 by missing the train. Their service is a
quick-and-easy thing, and they are making it hard. I notice that the one thing
obviously missing from their "Launch by the numbers" summary is an indication
of whether all those numbers are worth any real money.

[1] For example, in the UK, Business Link provide this sample:

[http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=10...](http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1076142085&type=RESOURCES)

~~~
Facens
Thank you for this comment.

I wrote a comment on HN before, about privacy policies and why current
solutions suck. Here's the link: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2911830>

The reason why we didn't launch the product yet, is that we are not ready. We
are working _really_ hard with our beta testers to improve it, and to solve
some of the problems you mentioned too.

Now, instead of a bunch of useless words, can I ask you to watch a demo of
what we're about to launch? Skip if you want, but take a look at the real
product and tell me what you think:

[http://f.cl.ly/items/3Q2600072w2w3a0V3B3B/Screeny%20Video%20...](http://f.cl.ly/items/3Q2600072w2w3a0V3B3B/Screeny%20Video%2025-ott-2011%2015.18.08.mov)

~~~
Silhouette
I did read your post and watch your video. It's an interesting idea.

FWIW, if you had an interface like that to generate a quick template as a
_starting point_ for a privacy policy, which I could then download to
customise for my own business needs, and it was available for a modest fee per
use, then that would be interesting.

However, I wouldn't be interested in any sort of ongoing
relationship/subscription deal. I'd see this as a one-off job. If the service
were cheap/easy enough, it's a one-off job I might come back to do again for
any new sites or policy updates later, though.

The result would absolutely have to be some sort of text document or HTML+CSS
package that I could download and modify myself, not a link back to your site.
This policy has legal implications in Europe, as I'm sure you're aware, and
having it hosted by third parties so my users are seeing something beyond my
direct control would be a deal-breaker.

The UI itself looks very clean and easy to use, if you could only fix the
lag/endless spinners that seem to come up all the time. To me, those would
make it painful to come back and use over and over again, even if I used it
once to get a starting point for my first privacy policy.

I stand by my earlier view of your launch process, though: This sort of
service could have value I would pay for if it were relatively cheap (compared
to my time and any legal fees it saves) and something I could just use
instantly when I needed it. However, there's no way I would mess around
waiting for it, and all that silliness with forced viral marketing looks like
a social experiment rather than a service that's there to benefit me as a
paying customer. Perhaps you've decided that this doesn't matter if you're not
planning to continue with that approach once you've launched and are open to
everyone?

~~~
Facens
Thanks again for replying.

About "embedding vs template", templates just suck. Our product is about
giving users a far better privacy policy, which is a piece of design,
usability and information architecture. You can't achieve this without
embedding.

Moreover, embedding is better because: \- It's faster to integrate \- No
maintenance needed \- The policy can be updated remotely (both by us and by
the user) \- The result is just beautiful, opens as a lightbox, has icons :)

There are also business-related reasons why embedding is better than template.

About the UI, the lags are caused by my development local machine, on the
production server there's instant feedback on every action. Sorry for that.

On the rest, I get your point, and again: the reason for the private beta wall
is that we're not ready. About the product itself, I can assure that our users
are crazy about it :)

~~~
Silhouette
> The policy can be updated remotely ( _both by us_ and by the user) [Emphasis
> added]

Exactly. That's why it would be difficult to use your service in most of
Europe without risking legal trouble.

I wish you luck. I'm sure you'll launch with a very elegant solution to a
problem. I just hope it's the problem that most of your potential customers
actually have.

~~~
Facens
We are based in Italy, and we know European laws very well, so you're in good
hands. One of the team members is a lawyer, of course :)

About the problem, it's weak if you own a personal website, but relevant if
you sell websites to other people, for example if you are a freelance web
designer or a web agency.

One of the goals of this first period of MVP was to test the need, and now we
have _many, many_ people praising for the product :)

I think that the problem is if the market is big enough for this product.
Since the market is 'every website in the world', we can afford that part of
it doesn't care of the problem, and still keep having millions and millions of
potential customers.

------
rookhack
Very impressed by the launch page. It actually got me to go through the whole
process of Tweeting, Facebooking(?), and sharing. I'll definitely look into
the privacy policy service when I get in, myself and some of my clients might
have use for it. On another note, have you thought about commercializing the
Viral Launch software? Seems you did a much better job than Launchrock, and I
know I'd pay for it...

~~~
Facens
lol, you're not the first to ask it ^^

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niklas_a
Yuck! I really don't like these kinds of schemes. People should share/follow
because they actually like a product, not because they want to get early
access to a product.

If your product is truly viral within its core user base those users will
tweet and talk about the product anyway.

~~~
breathesalt
You're right, it's hard here to tell if their product is driving the growth or
if it's their marketing.

It would be nice if iubenda does something similar a few months after they
exit private beta to show us what numbers are real and what is just success
theater.

~~~
Facens
I will surely disclose more in the next future, granted.

About what's real, I think that it's mostly the need. I read every tweet that
comes on the "iubenda" search, and frequently look to the profile of the user
behind. Most of the times the user is a web designer, which proves that people
subscribe because they feel the need. Moreover, I interview almost every beta
tester that we invite, and again I get people really passionate about the
product.

I think that the marketing-driven risk is mitigated by the fact that the
product is explained very well on the website, and people signup _only_ if in
need of the product.

------
Facens
Something quite interesting that I forgot to disclose is how Facebook and
Twitter performed, one compared to the other. I expected Facebook to be more
effective, and it was, but the percentage of users coming from FB was just
slightly greater.

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qeorge
Really nice post, and a great product idea. Looks like you're off to a great
start.

One thing though - the name. It means nothing to me, I can't spell it, and I'm
going to forget it. Perhaps something more direct like YourPrivacyPolicy.com
would be better?

~~~
Facens
YourPrivacyPolicy.com will never ever be a brand :)

~~~
qeorge
Touche.

Still, I think you can do better on the name. :)

------
Facens
Another point is that Online wins on Offline, definitely. Offline events or
press can lead to social proof, but they don't drive subscriptions.

