

Ask HN: How do get people to sign up for mailing list before launch? - mrquestion

What is the best way to get people to sign up for the mailing list for my app, which is not launched yet?-- here is the landing page thus far: oopsmessenger.com
======
patio11
1) "Join Mailing List!" is not a good call to action. Promise value to them,
such as e.g. learning when it launches.

2) I question the wisdom of calling a messenger whose sole purpose is to cut
down on communication mistakes Oops! Messenger.

3) The word "autocorrect" is not present on this page anywhere, but "Damn you,
autocorrect!" is such a common phenomenon as to be a meme among many potential
customers of this.

4) Try something like a competition for the most embarrassing typo you've ever
made in an SMS, which would give reason for this page to spread independent of
Yet Another Messaging App Which Hasn't Launched Yet, then give people options
to socially spread the embarrassing stories which they enjoy. You're in the
communication business, so having a bit of social savvy seems to be a hard
requirement.

~~~
mrquestion
Thanks. In terms of the name, I know what you're saying, but we think it's
catchy, and easy to remember. I agree with the autocorrect thing, will do that
soon. I also changed the mailing list button label.

Now, in terms of your last idea: I like it. What do you think is a way to
reward the winner? i.e. send us your worst text, and we'll give you X... The
app for free, $50, something like that?

Thanks for the help!

~~~
patio11
$50 Amazon giftcard for the winner works fine, but you'll find that a heck of
a lot of people care more about momentary Internet fame or amusement than they
do about money.

------
wikwocket
\- Offer something in return for signing up. List of top ten funny "oops" chat
mistakes, coupon for half off the app for you and a friend, free how-to guide
to disable autocorrect, whatever. But offer value in exchange for the email.
Your button should not say "Gimme your email" but "Get free awesome thing!"

\- Once you have the email, keep in touch. Send regular (but not
spammy/salesy) updates. Include a joke or something with each. Make these
people like you, remember you, trust you. Maybe even get them to invite
friends.

\- After this, THEN go into sales mode. THEN show the price, list the
benefits, and offer to sell it.

------
WestCoastJustin
Use MailChimp [1] to collect and send your email blasts. They have a simple
form you can throw on your site to collect the e-mail addresses for when you
are ready. I use a simple "get notified" message. You can also configure some
simple google adwords to see what type of response you get.

[1] [http://mailchimp.com/](http://mailchimp.com/)

------
Ellipsis753
My biggest issue is that after reading your homepage I still don't know what
your app does. It just turns off the auto-correct feature?

------
lsiebert
Word of mouth from respectable people who have seen something.

A blog about your progress with coding/design tips.

