

Ask HN: Lifehacker mentioned my app & traffic boosted. How to keep momentum? - rapcal

I've launched my app back in November and had insignificant user acquisition. I had only one (very helpful) user subscription coming from my HN post (which fell way to the bottom in a matter of minutes).<p>This was my first web project ever, and while I was proud about what I have achieved (launching a product), I was also disappointed with the lack of response.<p>Now, on Christmas Eve, I started getting a lot of new subscriptions after a period of relative inactivity. Through Google Analytics I saw the traffic came from Lifehacker. You can see the piece here: http://lifehacker.com/5870288/top-10-under+hyped-web-apps-2011-edition<p>My app is number 9 - Aherk!, and you can access it @ http://aherk.com. It's pretty simple and unpretentious.<p>Now, although I'm enjoying my 15 minutes of fame, glory &#38; unspeakable success, I'm wondering what steps I should take to keep things moving. How can I not waste this precious opportunity?<p>Any input is more than welcome! Thanks a lot.
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djloche
1\. contact a Lifehacker writer and offer to: do an interview and give them
some 'promo' codes as a 'thank you' for their readers taking a look at your
app

2\. write a blog post introducing the app, thanking all the new users and
lifehacker.

3\. spend some money on advertising (facebook/google/maybe even on lifehacker)
for two weeks.

4\. update something in the app and release a 1.x version update for free.
then start working on v2 with the goal of shipping as soon as possible. keep
your blog updated on a weekly basis with a simple 'status' of how the new
version is coming along, with teasers about new features or speed or whatever.

~~~
rapcal
Thanks! I think this is a really great step-by-step script that works
perfectly for someone really new to this, like I am.

Can't say how much I appreciate you spending your time to give me (a complete
stranger) such great feedback!

------
webwright
Congrats!

This app has tons of PR potential, but you have to do the work. The lifehacker
piece is a nice bit of social proof that you can use when contacting folks.
I'd email a few dozen productivity blogs/bloggers with the new years
resolution angle ("How to give your new years resolution some teeth!").

Building an app is step one. Step 2-10 is figuring out how to acquire users.
Try spending literally 40 hours a week trying things on this front. Facebook
ads? 2 sided referral program? Linkbait on your blog? PR hustle? Find
lifehacker-y folks on Twitter and give them discount codes for their
followers? Viral loops (could you get users Facebook friends to sign up?)?

Don't touch the code for 1-2 weeks and see what you can pull off! :-)

~~~
rapcal
Thank you for your feedback!

I must confess that I'm a (unhappy) lawyer by profession and decided to change
paths this year (when I turned 37, so I'm probably one of the oldest guys
around here ;)

Being so, the technical part of things, which is what I've just learned and am
experimenting with, is where I focused. No marketing, SEO, social media, etc.
I was just enjoying learning to code with a project that interested me. I
don't even have a blog setup for Aherk!

I loved your ideas, especially the cold-emailing productivity blogs/bloggers,
and I think this is one of the things that I'll focus on over the next few
days.

Once again, thanks a lot!

~~~
coffee
> I turned 37, so I'm probably one of the oldest guys around here

Nope! You're not... Keep pushing hard :)

------
rapcal
I'm really sorry that I haven't been able to respond to all these thoughtful
comments in a timely fashion. I feel like a bad mannered host that leaves the
party while the guests are arriving to celebrate his birthday.

Just so that you all know what's going on (and without trying to justify my
bad behavior, which is in itself unjustifiable), I'm a divorced dad from
Brazil, and all this happened while I'm in the middle of a road trip alone
with my 6 year old son. This is the only time of the year when we can spend a
few days together, and I can't (and wouldn't) abandon it. Furthermore,
infrastructure here is not 100% and wireless/3g internet access is not
ubiquitous to say the least.

Anyway, please know that I'm attentively and thankfully listening. This
community always surprised me and today you really made me feel welcomed here.

------
bountie
I guess you aren't looking for app critique but my thought is that most web
users see "Facebook" and "compromising photo" as part of the app requirements
and no matter what your privacy policy or mechanisms you have, most average
users will not go for this

~~~
revicon
I disagree. This is the thing that gives this app "teeth". It makes it
controversial and keeps it in people's thoughts after they've read the blurb
on lifehacker. It's interesting enough to make someone mention it at the pub
during a "new years resolutions" conversation etc etc etc. Maybe it doesn't
appeal to everyone and would put alot of people off, but at the same time that
exact thing is what makes it interesting.

~~~
rapcal
Exactly how I feel! Glad to see there are some mad people like me ;o)

------
mikeleeorg
Congratulations! That's a huge achievement!

One nice way to keep the momentum going is to provide ways to encourage users
to tell others about your product. I don't mean just a "Share" button either.

Right now, you have a form of "virality" if a user does not fulfill his/her
goals. But presumably, if users use your app well, they'll never have their
embarrassing photo shared, and thus, the success of your app prevents your app
from being shared. So are there ways to encourage users to want to promote
your app?

For example:

I'm going to take a step back and think about what Aherk is really doing.
Aherk is a useful tool using negative reinforcement to encourage goal
achievement.

Ah, goal achievement. Is that something an individual would share with others?
Perhaps. Some people like to brag about the goals they've achieved. Perhaps
you can give users awards or badges for goals they've successfully done, then
allow those awards to be shared on Facebook, Twitter, their blogs, etc. Ego
gratification can be a good motivator too (albeit in a positive reinforcement
kind of way, which is ironically diametric to your current system).

Also, what if a happy user of yours knows a friend who could use Aherk as
well? Instead of just emailing your URL to the friend, what if there was a way
to post Aherk to that friend's Facebook page or something? This could be
accompanied by a playful taunt that the user could type in, such as, "I'll bet
you're too chicken to Aherk yourself if you don't finish your paper by next
week!" (This feature could potentially be abused, so if you consider this one,
think it through some more.)

Hope this helps. Good luck!

~~~
rapcal
Thanks so much for your input! A lot of your ideas are close to either things
that are planned for the future or ideas that I have discussed with friends.

Badges, for instance, are something that I'm definitely going to implement.
And although I think goal-achievement is important, it appears to me that it
shouldn't be the only "metric".

For instance, I thought that it would be nice to let a user's friend verify if
the picture posted is really compromising, and if it is, award a badge to the
user.

Another feature that is definitely coming and that I think will improve
"virality" (and that is also similar to something you mentioned) is the
ability to set goals (and "bombs") for your friends. Of course they would
depend on the friend's approval, but it would be a way to spread the word.

Oh, and honestly I don't think that failed goals are bad marketing. As I see
it (and said earlier), I think that fun is our product, not productivity.

------
Chil
You should break your problem into pieces, the more your understand your
problems, the easiest it will be to improve:

Here 3 subproblems to begin with:

1\. How to bring new visitors to your service

2\. How to convert new visitors into subscriptions

3\. How to retain the users

With no traffic sources, even if you convert all the incoming visitors, you
will still have 0 subscriptions. It is not your case, you have the some
visitors and a PR momentum so you should have enough visitors to tracks your
performance on subproblems 2 and 3. Your product has a viral mechanism. That
means that all your active users will expose their facebook friends (throught
the vote) to your app. So you should be able to get some organic growth. (that
means you shouldn't waste time on traffic acquisition)

Thus 3 success factors: \- convert your new visitors into active users

\- push your users to promote their "goals" to their friends

\- make it easy and appealling for the friends to become user

To be sure you are working on the most important task, use google analytics
and track the bottle neck. Even if most of the suggestions you've got there
are good marketing tactics, if you are alone, focus on only a few tasks so you
can execute them well.

Good luck !

~~~
rapcal
Wow! You really managed to help me see my problem much clearer!

I'll definitely spend some time trying to come out with mechanisms to achieve
these 3 goals.

I think I can actually focus on the last two, since you need to register to
vote (that's how we keep track of who already voted).

Thank you very much! I cannot even begin to tell you how much this
"methodical" approach helped me to see my problems clearer!

------
troupe
If you are getting a flood of traffic, anything you can do to establish a
connection with people is vital. Keep in mind there may be some people who
aren't willing to sign up for the service today, but might be willing to
subscribe to your blog, sign up for a contest, etc.

Also your site is something that people may be willing to share with their
friends more than they are willing to sign up for it themselves. You might
consider making the social media buttons a bit more prominent. I might not be
willing to login with Facebook, but may be willing to click "share this on
Twitter" because my friends will think it is funny. (Obviously you should test
this. My assumption may be wrong and the social buttons hurt things.)

You might also consider adding a bit of social proof to the site. A
testimonial of a user or something like that. My first reaction is "I don't
know if I'm comfortable adding their facebook application." A headshot and
"wow this is wonderful" from a user might lessen that feeling.

By the way, you said you got a subscriber. Is this a paid service or are you
referring to people to add your facebook application?

~~~
troupe
Some other suggestions:

1\. Add your logo to your Twitter account and get some additional content up
there. People aren't going to follow you if you haven't posted anything.

2\. Create a G+ page as well.

3\. If people are tweeting about your app, you might want to have a running
list of those tweets on the front page of your site.

4\. Fix the app. I'm getting a "sorry but something went wrong" when I try it.

~~~
rapcal
About points 1 to 3, I think e acknowledged above with enough emphasis my
complete lack of social wisdom so far... :(

Regarding 4, just as the app said automatically, I'm also sorry that something
went wrong... ;) Can you tell me where, on the flow of the app, you
experienced this? I'm on Heroku using their free tier for now, so maybe you
just experienced a lack of server resources... =O

------
igul222
Lifehacker featured my app a few years ago too. The wave lasted for a few
weeks and then petered out as you might expect.

My best advice is to start worrying about user retention in a hurry. 99% of
people who come to your site from Lifehacker aren't going to keep using your
app, but that's okay. If your scenario is anything like mine was, you'll have
a steady (albeit much smaller) stream of traffic to your site from now on.

\- Is your signup process as frictionless as possible?

\- Are you collecting email addresses (for a newsletter or followup emails–
Twitter does a great job of this with their "We notice you haven't posted
anything lately" emails)?

\- You now have some users. Get in touch with them and find out how it falls
short!

Specifically, I have a lot of goals I'd like to achieve, but I don't have any
compromising pictures of myself. I also don't like the idea of apps posting on
Facebook on my behalf.

Congratulations and good luck!

~~~
rapcal
I cant thank you enough! It's great to talk to someone who had the same
experience. Now The Next Web has also done a piece on us too and things are
moving.

You point to something that sounds obvious, but truth is I have barely
interacted with my users so far. Need to start doing this in a hurry.

I think I also need to improve my sign up process, making it happen on a pop
up window through Facebook JS SDK.

------
AznHisoka
Are you looking to turn this into a viable business? It's great you're
featured in LifeHacker but I don't see how this app can provide thicker value,
alone as it is.. I think just attaining more users won't help you find a
business model, so you should perhaps broaden the scope... as it is, it sounds
like a cool feature. So my contrarian advice is to focus on making this of
thicker value, rather than just leave it alone as it is

~~~
rapcal
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide me with your insights!

With all honesty, I don't have a business model. Aherk! was the project I used
to learn how to program, and I think it did more than well!

Of course it would be fantastic if I could make money out of it, though...

Hey... you may have just given me the idea of a business model... Being a cool
feature... for someone else?!

I know an exit strategy is not a promising game nor the sexiest choice... But
this started just as a game, so..

------
rishi
Turn on re-marketing as quickly as possible. You don't have to start paying
for it right now but at least setup the tags so you can start cookie-ing new
visitors - you can do this with Google Adwords. Feel free to contact me if you
need help setting this up.

Press is the best way to leverage re-marketing.

~~~
bks
Great idea on re-marketing, it is really cost effective - downright cheap to
do. If you are not sure what is is -
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_retargeting> but basically a banner
follows a user that has come to your site for 30/60/90 days and keeps your
brand in their focus.

A better (cheaper) solution is <http://adroll.com>, I use them for my
corporate site at <http://www.webheat.com> and they are pretty cheap and easy
to setup.

The only thing you need before you sign up is a banner, any banner - even if
it gets rejected you can still have the tracking pixel on your site and then
target your users.

~~~
rapcal
Thanks! I'll try to figure out what this re-marketing thing is and check out
the tools you've mentioned!

------
geoffw8
Hey I guess I'll be the first to say make sure your doing enough for the
traffic that you already have. Make sure your nailing your conversion rates,
and try and get a reasonable level of virality happening i.e. Users inviting
other users. Give them a bounty (maybe?).

~~~
rapcal
Thanks! I'm trying to give a boost to my quasi non-existent social efforts and
I think this is helping! :) I have to let go of my wallet too and pay for some
extra server power. I have to admit the site is too slow...

------
mbesto
1\. Demand creation- On your front page it would be cool to see "Jane D. lost
10 lbs by using our service", etc.

2\. Get social! Tweet with people. Engage. Tweet examples, etc.

~~~
rapcal
Thank you very much! I really think your first idea is amazing, and the
homepage is presently too static and oh-so-boring...

