

Ask HN: Review my startup - UsrJoy - middayc

Hi! I would really appreciate any feedback on the webapp I just released. I started with it a while back. I was using a well known solution for feedback then, but one day realized it's not really focused on feedback, but providing a community/forum area behind my service. That is a valid focus and I know companies that want exactly that, but what I wanted really was the app optimised on getting me the feedback from my users.<p>http://www.usrjoy.com<p>Any feedback, especially critical is more than welcome! I am interested in feedback on app itself and also on the frontend/message that I (try to) make.<p>The service is in public Beta now. It has a number of beta users for few months already, so it's tested in the wild to some degree. But we are actively improving it and making it more robust each day.
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jonafato
I've actually been looking for a good feedback solution for a while. I like
the look of the app a lot, and I'll try it out in the wild soon. The one thing
I find weird about it is "Just $12 / month or less". Normally apps give price
floors, not ceilings. Was there any reason for this?

Also, who is your target audience here, nationally speaking? I saw "$12,00" on
the signup page. If this is aimed toward US customers, it should be $12.00,
not $12,00.

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middayc
The price is USD yes so it should be 12.00 . Thanks for reminding me :). Fixed
now.

If you try it be sure to tell me if something bothers you. If then this post
is outdated you can also email me at janko DOT itm AT gmail.

I had price floors at the other already released app, but changed it to
ceilings because I always felt bad, like I micro-cheat them right there at the
front page. By telling them the cheapest price, but then they see the
"default" price per month is actually higher and only if they pay for multiple
months they get that price.

~~~
jonafato
I really admire the thought behind that, but I think it will just confuse
people. People are used to seeing discounts when buying in bulk. From a
psychological perspective, people see that as "buy more = pay less". This way,
to some people at least, it looks like "I'm getting penalized for not
committing to this for longer".

~~~
middayc
I will think about it. Maybe I will just say price is $12 and remove "and
less" and keep the prices the same. To remove the confusing part.

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aquark
Looks great -- a couple of points.

I agree the front page is too busy. I think the screenshot is somewhat
confusing -- am I looking at the customer facing website or the backend.

The videos being hosted on blogspot falls foul of our over zealous filtering
at the office.

Can you configure the 'any feedback' tab to be at the side - it took me a
minute to notice it at the bottom.

When clicking on 'urgent' I think there should be more visual feedback than
just turning the border red, maybe reflect it in the send button.

The wording 'send away' sounds wrong to me -- too much like 'dismiss'. Just
'send' would be better.

~~~
middayc
Thanks, Great points.. I will think how to best implement / solve them!

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moe
This looks really nice, the drag & drop interface is gorgeous. I see a few
rough edges (as others have already pointed out), but with a bit of polish I
could see you taking a good bite out of uservoice and getsatisfaction.

~~~
middayc
I release stuff really early usually and then iterate with usage and users
feedback. I agree there are rough edges and there are also open ends, which
will get closed or built-upon while we gain more knowledge about what's
needed. Thanks!

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codeslush
The pricing seems to be causing a little confusion. How about making it easier
and putting a nice big "Start your free trial today" button? Once you have
people clicking that button, you can upsell, or upsell down the road once
they've adopted the service.

I also think you are making a big mistake by not doing the recurring billing!
I have a gym membership that I've used probably 30 or 40 times in 10 years!
Stupid, right? They bill me every month and I accept it. In the past, I've
used LivePerson for web interaction and we got to a point where we barely used
it - but kept the service going because...well...automated billing. Anyway,
paying customers are hard to get, so once you have them, it makes sense to try
to keep them. I'm not saying to make it difficult for them to cancel. Some may
even prefer to have automated billing so they don't have to keep being
proactive about paying. Just my thoughts.

Your call to action is too low on the screen - it needs to be in the main view
area w/o requiring me to scroll down to see it. Maybe a good place for it
would be where the post-it testimonial currently is located. Then, consolidate
some of that other stuff into a div that shuffles through different items
(testimonials, videos, etc...).

Why is this valuable to me? (it's a question I want answered when I visit your
page).

Great job though...congrats on getting something out there. I think the
overall look and feel is very nice. With some copy help and a few rearranging
of items I think you've got a great thing going for you.

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RiderOfGiraffes
Clickable: <http://www.usrjoy.com>

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benwerd
This looks awesome!

However: please get a native English speaker to read through your text and
suggest improvements. There are already a number of things you should change
listed in the comments here, but I've noticed a bunch of typos and grammatical
quirks which probably shouldn't be there. Text is important, and it'll make
your service seem a great deal more professional.

~~~
middayc
Thanks!

I was aware I will need a proffreader to go through texts, but I wasn't aware
it's so obvious and noticeable. I will try to find someone ASAP. Thanks for
heads up!

~~~
jonafato
Shoot me an email (in profile) with a list of pages to proof read. I'm not a
content writer, but I can probably find and big errors. I'd be happy to help
out with that if you'd like.

~~~
middayc
Thanks for your generous offer! I will contact you today once this settles
down a little. It's very kind of you but I don't just want to "send you a
list". I am not loaded with money but I believe there must be some form of
compensation. Thanks again!

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nakkiel
I'm sorry to say that and also sorry for the careless wording but I'm rather
unimpressed by the demonstration video.

Drag-and-dropping tags to items seems rather unnatural and we can see messages
in Slovenian.

I couldn't see clearly if it was even possible to get the whole conversation
for a message which is IMO quite necessary.

Is it possible to see all the conversation items received using a given email
address?

Do you provide any Dashboard or statistics of any sort?

More generally, I'm wondering what is your solution's selling point over a
simple email client? Honestly, if this was what I want, I would simply write a
form by myself and have a script send plain old emails to
feedback@mycompany.com and not pay 12$ or less :)

Technically, how secure is your service? Do you provide HTTPS? Is there an
API? Data export of any sort?

~~~
middayc
1) Don't worry for careless wording :)

2) Drag-and-drop might not be good mechanics for everyone and I am aware of
that. I am otherwise always in favour of lowest/simplest interface decisions
(and in 90% cases I saw I didn't like drag-and-drop usage), but it seemed the
most natural thing to this specific usage to me (basically connecting many to
many items). But as I said, I am aware some will hate it.

Well I am from Slovenia and my browser is in my language so "File Open" form
is in Slovene language yes. I see that this might look odd on video but at
this point I am more trying to get the message across (what it's about / how
it works) than to impress / sell it so someone, so I don't care.

3) What do you mean by whole conversation?

4) No. And there is a lot of things on the same level that are not there yet.
Something I call "filters" (and is quite needed) is in the making but is not
yet done because I haven't yet found good answers to some questions for
example.

5) Not at this point.

6) Yes, you could write your own solution of course. You can probably see some
differences compared to sending feedback directly to email. Sending it to
email has some benefits too compared to this, but in general we can do much
more with it. Some of these things can already be seen, some will become more
apparent when usrjoy gets also the less core functionalities.

7) There is no HTTPS there right now. This is first public beta release. There
will be. For comparison in our other service that is more mature we have
HTTPS, API and Data Export and we intend to do the same here. I am strong
believer that user's data is hi/she-s own.

Thanks for your questions. I asked for critical feedback and I got it :)

~~~
Kudos
The drag and drop delete both unnecessary and the reverse of what someone
would intuitively do. A simple button/link per item makes far more sense.

~~~
middayc
yes. This is one dilema I had. In fact two. You usually drag items to
trashbin. And if you are deleting 1 item one click is more optimal. (you can
here more optimally and consistently with other tools/.. delete >1 items
however)

The first dillema is 95% decided. Because we value consistent interface more
(there will be other tools). The second is currently not there for the sake of
less duplication and cleaner interface, but because delete is the most common
"tool" we might add it to the feedback items so you can delete with one click.

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fezzl
Landing page has too much text. It's a simple concept that shouldn't need one
line to explain. The product looks great, but the landing page can benefit
from some good copy, starting with the headline. Something like, "Get great
feedback and build a better business" may work better.

~~~
middayc
cool. I like this advice. When answer is less of something I know it's usually
right. I also like the proposed headline :)

Thanks!

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pkamb
The "any feedback" tab's behavior is a little wonky. And (from what I can
tell) that's the feature that paying customers will get, so better get it
right!

-Having the "any feedback?" text get underlined on hover makes it feel like a normal hyperlink, not an ajaxy widget that pops up. Need to highlight/change/bounce/etc. the entire tab on hover, not just the text.

-Likewise, the tab should activate by clicking/hovering anywhere in the orange color tab area. Not just by clicking/hovering the text. Makes it much easier to hit, and again makes it clear that the thing is a tab/widget and not a simple text hyperlink.

~~~
middayc
Hi, I have to admit I haven't thought of these two things by using it. But
they do both make sense and if I imagine it working like that it feels much
better. I will improve the behaviour. Thanks a lot! :) (a little ashamed that
I didn't sense this at all)

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Void_
"$12 or less" really is confusing. And there's no explanation? Why? Because
it's free first 3 months or something like that?

~~~
middayc
Because it's $12/month if you extend subscription for 1 month, 9/month if you
extend for 6 months, and $8 if you extend for 12.

I didn't expect this to be confusing at all so thanks for telling me! I will
think about it and improve.

~~~
nakkiel
I personally don't find it confusing. It actually made me eager to find out
what are the plans. Once on the plans page, one first finds the 12$ a month
plan and then the other, less expensive, plans which totally makes sense to
me.

Not confusing to me, but certainly uncommon.

One thing that I find confusing though, is the wording for the starter plan:
on the first page and in the introduction of the plans page, it's called
"Starter Plan" but at the bottom of that very page, the wording suddenly
becomes "trial period". Did I miss something?

Also, the link at the bottom is labelled "Starter".

Edit: Actually, if this really is a 90-days trial, you shouldn't call it
Starter Plan at all. IMO, a plan with a duration limit is not a plan at all.

~~~
middayc
good to know you don't find it confusing.

And even more cruicial to know what you find confusing. Because that really
shouldn't be made confusing and you understood it wrong.

Starter plan is $12 / month and has the 90 days FREE trial period. (The plan
is not limited to 90 days of course, but is free for 90 days).

Basic plan is free forever.

I will look into wording and texts and try to make this more understandable.
Thanks a lot for exposing this!

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middayc
Too bad this thing fell from position 15 to 40 so suddenly (while I was
writing reply, AFAIK in 1 step). I really appreciated the feedback I was
getting.

I guess the internals of HN are more mysterious than I thought ;)

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templaedhel
The "any feedback" tab is broken on the iPhone, as CSS fixed position doesn't
isn't supported on mobile phones. Another reason to move it to the side.

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pshirishreddy
Is it just me or users sigin button at the top instead of popping up (I
suppose) lands me into the seperate page containing user name and password.

The interface is pretty neat though :)

Edit : It'd be handy for the new users to keep the video on how to describing
the process on how it works.

~~~
middayc
hm... it's meant to move you to another page :)

But now that you say it. I can see that it visually looks like a menu item
where popup behaviour is expected. I will try few other looks. Probably turn
it in something more link/button like. Thanks!

