

I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages - Swoopey
http://takara.posterous.com/a-major-flaw-with-viral-coming-soon-pages-83204

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wccrawford
I certainly think less of companies that require me to tweet about their
product before I've used it, just so I can jump up higher in the queue.

On top of that, I've had it happen twice that I did what I was supposed to,
and I did -not- get access.

So I've really, really soured on the whole thing. At this point, I only pay
attention to people who have an actual product that I can actually use. Every
else gets ignored.

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Swoopey
I wish I could take that approach... I'm a beta launch addict.

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zokiboy
I've also never liked those coming soon pages. They usually give no
information, only a vague promise and signup box. Example of that is
LaunchRock. My sense it doesn't work, if anyone has any statistics ... I'd
guess that less than 2-3% subscribed share their link to get to the priority
list.

My suggestion for new startups is to put an information-rich page with
screenshots and explanations how that idea came to life, how it will change
your life, etc - of course if your goal is to get people interested and to
signup :)

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Swoopey
I agree. I'd totally do-over my coming soon page now. Lesson learned.

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Tangaroo
This is a great post with great comments as well. Currently, we are using
launchrock as well and we've stagnated at 36 sign ups as we are trying to get
to 100. We haven't spent a penny on marketing but I feel we have hit a wall. I
know that the soft launch is supposed to test and validate our business idea
but I feel it isn't doing it justice, not by far. Especially with the limited
amount of words you have to use. On the otherhand, I also understand the
overall goal, it's to test without spending too much on programmers and
developers and build something that no one wants to use. We are conducting
surveys as well, which I feel are a better means of gauging if you have the
right audience and validating your assumptions. However, I'm torn. I can see
both sides of the argument. We started the soft launch march and it's about 5
months and running. They say the idea validation phase typically is about 5 to
7 months. But I feel strongly that even though we have stagnated in signups it
doesn't mean that our startup idea is going to flop. In fact I feel very
strongly in it's success. Half because entrepreneurs are just optimistic and
half because the data proves it on our surveys. Any suggestions? Thanks!

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jjm
Well your first round of 36 is your early adopter group which you survey, and
prioritize problems/solutions. You then iterate your product with what you
just learned. The feedback loop. Infact, Ries and Ash say you could do it with
just 5 ppl. So you should be testing a new landing page or product by now, not
waiting for another 64 ppl to 'signup'.

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jeggers5
Totally agree with you.

To be honest, Launchrock are just being ridiculous at this stage. They
actually seem to be going backwards. I signed up for their beta over a year
ago, still nothing except several "coming soon emails".

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joshfraser
If you don't want to share with your friends, then don't.

But if you are a startup founder, remember the reason you see these viral sign
up forms everywhere is because they work. You'd be silly not to offer the
opportunity w/ your visitors because a small percentage will indeed share with
their friends. Of course, that percentage is going down as people get fatigued
or get burned by other startups that don't follow through.

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TheOnly92
> If there's a long line of people waiting to get in already. A long visible
> line coming out of the door, makes more people want to know about it and in
> some cases stand in line for it.

I think this is the main point, if you have a way to let people know how long
the queue is and where is your position in the queue, it might actually work.

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icebraining
I doubt a simple number will be effective, because you lose the human element.
The physical presence turns a waiting list into a social event. Maybe if you
could somehow interact with the people already in line.

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troels
So, a mini-forum on the page?

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sunir
The more interesting hidden nugget in this post was the analogy to Krispy
Kreme. Krispy Kreme primes their line up with free donuts and a visual display
of how they make the donuts.

The lesson for startups is that put a teaser on the sign-up form so people
know what they are getting excited about.

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jrockway
TL;DR: "I waited in a long line for a donut. Startups!"

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skmurphy
Key quote: "Why would I invite my friends to sign-up, when I haven't even
tested it out first?"

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iSimone
Thanks for the article. I do agree that these viral launch pages may only work
if there's a special set of conditions met. I am actually right now writing a
comprehensive article about it (I hope it will be at least). So, thanks for
the opinion.

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Swoopey
Sure, send me a link when you're finished. I'd love to hear more about this.

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Joakal
My idea is beyond this, but the basic gist is to create several stages.
'Alpha' 'Beta' 'Live' '10' '#'. So if a person is very interested or wants the
finished product, etc, then there's a variety of matching options.

However it'd really depends on what the offer is. This is an indirect
suggestion to do some marketing 101 ;)

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iSimone
I recently blogged an interesting approach by an app (called livepath) which
let people buy into a beta account. Whenever the beta was a bit further
developped he dropped the pricing a bit. Here's the link:
[http://blog.thegodfounder.com/post/5894377639/lifepaths-
sign...](http://blog.thegodfounder.com/post/5894377639/lifepaths-signup-page-
has-an-interesting-take-on)

~~~
Joakal
Minecraft creator took the inverse, charge more as software entered alpha to
beta to gold. I suppose the high initial cost until normal cost makes sense in
a reverse dutch auction if you got the hype.

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iSimone
Oh yeah, did not know that. Thanks for the info.

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tekiki
this is a terrific idea. if you don't mind, we may revamp our own landing
pages to reflect this. hope this works for you!

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systemizer
So here's one theory I believe: Facebook and other large social media
companies today will evolve into universal login systems eventually. We've
already seen it with "Connect with Facebook" or "Connect with Twitter"
buttons, but I believe this will become more and more prominent as the year
progresses.

Why? Like the article states, people don't like giving out their email
address. Why reinvent the login interface millions of times when you can just
use one. Google, Facebook, Twitter (etc etc) already provide those interfaces,
so use them!! Hell, I've turned away from betas just because their sign up
form is too annoying.

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Joakal
What is it about sign up forms that are too annoying? Just the email to put
in?

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cema
Pressing a button feels easy. I do not know if this is a big difference; may
be. Time will show.

