

Ask HN: Please review my MVP: talk2customers.com - valueprop

I developed this as a solution to my own pain: contact potential customers to ask questions.<p>1. How could it be improved?
2. Would this be useful to you?
3. What target customers should I go for? 
4. Any other thoughts?<p>For any useful comments, I&#x27;ll gladly give 1k emails credit. Just email hello@talk2customers.com requesting it. Thanks!
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thesingularity
Firstly, Congratulations on launching.

I understand that you created this to solve your own pain point and I commend
you for taking the correct first step. However, I am unable to figure out what
your software does that I cannot do with MailChimp. I may have missed
something on your site, but it seems that the USP of your software is on email
personalization through merge tags. This is not a unique feature or a feature
re-done in a different way.

Few issues I see

1\. You send email using the customers SMTP connection. Email service
providers like Sendgrid, Mailchimp, Mailgun use their expertise to ensure that
the emails they sent do not end up in junk mail. This is the single most
important reason to use them as opposed to your own SMTP server.

2\. Your pricing for sending emails is a lot higher than any of the above
mentioned providers. Sending emails is a commodity. So, I'm not saying that
you should be competing with these providers. However, if you price higher for
the same service, you have to target a specific niche where you can add value.
Like nickler mentions, integrating with merchants to automate followups.

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valueprop
Good points, singularity. I don't have a better reply than "I'll be thinking
about this".

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nickler
Nicely done, looks good.

Honestly, my instinct is to avoid learning a new program for such a particular
use case, and just continue to use MailChimp, is there a value prop I should
be aware of?

I could see small businesses using it if you could automate the data capture.
Example, adding the capture to the point of sale at time of transaction,
automatically sending a follow up email 24 hrs later, with the merchant
needing to do nothing except the original setup.

SMB operators are taxed on time, adoption requires a significant overall time
reduction in the value prop (imo)and convincing them of that will get trials.

I like where you're headed with it, keep it up!

~~~
valueprop
Thanks Nickler!

With MailChimp, the receivers would see the Unsubscribe link at the bottom,
which clearly shows it's an automated email. Also, going through New list, New
campaign workflows just for a quick email to 10-20 people is a little
cumbersome.

Agreed with the automated emails. However, there are already solutions for
this, and I wouldn't know how to differentiate it without a significant time
investment.

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thesingularity
I believe that an unsubscribe link is a requirement of the CAN-SPAM act

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valueprop
Even for a one-time email to potential leads?

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jyu
Holy moly. Sending unsolicited marketing emails is the very reason CAN-SPAM
came about. The fines for violations would crush most early stage startups.

If you are going to continue further with email, please read up on CAN-SPAM,
inboxing, SPAMHAUS, DKIM.

~~~
valueprop
Thanks!

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valueprop
Link: [http://www.talk2customers.com](http://www.talk2customers.com)

