Getting our first thousand users in one day(francescodilorenzo.com) |
Getting our first thousand users in one day(francescodilorenzo.com) |
Three things I'm sure helped the signup rates, which others should copy:
- Low-friction registration using SSO.
- Glimpse of the product in the background.
- Let guests see and click on gated features. (Even if visitor clicks "Or try it instead" they still see "+ New Draft" button, which leads to the signup prompt again.)
I've tested these in other apps and found they significantly increase signups. The first because of low friction, the second because--I suspect--it shows the visitor what they're about to experience in just a few more clicks, and the third because it shows the guest what's possible and offers multiple chances to sign up.
Well done!
Some quick ones:
- Make value proposition clear. Just because they reached the signup screen doesn't mean they're already convinced to sign up.
- Show social proof on signup screen, such as customer logos or approximate number of users. Same reason as above.
- Offer SSO options. Google is especially popular
- Have an Obvious Next Step(tm)(R)(patent pending). Make it clear what the visitor is expected to do next by making that thing visually stand out, and muting (or removing) everything else. Notice in OP's signup screen that the background app preview is tinted, and the Twitter login button is the brightest thing, dead-center of the page.
- Have a product people want. This is a hard one. :)
I suppose that generates views but to me it seems a cynical abuse of the platform.
I'd word it simply:
- a spirited discussion
If you want “users” - post a well-paid but fake job on Upwork and ask applicants to first check out your site/app.
I don’t suggest this but I’ve noticed it from a couple real jobs I’ve posted. Of course, these “users” will be beyond meaningless for any useful metric. I guess if your app/site was geared toward Upwork freelancers, it could work as a strategy.
Also thanks for sharing the numbers, and the your insider thoughts.
For everyone else building a product, don't let this success stories discourage you from launching your product sooner, you are not expected to have 1000 user in a one day, launching is not what you want to celebrate, you need to launch as soon as possible, and celebrate product market fit if it ever happens, learning from your users is what can get you there, but you need to launch first!
I launched last week and got to the number 3 product of the day. Traffic stats similar to yours. Next day after the newsletter went out and it was a bit of a letdown. Not what I expected.
Would be interesting to see these numbers for you. Maybe PH isn't the launch pad it used to be
Except we were not prepared for the traffic, and it took the site down for over 24 hours! Lesson learned...
It's been a long time since I've worked somewhere that would benefit from that trick, so I haven't had a chance to use it.
I wish I could quantify the traffic, but it really did wipe out the server, preventing everyone (including myself) from accessing it! I couldn't even remote in to shutdown/reboot.
The last number I had was just as things were grinding to a halt. It was just over 350 "realtime" users according to google analytics!
The idea of a write-only interface is interesting in itself. I was expecting to see something about it on the Typefully page but didn't.
I don't know if you could signal that more immediately (inline perhaps, without updating the thing on the right)?
Normally that's okay (it's not okay, but I roll my eyes and unsubscribe), but I've discovered that when my order is delayed, due to out of stock in one case, or Black Friday queuing in the other, I'm really not happy having them prompt me to buy more stuff when they haven't given me the stuff I've already paid for. Each email title gives me a jolt of excitement thinking oh, they've finally shipped it! Nope, they want me to buy more stuff.
And with large departments running multiple campaigns at once, it's not uncommon to get 5 emails in a week, all for different things, which to them makes sense but to me is the titular company acting like a hyperkinetic, needy friend. It is very much the same dynamic that results in every department of a company insisting that they are listed on the company home page, preferably at the top, a common trope for beleaguered UI designers to relate over beers. Not just because of Conway's Law, but because of an internal perverse incentive structure to constantly draw attention to your part of the organization. Lookatmelookatmelookatme.
I find this whole pattern of behavior exceptionally unattractive in luxury brands, which I expect to be more cool and collected than this. Marketing in these cases is jeopardizing the 'get them to come back' part of the equation.
It sounds like a user in this case is simply one who viewed the page and clicked "sign in via twitter", which is a nice metric for engagement, but just one in many. It makes for a great secondary blog post for additional engagement though. :)
I still don‘t see anything.
Are you guys hiding a tip button somewhere in the interface after you sign in?
Are you asking for one-offs? Or recurring?
#alwayscurious
If Mailbrew is focused reading, this is focused writing.
That being said, we haven’t seen that many signups coming from Typefully. Roughly 100.
So, probably didn’t work as a stunt, but worked as its own product. So we want to invest more in it.
Seriously though, love seeing the actual metrics on how this process went, thanks!
Feedback:
0. This is similar to https://getchirrapp.com/ but UI is much better here.
1. Though it lets me to do the writing, I want to also
a. Read my posts
b. Read posts by other writers (may be by the root tweet link) Similar to
c. Delete my published article (if not edit)
I've sat at the signup/register/purchase screen so many times and muttered to my computer, "but I don't know what this thing does, why would I sign up?"
Playing coy was maybe cute in high school. Grownups communicate with each other, and nobody wants to do your job for you and pay you for the privilege (in cash, credit, or PII).