Teardown "Gratitude" and it's landing page

Idea Pitches
#1

Hi all, I started this micro project after hunting down people’s twitter accounts who’s content was invaluable to me so that I could say thank you.

This is an ultra basic MVP to see if I can get any traction at all. If I do, then I’ll flesh it out into a real project. The domain is bought for 1 year, so I want to see how far I can get it in that time.

Specific feedback I’d like is “do you get what it does?”, “would you use it?”.

Short of the obvious “tweet people who’s articles were handy and ask them to add the button”, any ideas for marketing this would also be very helpful.

Nearly forgot to add the link lol: http://gratitude.xyz

#2

Here’s the link for the lazy (me): http://gratitude.xyz/

In short, I like the idea, but was lost at the 3 images. I finally understood when I clicked the green thank you at the bottom. In essence, that’s a demo of your product, and you should be highlighting that more.

Do you plan to monetize this eventually?

PS - I like your roadmap, and think it’s great that it’s encourages visitors to promote for you. Has that worked on other projects you’ve done?

1 Like
#3

Thanks for the reply shane. The feedback about the images is very useful, I’ll make that clearer for sure. I definitely agree that I should be focusing on using my own Thank You button as the demo. Amazing how I missed that without feedback :confused:

If it makes sense to monetise, then that’s always the aim. I have plenty of options if I get sufficient traction.

The roadmap was done mostly for me to be honest. I like having it written down, not quite “set in stone”, but something for me to focus on. Adding the milestone triggers was motivation/rules for me I suppose, a goal post that I can’t move later.

I find the whole idea of making my project public, soliciting opinion and opening myself up to ridicule and/or failure utterly terrifying, so I’m very prone to use feature development as an excuse to put off launching. This time I decided to create the ultimate MVP and force myself to face that demon.

…and that answers your question about “it working on other projects I’ve done” :smiley:

#4

Using your feedback shanelabs, I’ve updated the demo/explanation images. Took me some time as I ended up confusing myself about who I’m “selling” to, the visitor, of the site owner. At the moment, I need to convince people to add the button, so I guess that’s my audience right now.

I’ve added some options so that site owners can specify titles/urls for situations where the auto-detect isn’t appropriate.

Always looking for more feedback, do the changes help with the message?

#5

Yes, I think your updates are excellent - concept is quickly conveyed. Nice job!

And yes I think you’re right that your audience is the site owners. No point in talking towards visitors, as they can’t do anything if a site owner doesn’t have the button implemented.

However I tested it out on my own, and both times I got ‘sorry, you have to have followed a webpage’. I’m guessing that’s because you’re using the referrer header?

Also, to get technically, your html code should point to _blank as the target, not blank

#6

Shanelabs, you’re right about the referrer header. The button originally was javascript driven, which I axed because this was so much simpler (for the site owner more than anything). I think it would be smart to reintroduce it as the primary method, and keep the plain html version for cases where you can’t add javascript (repository readme’s, youtube descriptions etc.).

I’m considering writing a chrome add-on so visitors don’t have to rely on the site having it’s own gratitude button, they can just click their own. It’s something I’d normally be planning for much much later, once I had significant traction, but I’m considering it now as a means of driving adoption. Site owners being inclined to add the button if they see people using it.

Any thoughts? Is it investing too much time/effort too soon?

#7

Maybe I just don’t get the social/twitter thing but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to download this.

Sure the button on the site for a quick one click “thanks” could work -there are a lot of ‘social button’ companies out there.

But an add-on - if I were going to the effort to download this (and all the risk that entails) then wouldn’t I just have the motivation to leave a comment, send a tweet etc.

Infact I think thats a different product - a browser add on to get the contact details behind a page your looking at. Likely used by [annoying] internet marketers/sales people.

#8

Hi Simon,

Three part feedback for you (did I get it, would I use it, how to market it).

First the “do I get it”. Looking at your site with a “5 second look”, I did not get it at first and probably would have bounced. I started reading “noun: the quality of…” first and found that distracting, next the call to action statement “Get Gratitude from your visitors” doesn’t really tell me the how/why I’d want to give this a shot. I feel your statement in this post, “content was invaluable to me … say thank you”, is a better lead than you have on your site. But which audience is this site serving? Readers or blog authors? If it’s blog authors than neither likely fit.

Taking a longer look at the site, I get what this is. The three columns below the primary CTA didn’t make a lot of sense to me. When I read them I get it, but felt like the benefit could be told better. Also using the word Gratitude again felt confusing at first, the image is necessary to clarify that it’s not some sort of credit, but it’s saying thanks to the author for helping you out.

Going with your 3-steps approach perhaps something that is action oriented and highlights the benefit:

Step 1 - “Add the “Say Thanks” button to your great content”

Step 2 - Users “Say Thanks” directly to you right after you’ve helped them out.

Step 3 - You’re now connected with your reader on Twitter and can start a conversation.

I’d also suggest you also ditch the columns. I read the column headers first, then started parsing. It added to the confusion of just what you were offering.

Overall I like the concept. But it feels like the audience you’re reaching out to on your site is the readers of people’s blogs who are looking to say thank you for content. But when I look at this I see it as a tool for authors to encourage readers to connect with them.

Would I use it? As a tool to connect to the readers of my blog, sure I’d give it a try. It’s an interesting idea worth looking into. In a way it’s like the SumoMe blog tools (which I use). As an author I want to engage with my users, if this leads them to finding them on twitter that’s great. Most authors want readers to come back again, and getting them connected with you (via a newsletter, twitter, etc) is one of the primary ways engage with them.

As for marketing… When I think about what your product does (connect users to the author) it made me think of SumoMe, who’s plugins drive users to signup for newsletters. Their model of marketing strikes me as usable for you (integrated into delivery of your service).

Hope this helps, let me know if you have questions.

PS: When looking to install the plugin I found the optional fields confusing. Just where is the Title showing? The button? Next to the button? It wasn’t clear at first these fields were for one-use buttons.

#9

thanks Bryan_Smith, this is invaluable feedback, very detailed and insightful. There’s nothing I don’t agree with. Marvellous how an outsiders perspective can show you things that in retrospect are obvious.

I agree that the marketing to the visitor vs site owner question I encountered earlier still isn’t fully resolved. I’d already realised that the site needs to be aimed at the author, not the visitor (for now), but I guess there are still several areas where that distinction and message isn’t clear.

The title is obviously overly “clever”, e.g. self indulgent. I’ll scrap the faux dictionary definition in favour of a clearer message. Your wording has been very helpful for a new hero statement.

The plugin installation needs to be clearer, it’s certainly something I should have noticed myself. I’ll get on that.

I’m not 100% sure what you mean about the columns. Do you think that it’s really a question of making the text at the top of each one a paragraph rather than titles with supplementary text? If not, can you be a bit more specific about what I should replace the columns with?

I’ll get started on the copy changes, but if I can get some more detail on what you think needs to change re. the columns then I’d appreciate it.

#10

Rhino, sorry I didn’t notice your reply sooner.

The function of the browser plugin is that it automates the process of searching the page for twitter (et al) details, then manually finding that handle on twitter and thanking the author simpler and quicker. Certainly nothing spammy.

From my perspective, it also helps tackle the chicken and the egg problem (needing both users and providers) from both directions at once.

Regarding it being more or equal effort to just do the above than to install the plugin. That’s an interesting insight. As a developer, I’m naturally inclined to go for the latter option, but I do need reminding that’s probably a niche view.

#11

You know people are lazy - infact its your whole premise of adding a gratitude button to a site - make it easy. I just don’t think the average user cares enough about ‘saying thanks’ to bother downloading a browser add in to save x seconds on finding contact details - how many times a day do you say thanks?

Didn’t mean to imply your up to no good with it or spaming - my point is that internet marketers/sales people probably contact enough people that it would save them real time.

#12

thanks Rhino, you make good points. I’ll lay off the addon. It had a feeling of putting the cart before the horse in any case.

#13

I’ve tweaked the copy somewhat. I feel like the columns/walkthrough are much clearer, and I’ve made some changes to the button generation page, but I’d like some feedback on whether that is sufficient?

#14

Hey Simon,

Sorry for not being clear about the columns. A couple things threw me off; the first being the way it was organized, caused you to read each line in, each column left-to-right instead of reading each column fully one after the other. Each line didn’t provide much detail, and thus didn’t leave you with much to go on. The format forced the reader to spend a lot of extra effort to decipher what was being said

Looks like you started addressing this though. You’ve stuck with a column layout, but since each bold heading is in itself a statement (and the numbers behind reinforce this) it’s easy to quickly understand.

Updated Feedback:

  1. Personally I’d reinforce the 1 … 2 … 3 section with a statement like “How Gratitude Works” above it all.

  2. The Hero / Call-to-Action statement seems too light. I’d go with something a bit bolder and slightly larger font (perhaps just larger font?). And I’d skip the “Get thanks” part and speak to your market (authors) “Connect with your audience when you’ve helped them the most”. It quickly addressed what Gratitude does (connects authors with audience) and tosses in why it’s difference (connects when you help your readers).

  3. On the setup instructions you’re a power user and while it makes to you (and honestly to me) it’s lacking some basic prompts. I only mention this, because recently I’ve observed some first time writers struggle to do some basic things in Wordpress. By missing prompt I mean “Just add this code to the end of your post”, etc. Nothing major, but again lowering the mental-friction for the user.

Good luck!

#15

I have to say I agree with Rhino, people will click share buttons, so you’re choosing a proven vector for interaction. But installing a browser plug-in, that’s entirely another step with little benefit for the user.