Need feedback on our pivoted value proposition, targeting entrepreneurs

[ericaxu]

Hi Garrett,

Wow, thanks for the insights! They’re golden! Do you specialize in marketing?

In our defense, we do have a use case page (https://dynalist.io/use-cases), but I have to admit that we can spend more time polishing them and they are not as real-world as we want them to be.

Do you think it’s okay to mention relevant features below each use case though? Not saying we have to list out the features, but sometimes I find it necessary to back up our claims. If we claim we provide the fastest way to organize your stuff, we need to give some evidence/proof, don’t we? That’s something we’ve always been confused about. But I totally agree we’re mentioning features too often and prematurely, before the visitor even gets interested in our product.

The demo is a good start, but what if you could skip that? A tool like this could be a great candidate for killing the signup form. What if the home page said, “What do you need help organizing or planning?” and then gave them options or suggestions. Let them dive right into trying it out and give them a tour with a real-world example. Then, use cookies to save it and just remind them that if they’d like to save it permanently they need to create an account. At that point, they’re invested and have some motivation to signup.

We try to do that. In publicly shared documents, we have a “Copy to my Dynalist” button, which would prompt the user to sign up. We are probably not doing enough of this; the real-world examples deserve more of our attention and work.

Thanks a lot sir! That was really sobering and gave us lots of ideas.

[garrettdimon]

I wouldn’t say I specialize in marketing, but after running an app for eight years, you kind of have to figure it out. Not to say that I’m great at it, but I’m starting to figure it out.

Your use case page is solid, but I’d get more specific. What kind of projects? (Web development? Around the house? Construction?) What kind of notes? (Class notes? Meeting notes? Presentation notes?) The more specific, the more likely to relate. It’s tough to create a whole bunch of them, but you could definitely start simple and do some SEO.

I definitely think it’s ok to mention features. They just shouldn’t be the front-and-center sales pitch. The first step is for somebody to relate “Hey, I could use this!” Then their questions turn to "Will it do…?

I definitely noticed how the shared documents work, but I was suggesting making your home page a shared document that they could interact with. You could start just by creating an alternate home page that’s built as a list. That list could focus on really compelling copywriting to get folks to try and interact with it.

It feels like there’s a few different experiments that you could try to replace the home page with either use cases or interactive lists. Or maybe a quick animated gif or video that highlights the key interactions?