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.
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 :)
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!
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'.
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".
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.
> 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ;)
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...
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.
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.
I don't think there is any point in asking users to connect their FB/Twitter accounts at the pre-launch stage because it will make users uncomfortable in sharing their social media details with a site that they have not tested and know little about.
Again theoretical: you need to look at the bigger picture. If Facebook was a login service for startups, then ideally startups would have access to the social graph that facebook gives (via their api or a subscription service). So, if you get someone to connect to your new beta with a "connect with facebook" then you get a better idea of the demographic that you're dealing with.
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.