Nota features an innovative toolbar
to help you get the job done
What job?
Area Selection Tool: Lets you highlight any part of
a web page. And best of all it takes a screen
capture of the selection!
For what?
Text Highlighter Tool: Shows copy changes and catches
typos in text heavy pages. (Yeah, we're looking at
you "Terms of Use" pages.)
What?
Take the guesswork out of web development, with Nota.
Nota records every click, scroll, and keystroke, giving
you the clues you need to efficiently understand and
repair user issues.
WHY?
the thing you're missing in all of this is the question of what problem you're solving. I assume you're solving a problem, but:
* How do I know I have your problem?
* How do I even know it's a problem to start with?
* What is the problem?
* What is the context?
* Who is your audience?
In short, based on my visit to your landing page, I have no idea what problem this product is solving.
Thanks for that. This landing page can sure be optimised quite a bit. Though as today the main problem is not so much converting users from landing page to sign-up but rather getting current beta users (that do not complain in any sort about the app) to actually try it in they day to day workflow. I am striving for feedback, and if no one use the app I can't get any.
I would have left you this feedback live on your site, but no widget there, which I feel is a missed opportunity.
Anyhow.
Talk about how web designers in specifically should be using this rather than getting their feedback over email with non-descriptive explanations like "I feel the paragraph was overshadowed by the icon." "What icon?" "The green one." "On what page?" "The home page." "Oh yay after 3 emails I finally understand what you meant!"
Get Beta Access doesn't read as a button.
The hero shot is a lovely photo and I don't want to crush your soul about it, but it sells a lifestyle of working on Macbooks in hipster cafes, not your software. It is impossible to tell, at that point in the sales process, that the fake website which gets 100% of the screen-within-a-screen real estate is not actually the point of the shot, but rather, the UI that gets 10% of the screen-within-a-screen real estate is the point. That UI is unreadable to me, both literally and figuratively. Your animated explanation later on the page is superior in explaining what your software actually does.
You should probably sell this face-to-face to designers at meetups/etc. Give away two dozen beta accounts to actual people in real life, with that crazy founder gleam in your eyes. If they don't use it, pester them about why. Answer the objections in onboarding -- e.g. don't have a website that I need feedback on right now, didn't get the snippet installed, etc.
Indeed, if you're not even using your product yourself - showcasing it front and centre, then why would I want to use it? Including it would be the perfect demo opportunity.
Completely agreeing with this comment. The first thing I wanted to do was see it in action myself (and by see, I mean use). As soon as I couldn't there & then I left.
The "Right tool for the job" example also was more damaging than useful in a way. You have this huge blowup circle to show the toolbar. But that's over 50% whitespace and even hides the demo you have running behind it.
Don't market to "everyone". Market to a very narrow, carefully defined market. And it doesn't matter if they "love" it. What matters is that they need it, and need it enough to pay.
Who are you seeking for beta customers? How are you reaching and inviting them? What kind of feedback are you getting from them?
My target market is small (2~10 employees) web agencies. I worked for such companies and build that app to address the pains they have with the feedback loop.
So far I have mostly been doing cold mailing to very targeted market and made some promotion through listing site (betalist, reddit). I had about 300 users out of this.
The type of feedback I got so far sounds like: "Great app will save me lot of time!!" yet after 1 month since the launch I have 2 "active" users.
The problem is, nobody wants to be the evil guy that rips another guy's dream to shreds. That's why, when asked directly, people will always say that your thing is a cool idea, looks great, etc.
It is said that entrepreneurs need to develop hard skin. I propose that this hard skin should extend to ignoring this kind of vapid feedback. Because with our typical starry-eyed optimism (/ denial), we often see these as validation, when they're really not.
One thing I've learned is also to always listen to the 'assholes', you know the guys who tell you that your thing sucks, looks like shit and so on. They are often valuable resources because at least they are being honest - if you engage them and try to get them to flesh out their criticism. Some of the best feedback I have ever gotten was this way.
Well I thought about that. Tho I am getting spontaneous feedback from people telling they love the app. Actually the few I've asked feedback to, more often than not don't answer..
I am Ok with dismissing the idea or pivoting if I have too, but I can't do that without understanding what went wrong.
This made me wonder what site you were referring to - maybe "Feedback right on your site".
"The Right Tool for the Job"
By this point I still wasn't sure what "the Job" was...
Also, having a product that collects feedback on web pages that doesn't immediately allow me to play with the tools is a bit frustrating - I won't sign up just to play with a text selection/highlighting tool even if it is pretty cool.
+1 for this. Here's my thoughts while browsing it:
I scrolled down, and to be honest if you hadn't mentioned feedback at the top, I would've thought "web design collab tool", with the area/text highlighting.
Oh hey, you follow with that impression too.
> Take the guesswork out of web development
So I'm to be developing a website, I guess with other people, so it is a collab tool (thats the feedback)? Ok.
It hooks into Github? How? Why? Eh, lived 22 years without it, probably don't need it.
First it was hard for me as well to figure out "what it does" or to be more precise "how it does it" but there is this little animation on the landing page which illustrates it pretty well.
@nota.io: you could make that animation bigger or make a video out of it.
I wanted to give you feedback that there is no feedback mechanism on the right side of the page but ironically you don't give the user opportunity to apply your product to your own site.
You appear to have a feedback tool that allows users to select part of the page. That isn't clear, but...
You've made a website feedback tool that allows users to tell the site owner what they think is bad about the site. Why aren't you using it for this thread?
When you go live, identify your client group (at first sight, it's agencies and freelancers)
- Create a seperate button for agencies and freelanciers Agencies, signup here, freelancers: signup here.
- Create different pricing to match the client group
- Create a "use-it now" script, eg. a editable-text that they can copy and copy paste it in a website. Give it a trial account (or beta).
- Sell to your target groups, i think you can do something with this, but you really need specific group targeting.
- Change the button: Get early feedback into the register texts and buttons: Register for free here (input: Name & Email) -> Button: Register
- Change some text: Collect feedback on your site... Try targetting web designers (who hate the overuse of mail for adjusting to the clients preference -> put this as a section on the front page). Example for a section: Optimize your website feedback (collect early client feedback)
It's not immediatly clear what it does, it summorizes the tools, not the goal itselve (eliminating email by a better workflow for receiving client feedback for example).
And last but not least, marketing marketing marketing :)
Update the headline - "FEEDBACK
RIGHT ON THE SITE"
Leave feedback? Receive feedback? So I can do what?
On the subhead -
What does taking the guesswork out of the feedback loop actually mean? What will I be able to do once I take the guesswork out of the feedback loop? Make better design decisions?
A lot of the copy is too vague to be helpful.
"THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB"
What job? What are the pain points your tool helps alleviate? From the site, I'm guessing it's to find out the specific elements that are stopping visitors from converting or further engaging with the site? Poor design is expensive. A lot of people know what people do on a website, not lot of people understand why they do it. Sell up your solution as solving for the "why."
From browsing the comments it seems like you mostly rely on online feedback from the betatesters. I think you need to move one step back. You have identified a pain point (from your own experience) and a way to solve it but are you really sure you're targeting the right people and the pain is big enough?
I think you should find some people that you think have the identified problem, see if/how they solve it and meet them in person to demonstrate your cure. It's costly (time/travel) but I think it'll clear up a lot of things.
You can learn A TON from this. Seriously find ~20 people and meet them in real life.
I've seen a stratup take beta user metrics and offer their most active users the first year free. If you give out 10 free years of service to your most active users and promoters this might actually give them the motivation to start using the product.
Also, once they've used the product for a year they probably won't stop when they have to start paying and by then they've given you the feedback you need. They might also give you some quotes to put on the front page to show how happy your existing customers are.
Well I'd give life long use to the right beta users willing to give me serious feedback. It's the very least I could do. I am currently trying that approach with cold mailing but not getting a whole lot of attention with that (actually none at all)
It's been mentioned several times but I think the main thing is telling what problem you're solving, as early as possible.
Also, your sign in looks like a modal, but it isn't. Confused me a little bit when i wanted to go back and almost made me stop completely. Probably just me, but might be worth a look.
Try asking the people that love the concept what they think of your sales site. Maybe you explained something to them which caught their attention that you're not saying on the site.
You might be onto something. Could this be easily converted into an annotation tool for machine learning purposes? It looks like you could use it to annotate images and text. You need an interface to create annotation schema. Then, you need to have two or more annotators per text/image. And finally, you calculate inter-annotator agreement and export the data.
I know that there are couple startups that got seed money for "annotating the web". For example "Rap Genius".
these things piss me off, i click on it, and it doesn't say what it is or why i want it.
it should be right there at the top "nota - it's bacon for your computer" or whatever. instead i'm supposed to scroll and look at pictures and i still don't get it. looks to me like more effort was put into making a fancy design rather than an actual product, because if it was a product it'd be obvious what it was.
Take any notion of "beta" off your site. You want people to sign up thinking it's production ready and start test and improving your funnel based on a trickle feed of new visitors. Use A/B testing and talk to people that leave their details on why they did or did not use it and improve accordingly.
[+] [-] ColinWright|11 years ago|reply
the thing you're missing in all of this is the question of what problem you're solving. I assume you're solving a problem, but:
* How do I know I have your problem?
* How do I even know it's a problem to start with?
* What is the problem?
* What is the context?
* Who is your audience?
In short, based on my visit to your landing page, I have no idea what problem this product is solving.
So I left.
Does that help?
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brink|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Vik1ng|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Lapsa|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JonoBB|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patio11|11 years ago|reply
Anyhow.
Talk about how web designers in specifically should be using this rather than getting their feedback over email with non-descriptive explanations like "I feel the paragraph was overshadowed by the icon." "What icon?" "The green one." "On what page?" "The home page." "Oh yay after 3 emails I finally understand what you meant!"
Get Beta Access doesn't read as a button.
The hero shot is a lovely photo and I don't want to crush your soul about it, but it sells a lifestyle of working on Macbooks in hipster cafes, not your software. It is impossible to tell, at that point in the sales process, that the fake website which gets 100% of the screen-within-a-screen real estate is not actually the point of the shot, but rather, the UI that gets 10% of the screen-within-a-screen real estate is the point. That UI is unreadable to me, both literally and figuratively. Your animated explanation later on the page is superior in explaining what your software actually does.
You should probably sell this face-to-face to designers at meetups/etc. Give away two dozen beta accounts to actual people in real life, with that crazy founder gleam in your eyes. If they don't use it, pester them about why. Answer the objections in onboarding -- e.g. don't have a website that I need feedback on right now, didn't get the snippet installed, etc.
[+] [-] loceng|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LTheobald|11 years ago|reply
The "Right tool for the job" example also was more damaging than useful in a way. You have this huge blowup circle to show the toolbar. But that's over 50% whitespace and even hides the demo you have running behind it.
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] paulrov|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] beat|11 years ago|reply
Who are you seeking for beta customers? How are you reaching and inviting them? What kind of feedback are you getting from them?
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johnyzee|11 years ago|reply
It is said that entrepreneurs need to develop hard skin. I propose that this hard skin should extend to ignoring this kind of vapid feedback. Because with our typical starry-eyed optimism (/ denial), we often see these as validation, when they're really not.
One thing I've learned is also to always listen to the 'assholes', you know the guys who tell you that your thing sucks, looks like shit and so on. They are often valuable resources because at least they are being honest - if you engage them and try to get them to flesh out their criticism. Some of the best feedback I have ever gotten was this way.
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
I am Ok with dismissing the idea or pivoting if I have too, but I can't do that without understanding what went wrong.
[+] [-] arethuza|11 years ago|reply
"Feedback right on the site"
This made me wonder what site you were referring to - maybe "Feedback right on your site".
"The Right Tool for the Job"
By this point I still wasn't sure what "the Job" was...
Also, having a product that collects feedback on web pages that doesn't immediately allow me to play with the tools is a bit frustrating - I won't sign up just to play with a text selection/highlighting tool even if it is pretty cool.
[+] [-] diminish|11 years ago|reply
Or maybe more dummy-proof; "Do you run a web site? Get feedback right on your site"
>> Also, having a product that collects feedback on web pages that doesn't immediately allow me to play with the tools is a bit frustrating
And why doesn't this site itself use this tool to get feedback? That could be also a nice demonstration.
Finally, I scrolled thrice, and didn't really get what the tool is about. Maybe the site has a communication problem, which prevents conversions...
[+] [-] easytiger|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] csmattryder|11 years ago|reply
I scrolled down, and to be honest if you hadn't mentioned feedback at the top, I would've thought "web design collab tool", with the area/text highlighting.
Oh hey, you follow with that impression too.
> Take the guesswork out of web development
So I'm to be developing a website, I guess with other people, so it is a collab tool (thats the feedback)? Ok.
It hooks into Github? How? Why? Eh, lived 22 years without it, probably don't need it.
[+] [-] consta|11 years ago|reply
@nota.io: you could make that animation bigger or make a video out of it.
[+] [-] thelettere|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] mushishi|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] untog|11 years ago|reply
You've made a website feedback tool that allows users to tell the site owner what they think is bad about the site. Why aren't you using it for this thread?
[+] [-] illumen|11 years ago|reply
I can't tell from the domain name, or from the website 'above the fold'. Even scrolling down, I'm still not sure what it does.
Also, you have no signup at the moment?
[+] [-] NicoJuicy|11 years ago|reply
When you go live, identify your client group (at first sight, it's agencies and freelancers)
- Create a seperate button for agencies and freelanciers Agencies, signup here, freelancers: signup here.
- Create different pricing to match the client group
- Create a "use-it now" script, eg. a editable-text that they can copy and copy paste it in a website. Give it a trial account (or beta).
- Sell to your target groups, i think you can do something with this, but you really need specific group targeting.
- Change the button: Get early feedback into the register texts and buttons: Register for free here (input: Name & Email) -> Button: Register
- Change some text: Collect feedback on your site... Try targetting web designers (who hate the overuse of mail for adjusting to the clients preference -> put this as a section on the front page). Example for a section: Optimize your website feedback (collect early client feedback)
It's not immediatly clear what it does, it summorizes the tools, not the goal itselve (eliminating email by a better workflow for receiving client feedback for example).
And last but not least, marketing marketing marketing :)
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kybernetyk|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bennesvig|11 years ago|reply
Leave feedback? Receive feedback? So I can do what?
On the subhead - What does taking the guesswork out of the feedback loop actually mean? What will I be able to do once I take the guesswork out of the feedback loop? Make better design decisions?
A lot of the copy is too vague to be helpful.
"THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB"
What job? What are the pain points your tool helps alleviate? From the site, I'm guessing it's to find out the specific elements that are stopping visitors from converting or further engaging with the site? Poor design is expensive. A lot of people know what people do on a website, not lot of people understand why they do it. Sell up your solution as solving for the "why."
[+] [-] kriro|11 years ago|reply
I think you should find some people that you think have the identified problem, see if/how they solve it and meet them in person to demonstrate your cure. It's costly (time/travel) but I think it'll clear up a lot of things. You can learn A TON from this. Seriously find ~20 people and meet them in real life.
[+] [-] donkeyd|11 years ago|reply
Also, once they've used the product for a year they probably won't stop when they have to start paying and by then they've given you the feedback you need. They might also give you some quotes to put on the front page to show how happy your existing customers are.
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neilellis|11 years ago|reply
Be patient and
KEEP AT IT: listen, learn, fix - repeat
I found this helpful - http://www.appsumo.com/copywriting-checklist-special/ - simple, concise and well explained guide to website copy.
Good luck, work, listen, learn and be patient :-)
Oh and take HN with a pinch of salt :-)
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
Thanks for the perspective. I will keep at it. Cheers
[+] [-] sdernley|11 years ago|reply
Also, your sign in looks like a modal, but it isn't. Confused me a little bit when i wanted to go back and almost made me stop completely. Probably just me, but might be worth a look.
Try asking the people that love the concept what they think of your sales site. Maybe you explained something to them which caught their attention that you're not saying on the site.
[+] [-] zeratul|11 years ago|reply
I know that there are couple startups that got seed money for "annotating the web". For example "Rap Genius".
[+] [-] n0body|11 years ago|reply
it should be right there at the top "nota - it's bacon for your computer" or whatever. instead i'm supposed to scroll and look at pictures and i still don't get it. looks to me like more effort was put into making a fancy design rather than an actual product, because if it was a product it'd be obvious what it was.
that would be problem 1 i suppose.
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wiseleo|11 years ago|reply
Most people have no idea such tools exist. You are asking them to envision a concept that they never imagined is possible today.
Your animated graphic is clear to me, but it's not explicit enough.
You also appear to include features of tools like Clicktale, which is interesting and not prominent enough.
I agree that this tool must be live on your own site. :)
[+] [-] vbrendel|11 years ago|reply
Watch this video for background: http://vimeo.com/54118238
[+] [-] m4nu|11 years ago|reply