Tell me more ×
Answers OnStartups is a question and answer site for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business. It's 100% free, no registration required.

We have a very unique platform - connecting people by analyzing their wishes, worries, desires & dreams. People are not used to it, but when we speak then people get it. People spend 3 seconds on our website before they conclude - any help?

share|improve this question

4 Answers

This is not a comprehensive comment -- but a general point to provide some direction --

Stop focusing on how you are unique -- and focus on how you are the same. Make it comfortable by downplaying how completely revolutionary it is.

Think about all of the ways people connect on social networks with other people. Emulate as many of the design and structural elements of these presentations as you can -- so that when you highlight your unique value proposition it is only one small jump of distinction for the customer.

I know I have said this before on here- - but I will use it again as it is a classic:

The car was revolutionary. A completely new industry, way to get from A to B. But it wasn't sold that way. In fact it was sold as a horseless-carraige to the early adoptors. If you look at the design you will see the lineage from horse drawn carraiges even to cars today.

Customers can make one jump-- sometimes two -- give them the baby steps to make that easy, safe and comfortable.

Here are some other ideas based on a quick review of your site:

  • Let me engage right away -- test it out. Let me add an element of a dream and see what the algorithm created chart would look like. Can't do that technically? Then have a scroll down list of sames I could choose from. A choose an element and it shows me what a chart would look like. this would get me engaged with the subject matter right away and presumably make it more "known" and "safer"/easier.

  • There is nothing that provides me peer evaluation that lets me know that there are other people on the site I would want to connect with. When you go to other matching sites that are not already iconic brands they have list of other members, samples that I can see -- the site is hoping that one or more will capture my interest and compel my participation.

  • Write some more blogs. Break it down. Provide me evidence that there is something to back up the research behind your algorithm. Incorporate stories. Show me you are an expert in this field of dream analysis and personality matching.

  • The audience of the copy seems to be written for an investor -- not the target market.

share|improve this answer
Thanks a ton. Can I contact you through your email if I need some suggestions? – Debasish Oct 5 '11 at 15:30
Anytime. Please feel free to email me. – Joseph Barisonzi Oct 5 '11 at 15:39
nice answer Joseph – edralph Oct 5 '11 at 16:41
You make a very good point, presenting it as totally unique and revolutionary can be a bit of a barrier for people to consider it. Giving the potential audience a common touchpoint with other services that they are familiar with can help them bridge into your service. Still, you want to have the common ground, yet express differentiation. The car example is a very good analogy. You could also compare how Google+ differentiates itself from Facebook as a closer analogy to your situation. – ttongue Oct 5 '11 at 17:03
@Edralph -- thank you, that means a lot to me comming from you. – Joseph Barisonzi Oct 5 '11 at 17:22
show 2 more comments

What you've described sounds like a system where the size of the network of participants is the determinant of the value proposition. So how do you build a critical mass (start a fire)? To start, you're going to need to create an incentive for the initial pool of people to participate that does not rely on the network effect, and you need to figure out some critical points in order to generate the right pool of people that will act as the initial flame that starts the fire. Realize that the more diverse the pool is, the larger it has to be in order to make enough meaningful connections between participants to justify their effort. If there is a way to piggy-back what you're trying to do onto other social networking frameworks (Facebook, Google+, etc), then your barrier for participation will be lower. Points to keep in mind:

1) Lower the barriers of participation. If you can tie into other online services, this is very helpful. Take Stack Exchange as a great example... I had five choices for how to create my account, including tying it to Google. Any time I can set up an account without creating another username and password, I'm more likely to do it.

2) Clearly articulate your value proposition and why it is UNIQUE and VALUABLE to the potential participant. Too many things vying for attention out there, you've got to make your service compelling, and initially it cannot solely rely on the network effect for that value, even though eventually that might be the driver.

3) Pay attention to how you recruit that initial pool of participants. Consider ways that temporarily narrow the diversity of the pool to get started (remember, it's the number of connections between the participants that keeps the value). Facebook did not open to the whole world, it started very narrow, then slowly broadened as it grew.

share|improve this answer
Thanks for your great advise – Debasish Oct 5 '11 at 14:47

I think your home page needs some work to make it graphically more appealing but I suspect that making friends through having similar dreams is a strange concept to most people and that is your biggest challenge.

I would try some A/B testing with a different home page to see if you can increase the conversions by using different statements. The first alternate home page content I would try would be based around "What do your dreams mean?" which I suspect once you have helped someone understand their dreams they would be much more receptive to find other people who have similar and related dreams a bit like Amazons what others buy concept.

share|improve this answer
Yes - we are still going through changes - added a video to explain what we are doing - did you think it make sense? – Debasish Oct 5 '11 at 14:48

I have some point to ask you,

  • How you recognize the users feeling
  • Lets assume user writes about his/her feeling on your app, but how often they will share their feeling
  • Feelings are very that change time by time, how will you judge that with you app?
share|improve this answer
1] we have an algo for "feeling" organization. It seems users are sharing their feelings multiple times a day. last one is our secret - its based on psychology - i cant give you details at this time. we have a details video our website about how it works. please take a look, it might answer some of your questions. – Debasish Oct 5 '11 at 17:25

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.