Ok, Brandon, let me rant for a second. This isn't your fault, you're a part of a much bigger trend. But bro, a validation test is no excuse for being hasty.
Just because you're in validation stage doesn't mean the marketing page only deserves 2 hours. When the Lean Startup came out, Eric Ries was pushing back against people who devote thousands of dollars and hours before they knew if a product would work out not.
AppSumo has made it cool to test w/ quickly-conceived pages. But a minimum viable product still needs to be viable.
Maybe I'm a hater. If so, sorry I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I just think it's worth pushing for higher-quality in validation tests. A few more hours could greatly affect your results.
For example: what are examples of brands of salsa you'll be delivering? Is this an email newsletter, or a paid service? What if I don't like the salsa this month? Is it crazy-wacky mango salsas or interesting tomato-based salsa?
Answering those questions might push your needle in the right direction. :)
One of the points of a validation test like this is to be broad in your product offering, and seek feedback to guide the development/refinement of your product and its features.
Your own questions provide exactly that- Maybe nobody cares what type or brand of salsa it is, just that it’s different each month. Or maybe 2/3s of potential users ask that question, and he knows he should add that as a feature/description.
Or maybe he hears people want guacamole and sour cream delivered as well, and he then tests that offering out. Or nobody signs up, it fails, and he’s only lost a few hours of his time.
yep! All of that is definitely true as well. People seem to be receptive to salsa in general, and from there I can see what types of flavors everyone likes and settle on a fair price point
I appreciate the constructive criticism, and I agree with your points.
Your comments, along with a ton of others, are definitely helping. To answer your questions this is both a newsletter and I will be selling independently owned salsa brands, both as a monthly subscription and through an e-commerce section. The landing page is very basic, probably too basic, but it’s serving as a way to keep in touch with other salsa enthusiasts until I can get everything up and running.
Again, I appreciate your comments. All feedback is important!
Agree completely. I can tell this was made with UnBounce, and i could duplicate it in roughly 6 minutes.
If you have an idea worth testing, it's probably worth spending 5-10 hours on the test, assuming you want to receive decision making data.
I would expect any landing page like this to "prove" the idea was terrible, when it in fact could have legs. I for one would like a salsa of the month club.
For the 30% of people who are genetically disposed to hate cilantro/coriander, please have an option to not have it in the salsa or skip those types of salsas.
It looks like it's not quite 30%, but still high enough to make an opt-out worthwhile [1]. As someone who is afflicted, I can say that it would be a deal-breaker.
I love physical companies using digital media, I really do, they are hard to succeed with but if you do they can be great business.
But I think you need to do some more work to get this on up and running properly.
right now it looks a little bit like a link farm page.
May I suggest the following changes.
1) Move the text out of the picture or at least have it on a background.
2) Remove the gradient from the sign up form and give it a solid color (perhaps red?)
3) Move the sign up form outside the picture.
4) Be more disciplined with your description text.
5)Set up a facebook page and a twitter account, start collecting followers there and show some of the feedback on your page.
6) And most importantly. Add a FAQ so that people know who you are, where you are located, what this is all about, what they are signing up for and so on.
I appreciate the feedback! The page is definitely lacking in a lot of areas, so receiving unbiased feedback makes things a lot easier to prioritize. Again, I appreciate you sharing some insight. I’m currently making improvements and trying to spruce it up with my limited (non-existent) design skills :)
I like your approach. Assuming you are going to focus on existing salsa and not make your own.
I had a very similar idea about a year ago. Except my idea was that user would build their salsa by selecting ingredients and I would make/ship. Of course this allows recipe sharing and such. The thought of food production quickly had me shelf that idea. Your approach seems much easier to execute
Some constructive feedback:
1. Maybe offer a few price points?
- i.e. select how much salsa you want $10/month?$20?
2. Will shipping glass containers with liquid be costly/dangerous/risky?
3. Did you try any google adwords?
The HN audience probably has a inherent bias TOWARDS saas services/subscription models.
First, your landing page needs the attention that others have mentioned.
Second, I LOVE this idea. Kind of like Graze, but for salsa. Actually, yes, do that - make Graze for salsa. Give us options. Let us choose to Hate or Love certain ingredients/keywords.
You should update the copy right info at the bottom of the page. It was kind of jarring when I saw that it wasn't changed from the default text from the template.
I’ve been getting a lot of interest from the UK, so I’m thinking I should work with some UK salsa brands as well. At this point it remains to be seen if I will ship to the UK, but I definitely will work on it, so I’m hopeful.
It seems to be a good service. I need to improve my page a lot more, but that’s not Unbounce’s fault. They seem to be a good service and their customer service is very friendly, so yes, I’d recommend them.
Just because you're in validation stage doesn't mean the marketing page only deserves 2 hours. When the Lean Startup came out, Eric Ries was pushing back against people who devote thousands of dollars and hours before they knew if a product would work out not.
AppSumo has made it cool to test w/ quickly-conceived pages. But a minimum viable product still needs to be viable.
Maybe I'm a hater. If so, sorry I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I just think it's worth pushing for higher-quality in validation tests. A few more hours could greatly affect your results.
For example: what are examples of brands of salsa you'll be delivering? Is this an email newsletter, or a paid service? What if I don't like the salsa this month? Is it crazy-wacky mango salsas or interesting tomato-based salsa?
Answering those questions might push your needle in the right direction. :)