First of:
You did the work! You build a real solution!
It is not done half-ass but really thought through and executed skillfully.
And you went the extra mile for that!
But you stopped on that extra mile a little too early.
Everything below is meant as a genuine help for you.
To improve the product -which benefits me as well.
I don’t claim to know everything, to be smarter, or better, or have the illusion I could build a better solution.
Let me jump right into it:
Create the experience of a brand new user! Like a skillful artist. Like a director who constructs the picture in a way that directs your attention to where he wants you to look at.
Who are you, customers?
And if this is a business and not a charity organization then: Who should be your customers?!
Is MarginNote for students - or for everybody that wants to learn?
Which group is most profitable?
- Businesspeople, like myself.
If not for a third party distributor but based on your website I would not have even tested it out.
MarginNote is not an e-reader. It’s a powerful learning tool that enables integrated information collection and extraction and is relevant to everybody that enjoys learning!
Redesign the UX and UI on first principles thinking and keep in mind that you want people to start using it right away.
And that means:
Guide their experience. How they see your service. What they see when and how easy it is to find. How the next step is anticipated and enabled.
Did you write an essay about why & how you build this?
- Yes
Is this the very first thing I want to read?
Obviously not
I was (and still am) searching for a way to take some damn notes right away and get all my google keep notes (3 accounts, tons of ideas, relevant thoughts, etc) over here to extract the key information!
You wrote a great essay and I am looking forward to reading it
- but first I need this thing to work right away and then when I have time will go through it.
You must get your new users to start using this as fast as possible.
That’s how you convert your free trial users as well.
Check out Asana.com did a great job - look at it
It’s intuitive af because they make you use & love their product first
- and then you are happy to pay for it.
The way you don’t convert is to force them to read your
Read 17 pages to start!
Get them hooked, convince them, make them use it - then educate them how to do it better.
All tools must be reachable with the least amount of clicks.
The only reason why I found your forum (which is great, but it’s pure luck that I found it) was to see where that note function is that I was looking for!
so in short:
Scripted UX to help them start using your service faster
Rebranding or second label (I have real difficulties to remember the name like I had to search for it to find it again… three times) for different target groups
Differentiate pricing based on regions
seriously, rebranding! MarginNote sounds to the unsophisticated user (me) like a tool to take notes.
Or, probably best - makes a second version catering to other users.
Emphasize on the browser.
On the empowerment to remove all distractions.
You basically build the tool that I tried the founder of https://readermode.io/ to build.
If you want to collaborate with him I will send you his email address via pm.
Features that are necessary:
Note taking
Note import
Ease of onboarding (check out Asana https://asana.com/)
b2b sales: Sales partnerships with all companies that are not competing with you and cater to the same customers
→ all existing business tools
App economy:
I put it in non-tech terms:
Give every nerd who lives in his mother’s basement the opportunity to sell functionality that he sees to be beneficial to your infrastructure.
You will get a global army of nerds to work for free and to do all the testing and work to make your product even better.
So make it as easy as possible for them.
Which brings me to the next point:
Force me to use your product right.
Not to read a book. (did I mention Asana ?)
I have several hundred notes in keep that I would love to import (how?)
Build a UI that is not for techies.
That’s what apple understood. To make this mainstream it has to be so simple that a chimpanzee can use it
As an example: What is this forum text box? How the fuck does that bullet point list work - and I don’t even want to learn the benefits and reasons of Html or CC or Klingonian.
Less is more.
If it’s done right - and easy to use.
Study Aid With Tons of Features
Reduce complexity.
Try to enable the user to use each feature with the least amount of clicks.
I am not saying: “cut back on functionality” - but cut back on what is unnecessary and empower the user to have the least amount of resistance to get the most out of your solution.
You build a solution for
Removing information overload and massive distraction on websites that are designed to trigger engagement that people can’t resist - but also don’t want.
Your solution eliminates distractions, enables integrated cross-platform research and fundamentally
hast the potential to make the internet what it was envisioned for:
Instant Access to 2000+ years of recorded history!
By selling exclusively on Setapp, you give power away to a company that obviously did not bother taking an in-depth look into your abilities!
That has no incentive to empower you to become better at understanding how you can communicate the immense value of what you offer!
Setapp only has the incentive to keep you right there - but is too lazy to bother helping you to do the best right!