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Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

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Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#11

Post by Silhouette »

pyninja wrote: post #7

I solve this problem by bookmarking the website and putting some keywords, like "automated software install", in the description.

Which, of course, works better if the tool in question isn't usually used to install useful things on a new machine that doesn't yet have useful things on it -- browsers and bookmarks, for example. :-)

FWIW, I have also forgotten "Ninite" on more than one occasion, but I think it's the only tool I routinely use where I have repeatedly forgotten the name. Maybe there is something about that particular name that makes it hard to remember, rather than a general problem with any unusual name?

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#13

Post by pyninja »

Silhouette wrote: post #11
pyninja wrote: post #7

I solve this problem by bookmarking the website and putting some keywords, like "automated software install", in the description.

Which, of course, works better if the tool in question isn't usually used to install useful things on a new machine that doesn't yet have useful things on it -- browsers and bookmarks, for example. :-) FWIW, I have also forgotten "Ninite" on more than one occasion, but I think it's the only tool I routinely use where I have repeatedly forgotten the name. Maybe there is something about that particular name that makes…

Which is why you should keep your bookmarks in the cloud :)

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#14

Post by loumf »

I have this problem with nearly every startup mentioned on HN -- it's not that some of them don't have good names -- there's just too many of them. Then, when I have the actual problem that I saw the solution for, they have no SEO yet, so I can't find them by description.

The best solution for this is what Hipmunk is doing -- no way I'd remember it except -- they buy lots of remarketing style ads. I clicked through to the site the first time I heard about it, and I get tons of ads for it all of the time everywhere -- I remember it now.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#16

Post by swies »

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now.

The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new.

I'm also just aesthetically opposed to descriptive names.

The other part of this is that we made the product so lightweight that it goes away after you use it. This is one of the reasons people love it, but it does hurt retention.

I think we got this choice right though. It's way more important for people to love your product than awkwardly hook them somehow. If they love the product they'll get back to you.

That said, we have just released an auto-updater product that helps solve this retention issue in a natural way. https://ninite.com/updater/

It will be interesting to see if that reduces these complaints about Ninite being hard to find and remember.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#17

Post by ora600 »

swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

This is almost like Oracle support telling me "There is no problem" after I call them about my database corruption.

The author, who obviously loves your software, couldn't find you enough times that he wrote a blog post about it. There are several reddit thread about this issue. Several replies to this thread express the same frustration - they can't find your software when they know it exists and want to use it. You hear it a lot yourself too.

But still you don't think its a big deal. I'm wondering what kind of evidence will convince you its a big deal.

It sounds like awesome software. I'm glad I've heard of it. I just hope I'll remember the name when I'll need it.

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#18

Post by phillco »

swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

I think the reason for your success is that Ninite is simply an excellent product. If your product is truly great, it'll usually overcome problems in naming, promotion, design, etc. (I remember there was a Joel on Software post about how Naptster's UI design was terrible, but it didn't matter, because it was Napster). But, we'll never know how successful Ninite could have been had it been easier to remember.

Of out curiosity, how did you come up with the name? EDIT: Ah. http://blog.ninite.com/post/620277259/how-ninite-was-named-b...

Re: Clever Names Aren’t Always a Good Thing

#20

Post by toast76 »

swies wrote: post #16

I'm a co-founder of Ninite. We hear this a lot, but I don't think it's a big deal. Traffic has been growing well since we launched and we install 1,000,000 apps every week now. The real problem is that there's not really a term for what we do. The key part in all these stories is that even searching for us is hard. We're doing something totally new so we might as well call it something totally new. I'm also just aest…

I think it's less of a name issue, and more of a customer engagement issue. If your customers can't remember your name, you're not talking to them enough. Doesn't matter how light weight your app is.

Having said that, I'm not sure why the OP wouldn't just google "automated setup tool"....

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