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Ask HN: Tell me your biggest pain and I will try to solve it

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Re: Ask HN: Tell me your biggest pain and I will try to solve it

#71

Post by DougN7 »

I have a business problem. My business sells B2B software. We can use Google Analytics, etc to see how people get to our site and whether they download the free trial (desktop/server software).

When it comes time to purchase, every once in a while the same person that downloaded comes to our online purchase page and we're able to attribute the sale back to the channel/ad/blog it came from.

Most of the time though, someone else (the boss, a purchasing person, etc) on a different PC comes to our online order page and pays. From Analytics point of view they came from nowhere. Or worse, they fax/email a purchase order.

I would love a way to accurately track the source of our sales without introducing painful process (requiring some sort of download ID for example) to the purchase process.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your biggest pain and I will try to solve it

#72

Post by revorad »

DougN7 wrote: post #71

I have a business problem. My business sells B2B software. We can use Google Analytics, etc to see how people get to our site and whether they download the free trial (desktop/server software). When it comes time to purchase, every once in a while the same person that downloaded comes to our online purchase page and we're able to attribute the sale back to the channel/ad/blog it came from. Most of the time though, so…

The simplest solution is to require your customers to register before downloading a free trial. I can't think of a good reason why you can't do this for B2B software.

And if you're worried about conversion rates dropping, I have seen many companies report that their switch from "no signup required" to "signup required" resulted in no difference in conversions. It's certainly worth a test.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your biggest pain and I will try to solve it

#73

Post by DougN7 »

revorad wrote: post #72
DougN7 wrote: post #71

I have a business problem. My business sells B2B software. We can use Google Analytics, etc to see how people get to our site and whether they download the free trial (desktop/server software). When it comes time to purchase, every once in a while the same person that downloaded comes to our online purchase page and we're able to attribute the sale back to the channel/ad/blog it came from. Most of the time though, so…

The simplest solution is to require your customers to register before downloading a free trial. I can't think of a good reason why you can't do this for B2B software. And if you're worried about conversion rates dropping, I have seen many companies report that their switch from "no signup required" to "signup required" resulted in no difference in conversions. It's certainly worth a test.

We do request they signup. But we allow the download without it. I'd guess 60% give us an email address. Mapping the purchase to the email domain shouldn't be too hard. Then we need to track the email signup to the original source (doable in Google Analytics???)

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your biggest pain and I will try to solve it

#74

Post by revorad »

DougN7 wrote: post #73
revorad wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The simplest solution is to require your customers to register before downloading a free trial. I can't think of a good reason why you can't do this for B2B software. And if you're worried about conversion rates dropping, I have seen many companies report that their switch from "no signup required" to "signup required" resulted in no difference in conversions. It's certainly worth a test.

We do request they signup. But we allow the download without it. I'd guess 60% give us an email address. Mapping the purchase to the email domain shouldn't be too hard. Then we need to track the email signup to the original source (doable in Google Analytics???)

Don't request, require it. Ask for name, email, business name, phone number (optional).

Less fun than a clever analytics hack but it will work. Try it for a week or two.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your biggest pain and I will try to solve it

#75

Post by jimkri »

crawfordcomeaux wrote: post #52

I have a cycle of habits that revolves around reading the internet. It goes like this: Have an idea -> google for its existence If idea is novel -> Google to answer questions about implementation; Else -> come up with new spin on idea or stop Confirm findings or test idea -> have a new idea or new questions I also have ADHD & can sometimes (ok...often) hyperfocus when I catch this cycle. I can lose hours upon hours i…

I am exactly the same way. I have ADHD too, I hyper focus all the time, I have triggers that cause me to think of certain ideas and everything you said I do the same. I am all out of wack right now, I have been procrastinating on my homework like crazy this and hyper focusing on random projects, like Thursday I spent 3 hours working on crime data around temple's campus, when I should have been studying for my homework.

But what I try to do with all the ideas I come up with is to let the idea sit, I too have a lot of things that trigger my ideas but I only really think about the ones that have stayed with me, like I have a really solid start-up idea right now and I have had it for about 6 months now. In between that 6 months I was consistently thinking of other ideas. But I think I am just going to focus on this, because it keeps coming up in my mind, and I have thought of some awesome ideas for it.

But what I do is I exercise, it really keeps my mind fresh and throws out a lot of shit. I know its not a software solution but it has helped me so much.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your biggest pain and I will try to solve it

#76

Post by adrianwaj »

An Electrum Doge wallet that actually works (ie has been adapted to AuxPOW) and has servers working to enable it.

There was one a few months ago but it has since been abandoned http://electrum-doge.com/, yet there is still large demand for it. One exists for bitcoin that is working though.

It's fast on startup, non-Java and a headers-only wallet with a deterministic backup (1-time phrase based.) I read that the Core wallet might get a deterministic backup in the future.

Such a wallet would be great for newbies. ED also has plugin potential unlike the core wallet.

If you get it going, you could charge for its usage (eg a fee to connect with the servers,) and it may become popular on mobile devices if you could do a version for it (ie small footprint.) You could also do versions for other coins.

Full blockchain wallets are gradually becoming cumbersome as the blockchain size grows (that might be the true pain point.)

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