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Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

loyaltyspace.com

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Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#11

Post by rstocker99 »

MicahWedemeyer wrote: post #9

Looking at the pricing, my first thought is "Wow, that's cheap!" I don't know how that converts to US dollars, but it seems way low. I think you'll want to raise your monthly fee considerably, on the order of 2-3x that amount. Or, consider offering multi-tiered pricing (more on that below). I run a startup ( http://doleaf.com ) that also deals with small businesses, and they require A LOT of handholding. Plus, they'l…

It's very likely your pricing is too low.

If you're new to pricing consider reading this short free ebook on pricing written by the CEO of Redgate software: http://www.neildavidson.com/dontjustrollthedice.html. It will help you think through how to approach pricing your product.

Your pricing should be based on what economic value you deliver. Since that value will be different for different customers you should tier your pricing.

Figure out one or a handful of the key levers that drive that value. For example, in your case it might be number of their customers that are part of their loyalty program or the total transaction value tracked or something else. Someone with 1,000 customers tracked vs. 5,000 are going to be getting a different amount of value from you and ought to be paying accordingly.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#12

Post by loyaltyspace »

ubuwaits wrote: post #10
antidaily wrote: post #7

Design is nice, but the logo looks cheap. And pixel-y.

Agreed. Also, get rid of the cheesy stock photos. It really cheapens the look of the site.

Thanks for your comment.

I'm a bit torn on the images - stock photos are generally rubbish but it adds a bit of context.

Creating my own photographs is probably not the best time or cash investment.

Point taken though - maybe I'll look for better stock images!

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#13

Post by loyaltyspace »

patio11 wrote: post #6

Put a big bright signup button in the main content area. I assumed "Suitable For All Consumer Facing Businesses!" was going to be one. LoyaltySpace is a complete, simple, and affordable solution that helps small businesses to increase sales by running their own customer loyalty program. LoyaltySpace supports both plastic card loyalty programs and an innovative mobile phone based loyalty product. That is a lot about y…

Thanks Patrick - all great that advice that will implement.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#14

Post by loyaltyspace »

rstocker99 wrote: post #11
MicahWedemeyer wrote: post #9

Looking at the pricing, my first thought is "Wow, that's cheap!" I don't know how that converts to US dollars, but it seems way low. I think you'll want to raise your monthly fee considerably, on the order of 2-3x that amount. Or, consider offering multi-tiered pricing (more on that below). I run a startup ( http://doleaf.com ) that also deals with small businesses, and they require A LOT of handholding. Plus, they'l…

It's very likely your pricing is too low. If you're new to pricing consider reading this short free ebook on pricing written by the CEO of Redgate software: http://www.neildavidson.com/dontjustrollthedice.html . It will help you think through how to approach pricing your product. Your pricing should be based on what economic value you deliver. Since that value will be different for different customers you should tier…

Thanks - I have been meaning to have a look at Neils book.

Pricing is difficult - I want to be able to show ROI to something like a small cafe or restaurant.

Tiers might be the answer but at the same time I want a really simple pricing scheme, and will probably defer the choice till the user is more familiar with the system when they have more knowledge about what they might need.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#15

Post by loyaltyspace »

ThomPete wrote: post #4

My immediate feedback would be the following: You seem to be trying to sell the idea of customer loyalty instead of what your product do in the field of customer loyalty. (The 5 promotional points on the front page) Now that is a perfectly valid approach, but I don't think you want to do that. Instead assume that your customers already know what CL is and instead focus on what your product does that others don't. I.e…

Thanks for your insight.

I guess I do want to sell both concepts - but definetly need to re-balance the two slightly.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#16

Post by dlevine »

Having tried something similar to this in the past, I found that the business was much more sales than technology. Small businesses are very cost-conscious, and slow to adopt new technology.

It required a lot of sales up-front to land a deal, and then the willingness to pay was ridiculously low. My end realization was that, given the effort required to land a customer and the number of customers it would take to reach break-even profitability, it was basically impossible to make money on the idea.

Your idea is slightly different, so the numbers may work out for you, but I would think about how many customers you need at $27 a pop (in USD). Basically, you are going to need a cheap distribution channel that can sell thousands of subscriptions to even come close.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#17

Post by loyaltyspace »

patrickk wrote: post #8

As a consumer, the last thing I want is more plastic in my wallet. Something like Cardstar ( http://www.mycardstar.com/ ) would be a start, but maybe that's a typical early adopter HN attitude more than a typical consumer response. Your landing page needs simpler, bigger, attention-grabbing text. Also, I'll second the comment below about the big bright signup button. The CardStar link above has a nice example that yo…

Thanks very much for this.

I wasn't aware of CardStar - a fair amount of overlap there.

+1 to that killer application in a sentence. I'm not quite there with my elevator pitch.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#18

Post by MicahWedemeyer »

loyaltyspace wrote: post #14
rstocker99 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very likely your pricing is too low. If you're new to pricing consider reading this short free ebook on pricing written by the CEO of Redgate software: http://www.neildavidson.com/dontjustrollthedice.html . It will help you think through how to approach pricing your product. Your pricing should be based on what economic value you deliver. Since that value will be different for different customers you should tier…

Thanks - I have been meaning to have a look at Neils book. Pricing is difficult - I want to be able to show ROI to something like a small cafe or restaurant. Tiers might be the answer but at the same time I want a really simple pricing scheme, and will probably defer the choice till the user is more familiar with the system when they have more knowledge about what they might need.

Tiered pricing is (usually) dead simple to understand. As their program grows, they climb the tier.

I'm a mailchimp customer and that's how they work. Once my list reaches a certain size, I pay a higher monthly fee. Nothing complicated about it. Plus, I don't even have to "decide" anything. They automatically calculate my tier based on list size. I'd say you're in a nearly identical boat.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#19

Post by loyaltyspace »

dlevine wrote: post #16

Having tried something similar to this in the past, I found that the business was much more sales than technology. Small businesses are very cost-conscious, and slow to adopt new technology. It required a lot of sales up-front to land a deal, and then the willingness to pay was ridiculously low. My end realization was that, given the effort required to land a customer and the number of customers it would take to reac…

I definetly need to revisit pricing based on this feedback.

True re price sensitivity of the small business, but in a way, the target market is the fundamental USP. Nameley, take a tool that the bigger guys are using and make it available in a scalable fashion to small businesses.

Re thousands of subscriptions... If I could take 100 at that price I'd be happy with the outcome.

Plus I think there's a number of related areas I could move on to off the back of this.

Thanks for the comment - really useful. Also, if you have 5 minutes, feel free to include more info on your experience or link up with me be email twitter etc.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#20

Post by olegp »

loyaltyspace wrote: post #17
patrickk wrote: post #8

As a consumer, the last thing I want is more plastic in my wallet. Something like Cardstar ( http://www.mycardstar.com/ ) would be a start, but maybe that's a typical early adopter HN attitude more than a typical consumer response. Your landing page needs simpler, bigger, attention-grabbing text. Also, I'll second the comment below about the big bright signup button. The CardStar link above has a nice example that yo…

Thanks very much for this. I wasn't aware of CardStar - a fair amount of overlap there. +1 to that killer application in a sentence. I'm not quite there with my elevator pitch.

http://www.thepocketagency.com are doing something similar to CardStar in the UK, let me know if you want an intro
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