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Listing "customer personas" instead of features improved our CTR by 200%

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Re: Listing "customer personas" instead of features improved our CTR by 200%

#11
post #8

I was almost amazed at the correct math. A "200% improvement" is definitely "three times what it was previously." But I'm not entirely convinced +200% is a "threefold increase" (I'm a math guy, not a 'human language is fuzzy and ambiguous' guy.)

Starting out with x and ending up with 3x is is a 200% improvement. You think "threefold increase" should mean x+3x=4x?

Re: Listing "customer personas" instead of features improved our CTR by 200%

#13
Awesome to see an Icelandic startup on the HN frontpage!

This post is a great example of how applying typical established marketing knowledge to a product presentation can improve things a lot.

It's well known that presenting benefits, use cases and personas is a more successful approach than presenting features and screenshots. - For most users - I thought every A/B test in the world had already proven that.

And yet we have all these startups out there presenting nothing but features. I think presenting features might probably work better for techies and more tech-savy people, but for the great majority stuff like this will always work better.

Great job. Iceland ftw!

Re: Listing "customer personas" instead of features improved our CTR by 200%

#16
post #6

I like the idea, but you have to pretty sure you know exactly who your customers are don't you? I would move on if I wasn't on the list. Features are more universal, which I guess is why they are also less effective.

you have to pretty sure you know exactly who your customers are don't you?

Yes, and that is itself a huge benefit. If going this route forces you to think about who will use your product (hint: it's not "everybody!") then it's a net win for everyone involved. Understanding your customer is key to building a useful product.

Re: Listing "customer personas" instead of features improved our CTR by 200%

#18

This is very interesting. In personal selling (face-to-face), emphasis tends to be on features and benefits. The personas work better. Proof is in the numbers.

In face to face selling you already know who you're dealing with and have prepared to address that person's (persona's) needs. With a website you never know what person (persona) will see it, so you need to cover more angles.

Re: Listing "customer personas" instead of features improved our CTR by 200%

#19
post #10

I see this sort of thing a lot on sites for products trying to sell to large businesses, sometimes to the point that it's hard to find an actual product description or list of features. I have, several times wanted to yell "but what does your product actually do ?" at the person responsible. I am obviously not the target market here, but why do you think this works?

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Re: Listing "customer personas" instead of features improved our CTR by 200%

#20
post #10

I see this sort of thing a lot on sites for products trying to sell to large businesses, sometimes to the point that it's hard to find an actual product description or list of features. I have, several times wanted to yell "but what does your product actually do ?" at the person responsible. I am obviously not the target market here, but why do you think this works?

If I listed all the features of my product, it would overwhelm most people, since 80% of them are only going to use 20% of the features. Those 80% aren't very tech savvy, and reading through everything would make the product sound too complicated.

You can imagine that when they show up for the first time, they most important first reaction is: "oh, so this product is for people like me".

Though you and I might be people who want to see every single feature first, we're in the minority (ie. not scared that the software will be too complicated).

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