Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com • Hacker News Board

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#31

Post by Zak » Sun, May 16, 2010, 9:38 PM UTC

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…

As a consumer, the last thing I want is more plastic in my wallet.

Quoted because I only get one upvote.

There are several grocery store chains in my area. One of them does not have a loyalty program; they still have traditional sales. The price of certain items is reduced, and no plastic card or other identifying information is required to get the reduced price. I shop at that chain almost exclusively, in large part due to the lack of a loyalty program. It's not so much that I'm worried about privacy - I simply find them highly annoying.

Sorry, LoyaltySpace. I think your startup sucks. I don't want more stores doing this.

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#32

Post by BrianAnderson » Sun, May 16, 2010, 11:42 PM UTC

Thanks for posting this for review. Like the concept a lot.

If you have some beta customers, I would recommend you post quotes from them on the site. Nothing will help win over small business owners better than their fellow business owners. If they are willing to share any specific numbers with the outside world, that would help even more. For example, "loyaltyspace has increased my customer frequency rate by 10%". Other people validating your product makes sales SO MUCH easier.

One thing I was hoping to see under the "how it works" section was a qualitative/emotive story that would demonstrate the ROI to the business. This should help sell the product by showing a use case that the business owner would understand and quickly be able to attach numbers to and CLEARLY see how loyalty will make them money.

Each business owner will have different numbers, but each uses the same levers to get those numbers. Identify those key levers and continually emphasize how you help them maximize those levers. For example, key levers could be customer acquisition, customer retention, avg. order size, avg. order margin, etc

Yes, you do need to explain the technical piece as well but my guess is the owner first needs to be convinced that they "need" the product before they dive into the more technical "How do I set this up?"

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#33

Post by mos1 » Mon, May 17, 2010, 1:57 AM UTC

loyaltyspace wrote: post #12

ubuwaits wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

One low-cost option that sometimes works well -- Creative Commons images that are licensed to allow commercial use (flickr lets you search for them).

Re: Please Rate My Startup - LoyaltySpace.com

#34

Post by marcamillion » Fri, May 28, 2010, 1:59 AM UTC

Hey loyaltspace, I am doing a podcast about various ideas/projects/stuff that HN members are working on.

Interested in being on one of the episodes?

I put up the first episode and am pivoting based on the feedback I got from the HN community: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1379942

If you are interested, email me: marc {at} ideatin {dot} com

If anyone else, that is building something/has an idea/or has built something is also interested, feel free to reach out to me also.