I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#1

Post by Swoopey » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 10:46 AM UTC

I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages
takara.posterous.com

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#2

Post by iSimone » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 11:59 AM UTC

Thanks for the article. I do agree that these viral launch pages may only work if there's a special set of conditions met. I am actually right now writing a comprehensive article about it (I hope it will be at least). So, thanks for the opinion.

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#3

Post by wccrawford » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 12:21 PM UTC

I certainly think less of companies that require me to tweet about their product before I've used it, just so I can jump up higher in the queue.

On top of that, I've had it happen twice that I did what I was supposed to, and I did -not- get access.

So I've really, really soured on the whole thing. At this point, I only pay attention to people who have an actual product that I can actually use. Every else gets ignored.

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#4

Post by zokiboy » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 12:22 PM UTC

I've also never liked those coming soon pages. They usually give no information, only a vague promise and signup box. Example of that is LaunchRock. My sense it doesn't work, if anyone has any statistics ... I'd guess that less than 2-3% subscribed share their link to get to the priority list.

My suggestion for new startups is to put an information-rich page with screenshots and explanations how that idea came to life, how it will change your life, etc - of course if your goal is to get people interested and to signup :)

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#5

Post by Swoopey » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 12:34 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #3

I certainly think less of companies that require me to tweet about their product before I've used it, just so I can jump up higher in the queue. On top of that, I've had it happen twice that I did what I was supposed to, and I did -not- get access. So I've really, really soured on the whole thing. At this point, I only pay attention to people who have an actual product that I can actually use. Every else gets ignored…

I wish I could take that approach... I'm a beta launch addict.

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#6

Post by Swoopey » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 12:35 PM UTC

zokiboy wrote: post #4

I've also never liked those coming soon pages. They usually give no information, only a vague promise and signup box. Example of that is LaunchRock. My sense it doesn't work, if anyone has any statistics ... I'd guess that less than 2-3% subscribed share their link to get to the priority list. My suggestion for new startups is to put an information-rich page with screenshots and explanations how that idea came to lif…

I agree. I'd totally do-over my coming soon page now. Lesson learned.

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#7

Post by Swoopey » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 12:36 PM UTC

iSimone wrote: post #2

Thanks for the article. I do agree that these viral launch pages may only work if there's a special set of conditions met. I am actually right now writing a comprehensive article about it (I hope it will be at least). So, thanks for the opinion.

Sure, send me a link when you're finished. I'd love to hear more about this.

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#8

Post by Joakal » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 1:05 PM UTC

Swoopey wrote: post #7

iSimone wrote: post #2

Thanks for the article. I do agree that these viral launch pages may only work if there's a special set of conditions met. I am actually right now writing a comprehensive article about it (I hope it will be at least). So, thanks for the opinion.

Sure, send me a link when you're finished. I'd love to hear more about this.

My idea is beyond this, but the basic gist is to create several stages. 'Alpha' 'Beta' 'Live' '10' '#'. So if a person is very interested or wants the finished product, etc, then there's a variety of matching options.

However it'd really depends on what the offer is. This is an indirect suggestion to do some marketing 101 ;)

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#9

Post by systemizer » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 1:19 PM UTC

So here's one theory I believe: Facebook and other large social media companies today will evolve into universal login systems eventually. We've already seen it with "Connect with Facebook" or "Connect with Twitter" buttons, but I believe this will become more and more prominent as the year progresses.

Why? Like the article states, people don't like giving out their email address. Why reinvent the login interface millions of times when you can just use one. Google, Facebook, Twitter (etc etc) already provide those interfaces, so use them!! Hell, I've turned away from betas just because their sign up form is too annoying.

Re: I've Noticed a Major Flaw with Viral Coming Soon Pages

#10

Post by TheOnly92 » Sat, Jul 23, 2011, 1:31 PM UTC

> If there's a long line of people waiting to get in already. A long visible line coming out of the door, makes more people want to know about it and in some cases stand in line for it.

I think this is the main point, if you have a way to let people know how long the queue is and where is your position in the queue, it might actually work.