One line email taught me more about communication than months of building
I'm Francesco, as you might have read here I'm building a job application tool called interviuu, and this morning, like every morning, I was checking emails. After recent launch day my inbox looks like a mix of user feedback and people offering their services, but there was also this one message that really hit me.
"Interesting approach no free time don’t know what’s behind the curtain just pay the money good luck"
Super simple email, just a few lines, but the value was huge. Made me realize that if my startup doesn't have a free trial (or freemium plan) I have to communicate the real value of the product way better on the landing page or in any educational content.
I'm not saying this is some groundbreaking discovery or that it wasn't obvious, but there are certain interactions when you launch that make you pay attention to these obvious things a lot more.
So, for me, a clear, realistic view of what your product actually does can solve three major issues: - Potential misunderstandings and wrong expectations about what your product does - Doubts about product capabilities and how it actually works - For some users, that maybe aren't ideal early adopters but definitely exist, whether the product even exists behind the landing page and the brand
I feel like something I forget is that we're the founders and we've worked on this for months thinking about it almost every single day. We know that when A happens, B triggers, all the optimizations behind every single action users see on the frontend etc. But users? Most of the time (especially in early startups) they only have their pain point and your landing page to go on.
This is where all the side activities matter. If interviuu wasn't launched by Francesco (that's me, unknown founder) but by some well-known entrepreneur or influencer, a percentage of people landing on the page wouldn't have questioned what the product capabilities are. They'd automatically transfer their feelings about that person to the product (and that's an incredible communication and brand strategy led by amazing startup founders out there, especially on X).
If the world's best recruiter had built this product, they would've communicated different value etc.
Early startup feedback loops aren't just about the product. This simple morning email was a perfect example of how the feedback loop with users isn't just about improving the product as a digital product but it's about improving all aspects of your product (and brand).
How am I gonna try to fix all of this? I'm definitely adding a real demo video on the landing page (the Loom style one) and starting educational content (I'm still trying to figure out how).
Anyone else experienced this?