One thing we're trying in early marketing of GoalsWon, our accountability coaching service, is micro-apps.
In short, little side projects that provide users some value, so we can be connected in case they want accountability coaching from us later. So far we've released two:
Micro-app 1: iplan.to
Launched a month ago, iplan.to is a 30 day habit streak app, that lets you set a goal and tick whether you got it done or not each day, based on the "don't break the chain" idea. It can be used without needing to register or download anything, but you can enter your email if you want a link mailed to you.
Microapp 2: moreproductive.me
Launched earlier this week, moreproductive.me is a 30 day "productivity bootcamp" where we email out a daily tip related to habit formation and self improvement.
How did they do? Let's break it down...
Development effort?
iplan.to took well over a full week to create, test and iterate. In contrast, moreproductive.me took only one to two days to develop (being a much simpler website) with content writing adding an extra day to the effort.
Winner: moreproductive.me took a lot less time to create
Marketing effort?
Both projects were shared in similar forums and communities online, and roughly around a full day's worth of sharing each.
Winner: no clear winner, about the same
Traffic?
iplan.to launched a month ago and has received 592 visitors so far
moreproductive.me launched earlier this week and gained 498 visitors so far
Winner: iplan.to gained 20% more visitors, but over a longer time
Email subscribers added?
iplan.to gained 33 subscribers (~5% conversion rate)
moreproductive.me gained 247 subscribers (~50% conversion rate!)
Winner: moreproductive.me, by a long shot!
Conclusion
The big learning is that sometimes less is more!
Moreprodutive.me was a much simpler project to execute, and though it got a similar amount of traffic as iplan.to, it resulted in a lot more email signups in a much shorter period of time! Hopefully we'll see some of those end up subscribing to GoalsWon.
And whilst iplan.to was a bit of a dud, it was helpful in another way - we're using it to generate some graphs for our GoalsWon coaching, so not all wasted.
It's been a fun process taking our marketing baby steps. Lots more tactics to try and learn from...
ps - on the development front this week we fixed a bunch of bugs, and made aesthetic improvements rolling out soon. We're also starting work on "set daily goals for tomorrow" - by far our most requested feature. Hopefully that goes fast and smooth :)
Til next,
Cheers
Simon & Joel,
Co-founders, GoalsWon
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