Ask HN: How to determine what's turning people off about your service?

I think you're looking in the wrong place. Who cares about what the consumers think who've decided not to sign up? Personally, I don't think users know exactly what they want or how to convey how they feel about something. Dont get me wrong you need their input, but take it with a grain of salt.

Before thinking about why people aren't signing up for your service, think about who SHOULD be signing up for your service. What I mean here is, who exactly is your target customer for the service? Does this person use particular websites, do they only spend a couple of hours on the web every day, do they like to use twitter? (Since I really don't know what your service is I can't make better suggestions) Basically, what are the characteristics of your target customer? If your market is defined too broadly then your service doesn't really stand for anything. If your market is defined too narrowly then you'll be running into the problem where you don't have enough people signing up.

In terms of actionable steps, this is what I've done in the past for a business that's already running: 1. Do some research on your current customer base, mine your current database. Some questions to ask include: - What websites do they visit before hitting your site? - What websites do they go to once they've finished using your service? - How long do they spend on your site? - In a survey, how many people work at their company or how much revenue their company makes? - In a survey, ask how people heard of your site (subsequently visit those sites to see what context your site was mentioned)

2. What patterns are emerging from the research you've been doing? - The goal here is to find a type of user that have grown a strong affinity to your service. Once you've found that strong user, it's on to the next step.

3. What needs to change based on the patterns you've identified to attract more of those "strong users"? - This is easier said than done, but you need to think about pricing, value proposition for user (what is the user going to get out of using your site), or are advertising in the right places. - Much like the others have said in this thread, A/B test is a good idea if the value proposition is off. - You may want to consider advertising, if it resonates with the user. This includes all the typical social media outlets.

I hope this helps. Good Luck!

Generally, there are two types of data you're looking for: qualitative and quantitave.

You seem to know a bit about surveys which are great for qualitative data. Keep em short, try different incentives (especially those tied to your product like a discount on next purchase or free X days of premium account) and always have the last question as an open-ended free form text to the voice of the customer.

Quantitative data is basically analytics. Think about what you're offering, who would want it, and what you would consider a successful outcome of a person interacting with your company. Amazon wants me to buy stuff, but they'd also like me to sign up or write a review of a product or one of their merchants. A newspaper would like me to read more than one article, maybe watch a video or write comment, or even click an ad. The point is that you have an overall purpose and multiple related secondary offerings. Identify them, figure out how to measure them, and then test test test (and test some more) in a relentless drive to improve them. These numbers are your customers (and potential customers) telling you directly what they want or like.

Happy to recommend web analytics books for you if that applies to your product.

Personally, I ignore exit surveys - I'm leaving, why would I bother spending a precious 10 seconds clicking some check boxes? It's ridiculous, it's lazy, and it's selfish, and it's what the vast majority of users are probably thinking!

Donating to Wikipedia is very worthy, though it may not be a cause the users are interested in. I suspect they'd respond better to a donation to charity, possibly one of their choice. However, users are not necessarily looking at financial incentives to give feedback. The incentive to make a difference to a product, to have some influence, to be credited somewhere may be all it takes.

That particular group of users who did not purchase but would accept a little extra free time might be of value to you - they were about to go, yet you persuaded them to stay. Ask them personally (an email?) - treat them like people, not like survey box tickers.

If you have enough users, have you considered (or already have?) trying A/B testing to see what gets these people to decline/accept your service?

Any chance that you could share a link to your startup so that the community can have a look? [Regardless, good luck, and please report back with any news!]

Are you collecting email addresses? You can presumably figure out which users have not logged in in a week. Send them an email saying "Hey, this is George from Skritter. My friends and I are trying to make the best thing ever for Chinese language learners. We'd really appreciate if you could give us two minutes and tell us what you think, so that we can fix the problems students learning Chinese are really having.

Regards,

George"

P.S. A/B test response rates with inclusion of a picture. I'm guessing they're off-the-charts better with one, but you know what they say about guessing.

I was just having a conversation about this with a colleague yesterday. something new came out of it. if it fits your offering.. give it a shot.

Consider giving the User an option 'Not to Purchase' on the pricing/product page.

track it, measure it and force a quick two line feedback as soon as they click it.

You need to be careful with the wording though, as you don't want to misguide them into thinking this is a 'remind me later' kinda thing and hurt your sales. It's worth discussing with your team. Gluck!

Why would a user click this rather than leave the site?