Comment by ghiculescu | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ghiculescu | Hacker News Reader

I thought it would be interesting to see how http://www.useronboard.com/ stacks up, based on some of the feedback dished out in those teardowns. Some quick notes, based on http://i.imgur.com/mIwr3TS.png, and assuming that the goal is to sell copies of the book.

- There's no call to action at all

- Assuming someone who lands here would have some idea of what user onboarding is, the page doesn't say specifically how this will help me get better at it. Just gives me a definition which I (probably) already know.

- Mentioning brands I recognise (Spotify, Pocket, Pinterest) is good. Makes me curious to know more. But I'm not sure exactly what a teardown is.

- Ahhh, so there's a book that I'll like if I enjoyed the teardowns. I guess I'll look at a teardown and then maybe I'll look at the book afterwards.

- Once on a teardown page (eg. http://www.useronboard.com/how-shopify-onboards-new-users/) there's nothing mentioning the book at all.

- I am now addicted to teardowns and have forgotten about the book. The Training & Contact links at the top do not get my attention. Which is a shame because I think https://www.useronboard.com/training/ does a pretty good job overall.

- Completely ignored the Latest Posts bit at the bottom of the homepage. Looks very similar to the Less Accounting one (http://www.useronboard.com/how-lessaccounting-onboards-new-u...)

Maybe it's not actually trying to sell very hard the book and I'm over thinking it a bit, but I did find it interesting to try and apply what I'd just learned.

Very nice feedback! I agree there's plenty of room for improvement here -- it started as a side project I threw together over a weekend and it's always had a bit of a "cobbler's children" status.

That said, the fact that it skews educational over salesy is very intentional -- I'd much rather have you find it to be a phenomenal resource and come back over and over (and then buy the book) than I would have it try to sell you hard on the first visit, which is probably unlikely to be optimal timing. To that point, I didn't see you mention signing up for the mailing list or not, but if you did, it's "working" as intended for visit one!

But yeah, overall, you're quite right to turn my own advice back on me!

I completely agree with the OP's advice. Without knowing anything about the site at all (I'm not familiar with your services at all so I can probably offer a pretty useful data point), I clicked through, looked for about five seconds at the Basecamp example, and clicked the dreaded back button. Not because the info isn't useful, but because I didn't have the desire to look beyond that right at that moment. Chances are that after a day or two I would have forgotten that the site existed and never returned (not a slight, it's just a realistic fact about most people). It's very unlikely that any resource is going to be so useful from a single use that users will frequent it from that day forth. It requires a bit of nudging/reminding over several interactions.

I think it's a mistake to avoid being salesy. People who want to improve their conversions (presumably your targeted customers) want solutions that your book or mailing list very well might solve. In fact it wasn't until I read the OP's comment that I realized you had a mailing list or training materials to sell.

One suggestion would be to put a WP-style banner at the top asking people to sign up for your mailing list. It isn't overbearing and if people aren't interested, they won't sign up.

Anyhow, not trying to sound condescending, just offering some advice that I think could be helpful.

Thanks for the feedback, and I didn't take it as condescending at all. I tend to lean away from brazen self-promotion, so it's nice to hear I could turn it up a notch or two. Sounds like I have an A/B test coming up!

The teardowns are really interesting :) . I agree that they should sell you the book after seeing those ! Or consulting :)

> ...based on some of the feedback dished out in those teardowns.

It's a blog, not an app, so that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

> There's no call to action at all

There's a giant blue button that says Check out the Book

This is getting really nitpicky, but it's below "the fold." So it might as well not be there for some users.

But getting people to buy the book might not be the primary goal of the website, or the home page. It's probably to show off the reviews and teardowns, which it does a great job of. I think it's perfectly acceptable to have the secondary purpose of the site, buying the book, a bit out of the way.

it's below the fold. dunno if the parent noticed it or not..

It's been mentioned that it's below the fold, but it's also worth noting that it's not even on the linked page.

The article page linked to from HN is "http://www.useronboard.com/onboarding-teardowns/", which has zero calls to action on it natively. If I go back to home, yes, I see the button, below the fold, presumably it exists on other pages as well, but it is definitely not on the linked page, which had me questioning why I couldn't find it (and spending an inordinately long time looking for it).

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