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Ask HN: Judge my Upcoming App's Landing Page

16 points by awolf ↗ HN
I'm launching a new iOS app this Wednesday. It has been my largest undertaking ever (details below). As such, I'm really making an effort in terms of promotion which has been one of my blind spots in the past.

I'd really appreciate feedback on this landing page I've created. Most of my skills are in the coding realm, so design is always a struggle for me. Please be harsh!

http://wanderousapp.com

(For fans of specifics: 443.85 hours total, 282.48 hours iOS, 120.03 hours webdev & scripting in python+django, 49.97 hours graphic design, 19,750 lines objective-c, 7,346 lines of python. Spread over the past 3.5 months.)

32 comments

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modernise
This is better. http://atopiary.com/
awolf
What.. is it? I'm not sure how it relates to my app. Seems to be a teaser for a movie coming out in 2013. Do you just mean the feeling you get from it?
modernise
It makes you think. And it is not evil. And it means not less than nothing. Knives out, eh?
erichcervantez
I think it's strange the App Store download button leads to a popup for my email address. I would have gone the LaunchRock route for something really quick and to the point.

Also if this is your official landing page for the app, I would do something much larger. Add more screenshots and detail on what the app does...you have to lure people in and convince them they should waste 5 minutes of their time installing your app.

Otherwise, cool idea if it hasn't already been done ;)

awolf
Thanks for the feedback!

Yah, the email popup is just placeholder until Wednesday since I can't link to the App Store page until its live. Once it's live I'll just flip it over to the App Store.

I'm working on getting a Press page together with a full set of screen shots. My thinking was to keep this page sparse with a prominent App Store button. Since everyone knows you can see screenshots on the App Store, this might increase the number of users who click through. I'll definitely think about what you said though... I don't want people to lose interest and hit "back" rather than clicking through.

ummjackson
I'd play with the typography a little - if you want to stay sans-serif, why not slot in some Open-Sans? Just use Google Web Fonts loader and it'll take you two minutes. http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Open+Sans

Also, a little border-radius on the container might make the app come across as more friendly.

awolf
Thanks you, Open Sans is a beaut and it feels more "adventurous" than Helvetica.
habosa
Just a tiny thing: you definitely want a favicon. One of those little things that makes a website seem more "legit"
umruehren
From the page, I don't see what the app lets me do. (My guess: Directions to places of interest? That would be google maps. Clearly you're hiding something more interesting)
dreadsword
You app looks like it might be really neat, but your landing page needs to explain it a bit more clearly - I'm still not sure if its a tour guide app, a location discovery thing, some kind of social meetup organizer, or what?

When would I use it? What would I use it for? Why would I use it instead of any other alternative? Answer those in one or two sentences...

"Wanderous turns trips into adventures by using your friend's recommendations to identify attractions, restaurants and more that you're sure to love."

When: when you take a trip somewhere, What: things to do, place to eat, Why: friend's recommendations make for better picks

I don't know if any of the above applies to Wanderous, but you get the idea...

awolf
Thank you for this dreadsword. Based on your feedback as well as others I definitely need to do a better job explaining the concept.

>When would I use it? What would I use it for? Why would I use it instead of any other alternative? Answer those in one or two sentences...

Whenever you feel like exploring in a new city, or your own city, you can use Wanderous to create a walking or driving route between one or more points of interest. Wanderous's POIs have been created based on by social and photo sharing hotspots so the destinations are novel yet enjoyable.

connortomas
Could it be worth including a few stories or "case studies"? For example, "John has just moved to Melbourne and he'd like to know what hidden gems exist on the way to his new job, so..." If you've already had beta testers, I'm sure a few have compelling stories about how the app has led them to hidden gems - if I can understand how the app has "changed their lives", I'd be compelled to give it a go.
losvedir
Looks good. I'm not much of a designer myself, so I can't comment on that, but I'd highly recommend throwing optimizely (or some other A/B testing tool like that, visual website optimizer would work, too) on there from the start.

That way, you can find what messaging works best as early as possible. A 3rd party javascript A/B tester is phenomenal for the types of tests where it'll work, as you can easily tweak and see results without changing any of the underlying website code.

Also, I like the "treasure map" phrasing, makes it sound romantic and interesting! Maybe you can work that a little more thematically into the design? Rather than simple white box, it could be on a scroll, or maybe the background could be a bed of gold coins. Something like that. (Again, not a designer, so take those suggestions with a grain of salt...)

awolf
Good call on an A/B testing framework. I'll definitely investigate that.

Thanks, I'm glad the treasure map phrasing resonated. I'd love to make the page match that theme a bit more closely, but I unfortunately didn't come up with the treasure map concept for describing my app until after submitting it to the app store. I don't want the feel of the landing page to stray too much from the app's.

nitochi
Hi, I think there is room for improvement. It is not clear to me exactly what the app does. At the beginning I thought it was an app to create real treasure hunts (like in a game). But now I think its a way to discover new places within an area? (Maybe I'm just stupid...but its the impression I got) Check this post out, it gives some ideas on how to increase your landing page conversions: http://t.co/ZMaDaL17

Is there a social element on the app? Can you share your tours? Share your logs? I think that people would like to know that!

What is a "gem"? Who are the people that decide whether a place is a gem or not? Are they restaurants? Sights? Strip clubs?

I also think the 100% free for a limited time is confusing. Is it going to be 50% free later? I would revise the wording there...

I would also improve the design a bit, and change the background. It would be super cool to have something like a "pirate map" representation of NYC or some popular location in the background.

Hopefully this helps, I wish you good luck with your app!

awolf
>>Maybe I'm just stupid...but its the impression I got

Absolutely not! It's my job to be clear and based on your comment and other, I'm obviously falling short.

>>What is a "gem"? Who are the people that decide whether a place is a gem or not?

The "little gem" thing is a figure of speech but I see now that it could be confusing in the context of pitching a brand new product.

Wanderous has defined 8,000+ Points of Interest algorithmically by analyzing social and photo sharing geotags to determine where the destinations worth visiting in our world. Users are encouraged to explore places they wouldn't go otherwise by creating walking or driving tours between one or more of these destinations.

Love the treasure map idea but it's a bit outside of my skill level/budget for right now.

Thanks for the comment!

fleitz
Moar links. Seriously, you've got some awesome click targets and no links.

  Logo / title -> Link to app store
  Titles for copy -> Link to app store
  Big awesome image of app on phone -> link to app store.
While you're at it sign up for the affliate program and get an extra 5% from Apple. Your copy highlights features not benefits.

Pick the best benefit of the app and highlight that.

For me I'd go with something like.

Impress them with a hidden gem. Wanderous helps you find great places, right next door.

(I actually have no idea what kinds of places wanderous will help me find, etc, I'm assuming it finds great restaurants or something)

Then go buy a hires stock photo of a great example of a place someone might discover on Wanderous along with two smiling people enjoying themselves, multiply the image by 20% black and put your text on top in white along with the image of the app.

The sign up should state that due to demand everyone will have to wait for an account and to reserve their spot they should put in their email, else they'll have to wait even longer to find great places.

awolf
Thanks Fleitz. I missed links on the Logo+title+screenshot. I'll definitely get them in there for when the app because available on the store.

The spots are not necessarily restaurant specific. The points of interest are closer to encompassing whole neighborhoods rather than a single restaurant. It's really just about where the hotspots are in a given location. Some are chosen due to a cluster or restaurants, but others may be chosen simply because its a scenic are where lots of photos are taken and shared. Your comment definitely shows me that I need to convey this somehow. Thanks again!

fleitz
Awesome, scenic shots can convert like crazy too so you may want to find a professional photo of a great art installation, or fantastic shot that captures a neighbourhood.
diziet
I think that your efforts are spent much better focusing on figuring out the marketing for your app within the app store itself. Sure, having an awesome looking web page is neat, but in terms of real traffic that it will bring (other than this one HN news spike) it isn't a good investment of your time. For example, a google search for "wanderousapp" or "wanderous app" does not bring up your domain, and neither does "wanderous". And you know what, that is okay for now. No one is really googling for your app name, and you can't really expect to get much web traffic on your landing page. Your itunes page for your app can be your web presence for now.

I'd recommend focusing on making a really good first screenshot that is representative of what your app does while piquing interest, and figure out a way to get as many blogs/news sources to cover your app release as possible. After that, figure out what kind of searches within the iTune store your app can actually rank for and target those specific keyword combinations. Good luck!

P.S.: Since you're in San Francisco, do you have the Planet Granite Rock Climbing Gym as one of your points of interest?

awolf
> I think that your efforts are spent much better focusing on figuring out the marketing for your app within the app store itself.

> figure out a way to get as many blogs/news sources to cover your app release as possible

I totally agree on both of these points. However, I feel like creating, and iterating the message on this landing is time spent focusing on the app store marketing I'll end up using as well as time spent improving my pitch to journalists. Case in point: this is my first attempt at pitching the concept of Wanderous and, over the past hour reading everyone's comments, I've learned that it was pretty much a failure. This is a good thing. An amazingly good thing. Because if this was the pitch I started sending to journalists the concept would not be communicated clearly and my promotion efforts would flop.

When I say "gem" or "point of interest" people are thinking "single restaurant" or "single attraction" The key part of my pitch that I'm screwing up is that Wanderous is about neighborhoods or simple scenic areas in general. The POIs are algorithmically determined by high densities of shared photo geotags and other social activity.

So for example, there are 100 POIs in San Francisco. One of these hundred is called "Nob Hill" and happens to be 1 block from Granite Rock Climbing Gym... but Granite Rock Climbing Gym doesn't rank in the top 10 most popular sub-places in my Nob Hill POI (eclipsed by Grace Cathedral and other famous/notable buildings). But that area is quite scenic and worth visiting (according to Wanderous).

uptown
If you don't want to put a lot of time into your app-marketing site, the easy solution is to just setup a blog using a Wordpress theme designed for that purpose. There's a bunch of free ones that do a good job of highlighting your app in a format thought-through by the theme's designer. They also give you the ability to use the built-in features like subscriptions, and other Wordpress-native plugins to engage your users without having to code it all yourself.

Here's a free one. There's a lot of others too. Just search for "Free App Wordpress Themes" to find some others:

http://www.appdesignvault.com/darstell-iphone-wordpress-them...

webwright
Congrats on the impending launch!

No idea what I'd do with the app, what it does, or why I'd want it. "Customize a tour to a point of interest" is not meaning heavy for me. I've never customized a tour in my life. I don't know why I'd want to. You'll want to A/B/C test lots of headlines/copy, but I'd say this is a pretty rough start.

What are hidden gems? Restaurants? Tourist spots?

Your headline/copy needs to paint a picture to the target user and make someone feel that this is the PERFECT app for them. Who is that? Travelers? Partiers? Geocachers? Bored folks on weekend? I'd start with very narrow positioning and expand from there.

The screenshot is you greatest weapon for communication and the first thing people will look at. It's a busy map with a lot of colorful pins. What are the pins? What do the colors mean? What do the icons mean?

awolf
Thanks, you're dead-on with all of your points.

You're surrounded by scenic, interesting, and happening places and don't know it. Wanderous helps you discover and explore these places by guiding you to them and showing you what's there.

The target user is travelers and locals alike. I think I'd prefer to appeal to local (read: everyday) users over travelers. I'll have to think about this one.

Which is better for the landing page: this colorful screen shot that makes user's ask.. what're all those goodies? vs. a detailed screenshot showing a New Expedition being created? I went with this in hopes of it being more alluring and visually appealing. The Expedition creation screen looks a bit boring and less appealing but would help convey the concept.

webwright
99% of users don't want to create content, so I wouldn't emphasize that as a use case if you want the page to convert.

A slideshow might be better, maybe? Show the broader map, zoom in, show the most amazing/scenic/interesting place?

Have you heard of "Not For Tourists" guides? Worth googling and stealing some verbiage. Remember: your established competition has probably been testing headlines for months/years!

The "I'm surrounded by scenic, interesting places that I don't know about" problem isn't one that I feel like I have, but I'm just one guy.

31reasons
Congratulations for the app. Looks like you put a lot of effort into it.

I would suggest create a great video of the app and put it on the website. You can use one of the After Effects template to create the video (http://bit.ly/TR33cL) It will take you 5 hours to learn After Effects and make the video. Or you can hire someone to make the video. But its going to be really worth the effort.

sapan
Congratulation for your app. I am also going to submit my app this week.

One thing you might want to check is if user has entered a email address or not when you ask for email address to notify.

tomasien
Final advice: Make some tweaks based on the suggestions posted here (a more clear value prop is needed, if only that), ship the sonofabitch, and then implement the suggestions and A/B test them to find out which ones are working. Do this for as long as it takes.

THEN GO BE A ROCK STAR and happy shipping!

mnicole
Before Googling the URL, I initially thought this was for Wander (http://onwander.com/), which, while it hasn't officially launched yet, also deals with travel and has a huge following already in the design community (http://blog.onwander.com/). You might have already known this, but it may pose to be an unfortunate branding issue down the road.