ProductCritic Is Definitely For The "Time Poor"
Lightspeed Venture Partners has a blog posting up about the different types of Internet users.
In creating ProductCritic, we didn't actually think in terms of this but given that I put myself in the "Time Poor" camp and the whole reason to create the site was to help others like me, it's not a wonder that "search engines" and "comparison shopping engines" are two examples that are directly linked to why we built ProductCritic.
Our goal is not only to minimize the time that you spend researching products before you buy them, our goal is also to minimize the time you spend on ProductCritic! I know that doesn't sound like such a smart thing to wish for the visitors to your site when you're creating a startup. It actually sounds completely counter-intuitive.
As I've stated in previous posts, the usefulness of ProductCritic is tied directly to how much time we can save people when they research products. That includes spending time on the site itself. Our belief is that if ProductCritic saves you time, then you're more likely to return (when researching other products) and also you're more likely to tell your friends about the site. That's exactly what we want.
This basic philosophy of trying to minimize the time people spend on the site has lead directly to some design decisions like:
1) Making sure all the reviews on a product are all on one page
2) Not paginating the list of cameras. When you ask for a list of them (sorted by name or sorted by score), they all appear on one page. That's actually easier for you than just showing 20 on a page and forcing the user to click "next".
You should think about your basic philosophy of your site. Are you targeting "Time Poor" or "Time Rich" visitors?
In creating ProductCritic, we didn't actually think in terms of this but given that I put myself in the "Time Poor" camp and the whole reason to create the site was to help others like me, it's not a wonder that "search engines" and "comparison shopping engines" are two examples that are directly linked to why we built ProductCritic.
Our goal is not only to minimize the time that you spend researching products before you buy them, our goal is also to minimize the time you spend on ProductCritic! I know that doesn't sound like such a smart thing to wish for the visitors to your site when you're creating a startup. It actually sounds completely counter-intuitive.
As I've stated in previous posts, the usefulness of ProductCritic is tied directly to how much time we can save people when they research products. That includes spending time on the site itself. Our belief is that if ProductCritic saves you time, then you're more likely to return (when researching other products) and also you're more likely to tell your friends about the site. That's exactly what we want.
This basic philosophy of trying to minimize the time people spend on the site has lead directly to some design decisions like:
1) Making sure all the reviews on a product are all on one page
2) Not paginating the list of cameras. When you ask for a list of them (sorted by name or sorted by score), they all appear on one page. That's actually easier for you than just showing 20 on a page and forcing the user to click "next".
You should think about your basic philosophy of your site. Are you targeting "Time Poor" or "Time Rich" visitors?
Labels: development, growth
Posted by Tony |
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