Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson - What We Learnt Building Campaign Monitor

Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson – What We Learnt Building Campaign Monitor

28th September, 2006

started IT firm ‘Switch IT’ during the first web bubble 2003-2004 approached by more customers to send bulk email
Always something missing from existing applications – the seed of idea is planted
Took a few hours per day for 6 months to have a go at building their dream email campaign system
Designed exclusively for web designers – 15,000 clients so far, 1,000 new users per month, 90 million emails delivered so far.
Campaign moniter has grown from a project to a small software development company.

Knew there was a problem, knew how to fix it.
Mentions example of 37signals and Basecamp – solving your own problem first, then making it available for others.
Don’t try to please everybody
Chose to target a small group of customers – in this instance, web designers. This choice allows you to develop the killer features that are perfect for that market.
Kill the bloat your chosen market doesn’t need.
Shows example of trying to do everything – ‘Constant Contact’ – requires 83 fields to be filled to send an email. Campagin Monitor uses one field by allowing designers to point to URL of their own email design
More chance of creating passionate users – “It’s almost like it was built just for me”

Many people don’t think about pricing until the end; or throw it up for free and add a ‘beta’ tag
Investigate competitors, but you don’t need to be the cheapest. If your biggest draw point is price, that can quickly fail.
If you solve the problem better, don’t be afraid to charge more.
Keep charges simple – charge in a way that is best for your users rather than best for you. Eg: no monthly charge on campaign monitor, charging by email recipient instead. Simple pricing model has worked for them to get more good publicity
Try before you buy: C.M. allows campaigns to go to 5 subscribers for free.

Identify ‘Need to Have’ features – light, agile.
Give yourself a version 1 deadline and stick to it
Use it yourself – Eat your own dogfood. This allows you to find the UI elements and features that may annoy future clients. Will result in a smoother, less frustrating end-user experience.
If you’re not going to make your self-imposed deadline, re-asses the Must Have feature list and consider leaving some for a later iteration
Early feedback: REAL customers. Iterate, iterate, iterate. Don’t dismiss this early feedback just because it might be opposed to what you thought they would want. Flickr given as an example – started as a game with a photo sharing app on the side. Photo app became much more popular, so Ludicorp dropped the game and kept with flickr.
Technology is irrelevant – solve the problem and clients will be happy

Make an app worth talking about – word of mouth is golden.
Update religiously, be transparent. Shows community and activity around application, this in turn breeds confidence in potential users.
If you’ve chosen to fix a problem for a small market, it is easier to market directly to them. Eg: tool for designers advertised on design sites
Promotion through education – write about your industry to draw new traffic. More trust.
Export Market Development Grant available in Australia to assist with international marketing and pushing your new product
Feel their pain – Ben and Dave still do all their customer support.
Opposite time zone troubles – provide a comprehensive help system within the application; increase the chance of the users helping themselves. Let them know what time it is where you are, eg: it’s 2:37am in Sydney right now