🕯️ 8 principles for new user onboarding & how to write a good HN headline

Scenario: You are busy building your business. Then you get an email that says this:

“I'm a competitor in your space and I'm going to make your business bleed money.”

Replies:
1. Ignore and keep working, don't respond. That's the best response.

2. "Temporary failure 550: your email was not delivered.

This mailbox is protected by SpamHaus. Your email was rejected for looking like spam. Please resend your message with longer content."

3. Ok, boomer.

4. Sure! Glad to hear it- I was about to stop because the market is pretty small and not competitive. That is the scariest thing on earth.

5. Thanks for validating my business model!

6. Go ahead

7. With a Barney Stinson gif/meme that says " Challenge Accepted"

8. Print it and hang it on the wall above your work station.

9. Show, don't tell.

Do...

1. Start the Headline with 'Show HN:' if you're linking to your new site or app. This will get you onto the Show page and the main page
2. Provide a clear benefit for clicking on the link - what will the audience receive in return for their attention
3. Give your site/app credibility - this may be because of who the author is, how many subscriptions/users you have so far, ratings, etc
4. Give an early reason to sign up / subscribe/buy your product. This will warm the audience up to signing up once they hit your landing page

Don't...

1. Include the name of your site - it's already in the link and doesn't make the user want to click
2. Be generic - instead, be very specific about what the person is clicking on and why they should

Then join some of these spaces where I contribute content regularly

1. SaaS Marketing+Growth 🔥
2. 💪 Freelancing
3. 💡 Startup Mindset 🚀
4. Blogging & SEO 💎
5. Create & Sell Courses 💰
6. Podcasting 🎙️

1. Break onboarding into two phases: The first session and all follow-up engagement. You must win the first session.
2. Tease the experience that awaits them when they are done. Even better, preview the magic moment before they go through the slog.
3. Don't leave users empty-handed at the end of onboarding. Give them a small dopamine hit of accomplishment.
4. Treat onboarding like any other product feature. Continue to maintain and iterate on the experience.
5. Use a laser, not a shotgun. Be extremely focused on what you want users to do during their first session.
6. It's normally better to be active than passive. Instead of showing how to do something, help them do it.
7. Set intelligent defaults. Most users won't change the settings. Be opinionated about how your product is used.
8. Make every first moment delightful. First login. First landing. First emails. These are all opportunities to leave an impression.

SendOwl is the eCommerce platform that allows you to sell directly to customers and get paid directly by them. You can use it to sell digital products such as pdfs, software. You can sell SaaS by generating unique one-off license keys or by selling monthly subscriptions. You can also create affiliates for your product.

It offers multi-language checkout and payments via credit or debit cards, Paypal, European payment options, BitPay and ApplePay. You 

Sometimes, the main cause of procrastination is a lack of clarity on what needs to be done.

So, the next time you see yourself procrastinating. Ask yourself - "How completely do I understand the next task I need to do?"

Some resources to overcome it:

[1] https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200121-why-procrastination-is-about-managing-emotions-not-time

[2] See how creator Adam Stanton uses checklists to tackle big creative problems: https://www.wired.com/story/adam-savage-lists-more-lists-power-checkboxes/

[3] Specific tasks use specific verbs. Read more: https://blog.amazingmarvin.com/break-large-projects-tasks-bite-sized-tasks/

[4] More on how my team does brain-dumps: https://medium.com/better-programming/cultivate-your-can-do-attitude-10864742d76d

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2020-07-17 / What Tom learnt from producing 23 podcasts & how to avoid writing bullshit content

2020-07-20 / My last Reddit Ad got 600+ upvotes and resulted in a large number of email signups

2020-07-22 / Are you using abandoned cart tactics to convert lost leads for your SaaS & 3 ways to backup your database

2020-07-24 / 38+ lessons learned bootstrapping company of one from 0$ to $9k MMR & A/B test your CTA with 1st person perspective

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