So, you’re almost ready to launch. You set up a delightfully intriguing splash page that invites people to sign up for your preview release for forking over their email address. You rejoice at all the fabulous interest total strangers have in your product – the product you have poured blood, sweat, and tears into for weeks (or more). Then you start to wonder:
Wait, if people are this enthusiastic about my product they probably want to see it as soon as they can, and I really want to get as many people signed up as possible. I know! I’ll ask people to post to their Twitter/Facebook accounts and offer them a vague promise of being bumped up the queue of interested people. Genius!
Then, you sit back and watch as your preview invite “goes viral” and pat yourself on the back for being so innovative (or for having someone else be innovative for you).
Stop. Just stop. Think about what just happened: before someone has even used your product you have taken the little bit of good will they seem to have and tried to bribe them to spam their friends. Sure, some of them will do it. Your numbers will look great, showing viral lift before you even launch. But those numbers don’t speak to the people you turned off. Those numbers don’t speak to the overall impression people came away with after signing up for your preview.
Being data-driven is great, but not if it comes at the expense of keeping the big picture in mind: you want to build a trusted relationship with your early adopters. They will, most likely, be the difference between you succeeding and you being a flash in the pan. Ask yourself, which people are most likely to actually spam their friends with a link to your invite just to get higher in the queue? Do you suppose there’s a high correlation between those willing to do that and those who are likely influential with their friends?
Relationships are more important than numbers, especially in the early days. You’d rather have a few hundred rabid fans ready to give a an enthusiastic, trusted opinion of your product than a few thousand social media over-posters randomly spewing your link into the ether. If someone is willing to give you their email address just because your product seems intriguing how else could you use that moment to start a strong relationship?
