#35 - But, will strangers pay?

Haven't tried the beta site yet? Give it a go today!

        February 3, 2020

#35 - But, will strangers pay?
How do we test if anyone will pay for personal recommendations outside of the official beta testing programme? Also: new reading challenge features!

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Will strangers pay?

For the Editors, personal recommendations are the standout feature.

The current business model hypothesis assumes people will pay for them on-demand.

We've been getting a steady trickle of new users onto the site every day, but have had no way to test if any of them are interested in personal recommendations, let alone if they'd pay for them.

It was time to put that to the test.

Before yesterday, free users would see no evidence that we offered personal recommendations.

Now they see the link to the personal recommendation dashboard, but are presented with a page that explains why the service exists and how it works.

Will anyone click the button? 😬

I'll report back next week. 😁

Last week

If you're browsing books on the site and taking part in any reading challenges, you might spot an icon on the bottom-right of some books:

It means that someone on the site has added that book to a reading challenge you're participating in.

And if you click through you'll find out more:

And even more:

🤓

The January 1:1 check-ins with the Editors are complete!

First, everyone was happy with the decision on social features, even those who had been most vocal about wanting the ability to comment.

This is the summary of the conversations had:

Sometimes I get anxious when a round of research comes out so positive — I wonder if I'm asking the right questions — but for now I'm going to focus on improving the parts that users love.

This week

Word-of-mouth recommendations and social media exposure continued into last week, which means that the waiting list for Goodreads imports has grown. I spy the next focus for automation. 👀

In the meantime, I'll have to manage those alongside working on new features and dealing with the increasing amount of incoming emails. 😅

What I'm reading right now 

In January, I started my first ever Harry Potter reread and now I'm on:

I've always enjoyed the dark tone shift in this one. 🐺

Are you a Harry Potter fan? How often have you read them?

Have a great week,

Nadia

P.S. If you know a friend who's an avid mood reader or would enjoy following along with this journey, please do forward this email to them! Thank you. :-)

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