People liked my idea and execution but few signed up. How do I solve this?

[axdhi]

Our first reddit post had like 80 upvotes and more than 200 people visited our site but only 1 person signed up. We made an update post and we told our friends. While we got a few more users out of this, none of them are active users.

At first, we thought that the reason why people don't continue to use our app was because maybe the idea was good but the product was not. But when we asked our friends and our users for feedback they said that while 1 or 2 little things needed to be changed(which we did), the app was really nice. So, now we have no clue what to improve on while trying to look for product market fit.

Also people don’t even sign up to my app even though they say they are interested let alone use it on a daily basis.

We are out of ideas right now on how to grow. So how did you get your first users and how did you make them stay? What platforms can you use to get users? So far, we have only used reddit and asked our friends. None of which worked well.So any advice is appreciated.Thank you

[codingdave]

> Our first reddit post...

There's your problem. Reddit is great for traffic, but terrible for conversions. Much as I dislike Facebook for everything else, I got the most conversions from participating in discussions on Facebook, getting known by the groups, and sharing updates there.

I'm not saying you'll have the same experience. Each product will find its own niche for marketing. A product I spent years on got many of its conversion through radio. Everything is worth trying. Keep trying different channels and figure out for yourself where your audience is responsive.

[verdverm]

Check out https://cortes.design

Messaging is key, who are your target customers? Where are they?

Definitely join YC Startup School, link at the bottom every HN page.

Can you post a link?

[h2odragon]

Your friends and family don't want to offend you. You need people who dont care if they make you feel bad.

First step is being more forward about it; understood you don't want to be self promoting here just asking for help on the meta-problem of how to promote: still appropriate to have your one or two sentences of "This is why we're better than sex and everyone who doesn't use us shouldn't bother procreating." with a link to show what you're talking about.

[logari]

You are falling into the "build it and they will buy" trap. Supply-side marketing only when the product is disruptive, like an IPad, or smart phone.

Otherwise, you need very compelling reasons than just liking to create customers. This is because when people say they "like" something, they are mostly not sure exactly why. It could be an emergent effect from various causes.

If they use it but don't convert to buyers, the problem maybe that they don't think your product is valuable enough to warrant money expenditure. Either your marketing message is weak, or there are too many rivals offering similar value; or in a less likely case, your product doesn't solve the problem it was designed to solve.

It is hard to know what to do next given limited information in your question, but a general solution would be survey your customers for what would make them pay for it...and if not, why. You could also keep reaching audiences and hodl while improving and tinkering. Sometimes these things take time.

[retprogramisto]

What type of app/product?

You need to let users know why the app will be useful to them, what they can use the app for, and why your app is better/easier/faster/cheaper than their current solution. Infographics, Youtube videos, examples, reviews and customer stories can help here.

Maybe add referral bonus (referrers earn a percentage of sale profits, entry in giveaway, or app credits/coupons per active referred user)?

If there is any community/forum/social network for your app's market (e.g. Bitcointalk for crypto) you can advertise there. Likewise you could ask your market what type of platform/app would help them, then add those features to your app.