Ask HN: What does this website do?

[willcheung]

I started a travel website in late 2009, and went through three different version of our homepage (the third version was released yesterday). The problem I noticed about the two previous versions were that, after spending 20 seconds on the site, visitors still don't know what our site does. Our current homepage hopefully fixes that problem, and I'd love to hear what you get from your first 20 seconds.

http://duffelup.com/

FYI, the previous two versions are the following, both of which did not do a good job "showing" what we do IMO:

Sept 2009: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6068/6091344748_8571cf15b4_b.jpg

Sept 2010: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6087/6090794623_1f9b3a1116_b.jpg

[indrora]

I let it load so I didn't wait 30 seconds for my net connection.

So I timed.

5: 'corky'? WTF.

14: I wanna go to paris.

20: what's this do for me?

SUGGESTIONS:

- 'corky way to plan a trip' -- Its corny. Its bad. It doesnt make sense. "Plan a better trip" would be better.

- make it flow right. it doesn't fit right on a small screen. http://i.imgur.com/W5GJN.png is how it looks on a netbook sized screen.

- Assume your users dont know where they're going.

- Put everything above the 900px fold. Most important first.

- your features are NOT the most important.

Look at Hipmunk: On their front page, you are asked the four pertinant questions (To, From, When {leaving,returning}). Your app tries to sell itself before a user has ever tried it.

Better layout idea:

"Duffel: A better way to plan"

Where are you going: [________________________] When? [xx/xx/xx]

New here? Take a tour >>>

edit: this page is stashed in a corner. Let it sell the app: http://duffelup.com/featured

[willcheung]

My wife also said "corky" is corny. But she also suggested I put an image of a duffel bag with smiley faces on it, so I can't tell whether she was serious.

Anyway, I agree we should show and not tell, hence the ability to create a trip without signing up. I guess that wasn't clear enough.

[prsimp]

My initial impression: I think I "get" what your site is used for, but I'm having trouble really envisioning the "work-flow" of the process.

I would probably remedy this by either: 1) make the three "use" descriptions clickable and lead to a larger explanation of each use or 2) a short screencast video showing how the site's process works.

Overall I think the redesigns were a step in the right direction.

edit: After perusing the site a bit more, I came across the "Take a Tour" link on your "About" page. This tour addresses some of the issues I'm talking about and you'd be better served if it were immediately available (i.e. on the landing page).

[willcheung]

Got it. We did many things to remedy the issues you're talking about, but hid some of them so we can focus on getting users to actually try our tool first.

[diziet]

I wish along with the monetization options for trips/hotels/ etc you had an option to see other people's activities that worked for them before.

So for example if I am making a plan to go ice skating in NYC, I could type the idea on the website, and when saving click a little checkbox that says "Share my idea with others" (With the text saying others will see your idea, but won't see it until you're done with it, don't share private info, etc.)

Then people could add other's trip/event/activity ideas to their plans, rate them, etc.

[willcheung]

We do have parts of the functionality you're talking about. You can copy someone's individual ideas and add them to you own duffel. But you have to sign up first, of course. :)

[karipatila]

I'm having trouble figuring out what the "Create one now, free"-button does. What am I creating? Also, "plan the same trip" doesn't make it immediately obvious that you're planning a trip together with other people and not just planning to have the same kind of trip some of your friends might have taken earlier, for example.

After browsing for a little while everything seems clear enough, but I would suggest having a professional copywriter go through the landing page.

[willcheung]

Point taken. We're too poor for professional copywriter, but def will change our wording.

[eminkel]

It wasn't clear from the beginning (20 seconds) that this was a site to create a "corkboard" of travel from. I had to enter Rome, Italy and then "Create One[create one what? a duffel?]" to understand what the site did. Once in the implementation of the Webapp itself is quite nice.

If you could create an engaging sample 'duffel' it might show users its proper use.

[eminkel]

I prefer this layout: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6068/6091344748_8571cf15b4_b....

Over your current one. I'm curious why you changed it? It's message is much more clear.

[willcheung]

We thought that the the first homepage looked too much like "travel inspiration" site. But yeah, we're trying to encourage users to try the site before signing up.

[Kevindish]

It is in fact really smart webapp you have built. Its cool that you can plan the things you want to do the each days.

But i was also thinking on how the process was, you should make a 1 minute screencast on how to do it!

[willcheung]

We do have one...actually I forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder!

http://duffelup.com/site/tutorial_overview

[Mz]

"Plan the same trip" doesn't make sense. I would suggest rewording that. (Maybe "trip sharing" or "itinerary sharing"? Or even "duffel sharing"?) I had enough trouble figuring out what the site does that I went to the About page (and still don't feel I got the answers I was looking for -- like "why is it called duffel?"). On that page, I would reword the "for travelers and non-travelers". It's an artificial demarcation and I don't think it's what you really want/intend to convey. Those folks who would see themselves as "non-travelers" are not going to appreciate the idea that using the site implies they are letting themselves get talked into a future trip. Consider finding a way to package it as "virtual trips" (or "virtual travelers") or something -- to make it clear that you can use the site to collect info on a place of interest even if you aren't actively planning a trip there without implying that use of the site is intent to someday actually go there. It's perhaps splitting hairs but I know that the wording is a turn-off for me and doesn't inspire me to consider using the site to simply collect info about cool places of interest.

I am thinking back in high school or college, in some French class, I did a "virtual trip to Paris" as an assignment. This was pre-internet and it involved collecting maps and things. A virtual trip can have value in itself without going anywhere. I don't travel much, though I have moved around a lot (former military wife). The whole "vacation" mentality is something I have never been able to wrap my brain around. I like moving someplace new and living there for a couple of years but the idea of going someplace for a week or two just makes me cross-eyed. I don't get it. So you are completely missing the mark for me as an individual. If you are trying to convince me that your site has some place in my life, the site fails to convey that -- even though with analyzing it for purposes of giving you feedback, it seems obvious I could probably still use the site for planning to move somewhere or just collect info about places of interest.

And, yes, I have made many trips -- gone on vacations with family (planned by relatives, not me) and visited relatives and hit national landmarks en route to new duty stations and so on. I actually have a life and get around at times but my mental model for that doesn't sync up at all with the way the site presents the idea. So my guess is that if your intent (with talking about "for non-travelers") is to give it broad appeal and pull in people like me, you need to work on that. I don't see myself as a "non-traveler". Nor do I see myself as a "traveler". You have completely failed to convey why I should use the site and presented the info in a way that makes me think "eh, nice but of zero relevance to my life...moving on". If it weren't for the act of trying to give you feedback on it on HN, I would likely completely forget the site and there would be no hope of getting me signed up.

Edit: I will add that my ex and I used to do day trips a lot and those were planned. No hotels were involved. We would go do touristy stuff that was close enough to where we lived that we could drive there, do the touristy thing and go back to sleep in our own beds. (Since we were a military family and moved a lot, we would make a list of things to see and do when we got to a new duty station and try to hit as many of them as we could before life took us elsewhere.) Your site just screams to me "this is for people with lots more money than I ever had who will be staying in a hotel someplace exotic for a week or more -- that's totally not me". Day trips can be very rewarding, can involve planning, and are not remotely suggested by anything on the site.

Best of luck.

[willcheung]

Appreciate you spending time to write a detailed, honest feedback! Although our site is most useful for travelers who plan trips (a lot of people travel but do not actually "plan" trips), what we were trying to convey was that "even if you don't plan trips or travel, you can still use it to collect favorite restaurants or staycations." I think we have some homework to do to convey that message better.

Also, qood question: "why is it called duffel". We thought that a duffel bag is a place where you throw random stuff in when you travel or going places, and our "duffel" is place for you to collect your ideas of where to go, what to do while you're traveling. (I think I should just explain it like that in our About page :))

[Mz]

I was curious as to why it is called "duffel" in part because a duffel bag conjures up a very different kind of trip image for me than the one the site itself gave me images of. The site itself suggests to me "people with money booking hotels". In contrast, a duffel bag conjures up images of someone hitch hiking to where they want to go, sleeping in hostels or couchsurfing or camping out...etc. The name and the site seem jarringly out of step with each other for me.

Best of luck.