Ask HN: Review my startup: Weddingjojo.com

[parkern]

Hey All,

I have recently launched, http://www.weddingjojo.com, a site that allows future bride and grooms to set up a wedding announcement site seamlessly. Not only can they present useful information to attending guests, but they can have a blog, registry links, photos and more.

My concern right now is that people don't understand why they should upgrade. Furthermore, they can't really see the advantages and benefits of upgrading to a premium account. Granted it makes sense to me, as I know what all the pages represent, I would love to hear any thoughts in this regard.

Thanks in advance.

[DanielStraight]

Part of the problem may be that your pricing comparison page makes no sense. Users (rightly) expect that aligned items in a comparison will relate to each other. When I first started looking at the page, I sat there for at least a minute trying to figure out how "Wedding Jojo Domain" was related to "Unlimited Bandwidth." Line up the things that are related, and explain how they differ. A premium account gives unlimited bandwidth... how much does a regular account give? A regular site has "no privacy options" (let's skip the issue of "no privacy" being close to the worst possible combination of words you could put on your website), what does a premium site have? What are these privacy options? I've read the entire page and I don't think I could tell you a single meaningful difference between the two types of accounts.

On a pricing note, it doesn't make any sense to me to pay for something like this monthly. You aren't going to get married on a monthly basis. Weddings happen once. Payment for the anouncement should happen once. Consider something like a one time $100 payment to unlock all the features.

On explaining features, show, don't tell. There's not a single screenshot (of anything but themes), screencast or introductory video on the site. How can I know if I want a feature if I have no clue what it does? Show me. Make me want it.

UPDATE

Actually, I think I need to go back to the issue of words you should never put together anywhere on your site, because it happens more than once here:

"no privacy" - Enough said. Context doesn't matter. I can't think of any combination of words I would be less likely to put on a website.

"no support" - You can at least offer a knowledge base type of support

"password protection" as a feature - Does this mean anyone can screw with my page if I don't have it?

[replicatorblog]

I agree the monthly fee is not where you want to upsell. I would break it down by feature. A bare bones site is $15/flat. If you want a premium theme, another $15 if you want to tweak colors, $5 customized emails $5/1000. More of a virtual goods approach rather than the hosted solution route.

Also might be some interesting alternate monetization routes. You could set up an Amazon affiliate link so YOU get the bonus for anyone who buys. Have people pay a fee to turn off Adwords on their page (ala Ning) Set up an invitation designer tool and actually help people get their cards printed. That takes time to set up but could be very lucrative.

[parkern]

Just to touch base on why we went with the monthly fee. A majority of other wedding sites offer both a flat fee and monthly. The monthly is nice because that way people don't feel committed. You also have to keep in mind that average engagement lasts 8 months and some brides might choose to keep their sites up after the wedding.

There are tons of other monetization ways - but right now we are trying to focus on the main revenue model.

Another question I wanted to bring up: What are options for ways to construct a SaaS business model?

1) 37 signals approach - which is a very limited hidden free plan and then numerous other paid options.

2) Squarespace approach - 15 day free trial, with no credit card required. If you don't upgrade then your account is canceled

3) Carbonmade approach - funnel everyone into the site via a free plan and then once registered try to get them to upgrade

4) And then another pretty common one is - credit card down on sign up with a 15 day free trial, which rolls into a paid plan if you don't cancel.

Can you guys think of other options?

[DanielStraight]

On an unrelated note, you say "some brides might choose to keep their sites up after the wedding." Maybe you should try to cater to both grooms and brides. (Painting with very broad strokes follows...) Brides may be more likely to go for the idea, but grooms are more likely to be techy enough to think of, care about, or be able to set up a website.

[fpgeek]

While TheKnot has a free and premium option, I'm pretty sure that most of their monetization is advertisers and other ways of selling marketing information.

[DanielStraight]

Also consider that the average couple spends a downright obscene amount of money on their wedding, most of it as flat fees.

[fpgeek]

Why is Weddingjojo better than TheKnot (which my wife and I used in 2006)? If you don't have a clear, simple and convincing answer to that, I'd worry.