I followed the link at the bottom, and it made me pretty angry. Hashbo is a very neat example of the kind of bullshit I hate in upcoming software products and services.
The only information available before asking for signup is this;
> Hashbo is a simple innovative, new way to communicate, collaborate and curate.
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is it a blogging system? Microblogging? A social network? IM? Is it some combination, or a new thing?
People come to a site like this with the question "What is this and why should I care?". At the end of that (quite nice) animation, I have no idea, and that doesn't make me intrigued and curious, it makes me annoyed and frustrated at not getting a straight answer.
Nobody cares about your buzzwords, they care about what your site is, and what it can enable them to do that they couldn't do before.
It’s not attempting to give intrigue, I just really haven’t figured the right copy out yet:) Take a look at some more of my blog articles if you like, they explain at least the general idea of what we’re doing. We hope to get everyone on the beta soon.
The problem for me is that it’s actually difficult to describe what it does and is better experienced then you can make your own valuation as to whether it suits you or not. Much like when the Internet started, it was easier to show than explain. So while we're just in the early stages of beta I didn’t want to prejudice people by giving partial information.
So I’ll see if I can get some feedback from early beta testers to find out what words they use to describe it - that may help me get a more unbiased view.
Glad you liked the animation btw., we’re (mostly) a one man band in reality, and I’m a techy at that, so any complement towards design is gratefully accepted.
All the best and thanks for the feedback, it’s really helpful to know what people think, Neil.
It's good to know that it's not deliberate, I can totally understand that. The thing is, the site's very polished, and it looks finished. There's no real indication on the site that the information provided is less that the amount intended to be available, except for the link to the blog, which has three problems:
1. I don't want to click another link just to find out the answer to the simplest question I have - 'What is Hashbo?'. You have to remember that people don't care, and won't care unless you give them a reason to care. Every additional click, every extra second, loses people.
2. (minor point) The link opens in a popup, which is blocked by my popup blocker. It really only makes sense to open in a new tab/window if the user is very likely to want to keep the first page open, and there's basically nothing else on that first page, so no-one will want to keep it open.
3. When I get to the blog, there's still no insight into what Hashbo is, just the first blog post, which at time of writing is a post about NoSQL. What percentage of prospective users of your site have ever even heard of SQL? (Non-rhetorical question, I really don't know because I still don't know what the site actually is)
Because of this conversation, I've already spent far, far more time on Hashbo than I normally would give to a random new site, and I still don't know what it is, and I still don't care. And I don't think I'm particularly unusual in my attitudes.
I'm not a 'hater', really I'm not, I'm just pointing out that you have a pretty serious problem here. What's your elevator pitch?
Yeah, don't mind the haters. I haven't read the copy from your page - just from the op, it does look lame. But that's fine. Work on it, make it specific, and pitch concrete benefits.
If you product involves education (new model, etc.), you should be pitching to everyone, counting the mean-time-to-understanding, and relentlessly honing it downwards.
The only information available before asking for signup is this;
> Hashbo is a simple innovative, new way to communicate, collaborate and curate.
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is it a blogging system? Microblogging? A social network? IM? Is it some combination, or a new thing?
People come to a site like this with the question "What is this and why should I care?". At the end of that (quite nice) animation, I have no idea, and that doesn't make me intrigued and curious, it makes me annoyed and frustrated at not getting a straight answer.
Nobody cares about your buzzwords, they care about what your site is, and what it can enable them to do that they couldn't do before.