Recently, a new customer signed up for PickFu and told us he’d discovered our service in a book. That book was Launch Tomorrow: The Non-Designer’s Guide to Using a Landing Page to Launch a Lean Startup, by Luke Szyrmer.
In it, Szyrmer outlines a method for defining an audience, validating an idea, and quickly taking that idea to market. PickFu is featured as a means of rapid market testing “in order to figure out which concepts grab attention, tickle tastebuds, and leave people wanting more.”
“The implications of PickFu,” he writes, “are enormous… If you can find out how people react to a certain color or shape or logo or byline, you have a much better chance of choosing something attractive.” … Continue reading
99designs is a great site for startups and small businesses – for just a few hundred dollars, you can launch a design contest for a logo, WordPress template, PowerPoint deck, signage, and more. Graphic designers around the world compete to win, you provide feedback, and after seven days, you pick a winner.
Here at PickFu, we crowdsourced our own logo using 99designs. Once the contest began, however, something became clear: even though receiving over 350 designs was valuable from a cost perspective, choosing a winner among them all was beyond overwhelming.
“We’re programmers, not designers,” said Justin Chen, PickFu co-founder. “Other than my own visceral reaction, it was hard to judge the value of all the colors, typefaces, and icons.” … Continue reading
A short while ago, I wrote about Twitter’s new polling feature. I was excited when the feature was rolled out to me so I could try it myself.
Now, I’m not the world’s biggest Twitter user. I’m certainly no celebrity. But I’ve been active on Twitter for over five years and at the time of this writing, I have 423 followers. (Want to boost my ego and add to the total? Follow me @kimkohatsu!) My 400+ users are comprised of professional contacts, brands I’ve mentioned or contacted via Twitter, and some friends and family. According to a 2012 study (the latest I could find), the average Twitter user has 208 followers. I’ve got over twice as many — not bad, right? … Continue reading
You asked, we answered: Now when you run a poll, you have the option to choose multiple demographic options, and multiple options within each demographic. Want to know how Hispanic, Asian, and African-American mothers feel about something? What about Democrats under age 50? Got a question for iOS users with a college or postgrad degree? Ask rural and suburban vegans anything! … Continue reading
Last week, Twitter announced it was rolling out a feature that enabled users to create polls. Polling isn’t totally new on Twitter; brands sometimes would tally retweets, favorites, or hashtag instances as informal votes. With this new feature, however, Twitter users can compose a poll, present two options, and get an answer.
It’s a fun idea. Some sample questions Twitter used were, “Did the ref make the right call?” and “What should I name my dog?”
But when it comes to business ideas, there are some very distinct differences between Twitter and PickFu that you should consider.
Privacy
Your idea might be in a competitive market, and you want to hold your cards close to the vest. On PickFu, you can do that. Twitter by its very nature is out there for the world to see.
Guaranteed respondents.
On PickFu, you choose how many answers you need, from 50 to hundreds. But if your Twitter following is small, engagement on your poll may be limited, and you might find biases because your audience knows you personally.
Answers vs. votes
PickFu respondents justify and explain their answers, whereas on Twitter you’ll only get votes. PickFu customers glean valuable insights from reading respondents’ answers and find commonalities and trends through repeated words and phrases.
Who’s responding
On PickFu, all respondents are US-based and have signed a non-disclosure agreement. You can also segment your audience by gender, age, income, ethnicity, education level, political affiliation, home ownership, mobile device, and more. On Twitter, anyone with an account can participate in your poll.
Have you used Twitter polls yet? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!
