PH asks for feedback: What helps you the most when considering new products to try?

Daniel Ferro
46 replies
Hey everyone 👋 It’s Daniel here, the newest member of Product Hunt’s product team. As you all know, PH is always on a mission to help people find new and interesting products to use. To take this experience to the next level, we would love to get your opinion on the matter. Currently, there is a lot of information available on the product page, including reviews, alternatives, related products, trending products, comments, badges, makers/hunters, and so on… Which features help you the most when deciding whether a product is worth trying or not? Is there anything else you would like to see us improve (or create) to help you in your product search? Thank you for your feedback, Happy Monday! 😎

Replies

John
I think PH is great as it is, with user community comments and reviews of the products. What would be a plus is, probably, if you have a PH team that reviews some products that might be useful for the community. Something like: - Top 5 / Top 10 upcoming products that PH think could be a hit. - Top 5 / Top 10 upcoming products that could be worth checking out. - Top 5 / Top 10 upcoming products for your family. - Top 5 / Top 10 upcoming products for your pets. - Top 5 / Top 10 upcoming products for your mobile device. These are off the beaten path of upcoming products and launches that doesn't know how to promote on PH, but PH thinks that they could be good. I know PH has thousands of upcoming products and launches, but picking a few here and there, could be beneficial for all :)
Luka Vasic
Most products I find are through the main page and related products. Besides that, I try a lot of products that people ask for me to try here in the discussions section.
Daniel Ferro
Thanks @luka_vasic! When you find new products through the main page or from recommendations, what do you search for when you land on these product pages? What is most helpful for you to say "Ok, let's give this a try"? - Do you read reviews, discussions, makers' comments, etc.?
Luka Vasic
@dribeiro_8 Hmm firstly I look at the presentation of the product so video and pictures and after that I look at the top reviews.
Innocent Amadi
1. How quickly I'm able to derive value. If I'm able to get value in very short time, then it helps my entire evaluation timespan stay efficient. So I'll try. If I have to jump through multiple hoops... no telling where I might land. 2. Social proof: Has this tool worked for a customer like me? What were the actual results? Warmth from existing customers go a long way :) 3. Pricing: I haven't unlocked my billion dollar potential yet. Till then, this is still a factor. 4. Customer Care: Who talks to me when I need help? How long do I wait? I'm trying to feel pampered. Lol.
Daniel Ferro
@centamadi thanks for sharing! Regarding "2. Social proof" - is this something you try to explore even before you sign up for an account or free trial in a new product? e.g. do comments, reviews, FAQs or any other type of information give you more confidence when deciding that a product is worth a try?
Innocent Amadi
@dribeiro_8 Absolutely. Reviews are important. What other people are saying about them on social media. I'm looking for some kind of non-engineered way of knowing the product delivers, and in the right way.
Farokh Shahabi
I think testimonials & reviews from the current customers should be emphasized much more. Also adding a video format for testimonials would be a great option.
Daniel Ferro
@farokh_shahabi noted, that's an interesting one. what do you think about product walkthroughs/tutorials?
Farokh Shahabi
@dribeiro_8 That's good too, but it's already highlighted. Early adopters' live testing and impressions are very valuable to others to see.
Anna Filou
Just the product description. If something sounds interesting, I’ll visit the website and read the PH comments to learn more. The main things I look for: - screenshots and product demo - features - use cases - pricing
Sara
Besides the word of mouth, I believe it depends on the product itself if you are able to test the product through free samples or freemiums, it will be the best way to be convinced. If not, I believe in reading more about the products through blogs and content. It is proven that customers tend to read at least 2-3 content or visit different websites before deciding if it is worth trying or not. I hope this helps!
Michelle Dear
It would be helpful to see if people I follow have upvoted or commented on a product!
Michael Silber
@michelledearxox Thanks, Michelle! We show comment snippets of people you follow from the homepage feed, but it sounds like what you're describing a way to highlight those on the post page itself. Is that right?
Arun Pariyar
Hey Daniel, Welcome to the team 🥳 For me i would have to say that its actually the photo / video along with the text from the maker/hunter that speaks to me the most. I did PH is already doing great job of everything around it. Also while its tempting to make thinks better and better and I have not doubts that there is plenty to work in PH but I would like to just mention that I hope the simplicity of getting around PH should stay as is. The other have pointed out many other things thats worth your attention. I hope this helps as well 👍
Paul VanZandt
Thanks for sharing, Daniel. I find that the product's relation to my interests/needs makes it most likely for me to use it. It could be interesting to filter the product feed based on specific filters or have a comparative system where you can view alternatives to current products.
Daniel Ferro
@paul_vanzandt Thanks! We currently show products related to your topics of interest under "My topics" (this section can be found when you hover over your profile image at the top right of the page). Is that similar to what you're describing? With regards to comparative products, we show "recommended products" on the post page's sidebar. Is that what you had in mind?
Paul VanZandt
@dribeiro_8 For recommended products I usually use a tool called SaasHub (this would require some manual sorting from PH) - and for filters the topics work well, but it could be interesting to explore some unique ways of curating that list.
Tim Parsa
It would be great if you could have an icon to indicate whether the product has a coin associated with it. This could be a centralized web2 token or an onchain web3 token. And how these coins/crypto can be earned. This would help the products who want to share the upside of their project's potential with their users, early adopters, collaborators, and more by flagging that there's more to gain for those who visit and try the product than just the utility of the existing build. Most products on PH sadly sink to the sediment layer of the internet because they fail to expand behind an early cohort of fans. Coins/tokens/crypto fixes this by making the projects/products play-to earn/learn/use/own. You could start with your own coin-powered community. HMU if you want to hear my thoughts on that. Great work on PH and I love these posts that solicit feedback for improvement.
Kinanti Desyanandini
Process on PH: I quickly go through the day's top list and click on products that might interest me. If I find something interesting, I usually look at the carousel, website, comments and similar products first. If I'm invested, I'll look at the reviews & do more research! What I look for: - Feedback - from people I know is best, but I also like to see reviews online in general (Reddit, Twitter, comparison blogs, videos, etc) - Clearly showing the features on PH and the website - live demos and videos are also handy! - Pricing - i'm far less likely to sign up for a trial unless I have a task I need to do, since I like to evaluate a product at my leisure before I upgrade. If I have to subscribe to use it, I do this if the task is critical and/or the subscription is cheap and set a reminder to reevaluate it within the month. - How much it locks me into the product - I also consider what leaving the app would be like; do they offer exports? Can it be integrated to related apps? What about competitors?
Vivek Katial
Would love like a values alignment feature for products too -- identifying products that resonate with you and are trying to solve some meaningful problems for society!
Daniel Ferro
@vivekkatial Thanks Vivek. By "values alignment feature" do you mean certain products in categories/topics of your interest? Does the current "My Topics" page under your profile help you in that regard?
Vivek Katial
@dribeiro_8 I guess so! Just making it more accessible, or having it on the sidebar of your homepage. For example - let's say I really care about climate change / green tech. It would be great if I can subscribe to a climate topic and then see new products within those fields populate my feed too.
Vivek Katial
If there is something that is strikingly new or innovative -- also things related to social impact!
Daniel Ferro
@vivekkatial thanks for your feedback. have you checked the "social impact" topic page: https://www.producthunt.com/topi... - would that be more or less what you're looking for?
Vivek Katial
@dribeiro_8 Yeah that is useful thanks! Didn't see it get recommended as a topic when I first joined. So thanks! Although, I would say social impact is an umbrella term and really you'd want to have topics for things like climate, sanitation, education, DEI. There are a bunch in there so I'll def make sure to follow them
Paul Hart
I think some soft categorisation / tags would be worth exploring. Ie ‘Indie Dev’ ‘Enterprise SW’… Let makers define themselves into categories and maybe if we want to get complex some simple click / voting by the community to add affirmation where needed. Might create another method for people to discover more related products too..
Daniel Ferro
@snakecharmer thanks Paul! we do use topics to categorise new product launches, but I guess what you're referring to is a new way to categorise users according to their professional area/activity?
Paul Hart
@dribeiro_8 hrmm it’s a bit of a loose thought but I was being product centric. Tag clouds add visual displayed layers of relevance for discovery… then again are tag clouds even a thing anymore? 🤔☺️
Klaus Agnoletti
I would say that a trial version that as unrestrained as possible would help me. It's simply the worst when I signed up for a two week trial of something and then don't get the chance to try the product out within those two weeks. Even if they give me two more weeks it might not end up working for me. What are they so afraid of? People always wants to pay money for good products.
Davor Kolenc
It would help if we had at least some crude categories for products so that we can follow a certain category we are interested in. Not sure this would be doable though... :)
Daniel Ferro
@davor_kolenc we have product topics and you can also follow them :) Please check this out: https://www.producthunt.com/topi... - is that similar to what you're thinking?
Kazimieras Melaika
Agree with others on the feedback feature! I'd also add something like a filter. Let's say I want to see what's new in the area I'm really interested in. Yeah, it's good to see all the newest products but after seeing those I really would like to filter out and take a more detailed look at them. Btw, we’re launching in late May. Check out our upcoming PH page: www.producthunt.com/upcoming/eff... Our project is called: Effecto. It’s an app for detailed habit, health, symptoms, and meds tracking. Pretty much for everything that is related to your physical or mental health and every daily factor that can affect you.
Daniel Ferro
@kmelaika thanks for your comment. Would you be able to elaborate a bit more on which filtering options you would be interested in? All the best for your launch! :)
Jim Zhou
I favor open source projects, without particular allegiance in terms of licensing (for other people's work, that is. All my code I place in the public domain where possible). This is both for transparency and a proxy for potential for quick turnaround in bug fixes and improvements. It's hard to beat the ability to find a bug, open an issue, fork, fix, and open a pull request within a few hours. There are no perfect products, but that's less important than how amenable and able they are to fix issues. I'm not so naive to think that there aren't obvious shills to get around it but I prefer actual discoveries of obscure but useful products. A way to filter maker-submitted or user-submitted projects would be cool if at all possible. There are a lot of ambitious projects here, some are genuinely great, but some suffer from obvious feature creep. Anyone can talk up their grand plans but I'm far more interested in products that already exist and have simply been neglected. This I feel goes with the original ethos, insofar as there was one, of the site, and I like surprising discoveries more than pomp and fanfare. (And for that matter, when there's obvious shilling, let us report it. I've attempted to do so multiple times and nothing has been done. I'm pretty sure asking a telegram channel full of people to sign up just to vote a project up so they can pump up a coin's value is shilling and against both the rules and possibly the law. It's frustrating to see that sort of obvious behavior being legitimized and make the front page) I also believe that empty platitudes are easier to write than in depth critiques. Sometimes I'd try a product in spite of the critiques because it doesn't affect me or I feel that the critiques are either unfair or based out of expectations and not what the product actually promises. But other times it shows sketchy to straight up illegal behavior. They are arguably worth more than simple messages of encouragement which tells me nothing. Of course if someone I'm following or more importantly, someone I know irl and trust irl is recommending a product it gives it far more credence, but my friends aren't all in my line of business so while endorsements are important, critiques, and an actual response addressing the critiques, mean so much more. Lastly, I'm sure we've all had a few crazy years and much of it unpleasant, whether your personal health was affected or the health of someone you know, mental or physical. I'm fully cognizant that at best this is a lull but I would really appreciate projects that are, well, fun, or absurd, Dada, meta for the sake of meta, or some sort of description that reflects that a project might not be super useful (although it can be) but a project that is ridiculous in a self-aware manner, ludicrous on its face but actually has a purpose, too clever by half, or anything that actually makes me chuckle would be greatly appreciated. We all need a laugh at some point. Rube Goldberg solutions to simple problems might not be efficient, but look, you don't watch a comedy movie for the heartwarming ending, right? As long as it's clear that a product is like this by design and not some post-hoc justification for a poor product. That's definitely more than I meant to write so I'll just end it here. Cheers.
Susie
Hi Daniel 👋 Congrats on your new role. Excited to have you on the team. I have PH mobile scrolling incorporated into my morning routine. When I wake up, I scroll through the list of new apps. The one-liner is perhaps the most interesting thing that catches my eye. If it seems interesting, I'll click on the description, go to the website, and scroll through the comments. Hope this is helpful. -Susie
Meng Wee Tan
Feedback on whether the features are really useful
Daniel Ferro
@mengwee Thanks Meng! is there any particular format this feedback can be most helpful? (e.g. comments, reviews/ratings, ...)?
Meng Wee Tan
@dribeiro_8 Maybe a short list of key features for each product and let people rate them?