Which metric do you consider to be the best preferred indicator when launching?
When PH was in its early days, upvotes were the most important. (They are still in demand now), but people increasingly want comments.
Because PH no longer counts only upvotes in the final ranking, but also other things: upvoting, commenting, sharing, etc.
Which metric is the most important for you?
[As for me, I personally prefer comments over upvotes, where people want to find out more about the product. Writing a comment without AI requires more effort than upvotes, which means that people have to pay attention to it. What I don't like, however, is the fact that some people force "write me a comment" – if the product doesn't interest me, it's not relevant to me and I don't understand it, I find it a bit misguided to make a comment just for the sake of it..]
Replies
Scarlett.
For me, the most important metric is the interest a launch generates. Especially from the ICP and from investors.
If a launch brings a large number of signups from the actual target audience, that’s a very strong signal.
We also actively follow PHBench and other investor's signals because they track and predict which products may raise their next Series A, so investor attention has value too.
At the end of the day, business metrics matter most. Of course, ranking, upvotes, and comments still carry weight, but they’re secondary to real customer and investor interest.
Toone
Hi Nika 😃 Nice question
Personally I think indeed should be a mix of interest, comments, and overall uniqueness in the product.
I haven't verified how comments and shares have impacted placement in the ranking but I think it's a valuable direction PH is taking, and I'd go further: Having their own AI calculations measuring product uniqueness, how polished and useful they are could be also a great differentiator on how products appear on the listing!
So I know that this is unprompted but if I were PH that's what I'd do:
1. Measure the launch stats outside of PH, mentions, posts, all that could count
2. Have an AI measure things such as uniqueness, feature list, market fit, and so on as well.
3. Moreover, for daily products: don't only keep number 1 at the top all the time, shuffle them at certain time windows to give other products a chance to be seen, because here you get a feed loop, top products are seen more because they show up at the top of the page then they get more upvotes, then they stay at the top further. I'd break that cycle entirely, and for users would also categorize them so my top 10 would be customised to my interests. A lot of my top 10 are for products that I'm not really interested
Toone
@alieksia It could be one point. I think with more agentic tools coming out, it tends to level the field (I think)
Upvotes are nice and they feel human, but no one can be fully sure what's behind them anymore. Genuine comments are a great source of information, especially when someone explains how they'd actually use the thing. The metric I watch most is installs though. Someone taking the time to download and open it is the closest a launch day gets to a real signal.
for me comments are the most valuable metric because they show real interest and give you a chance to undertand what uers actually think
Comment count is easy to game, which is exactly the pattern you flagged with people forcing a comment. What's harder to fake is whether a comment gets a reply back, from the maker or another commenter. A thread with real back and forth is a stronger signal than ten drive by one liners nobody answers.
I think comments can be a really useful signal because they show that someone actually took time to look at the product and engage with it.
Cuey
Upvotes and comments are nice, but if they’re not translating into installs and new users, they only mean so much.
User reactions are useful for validating whether product messaging is landing, but ultimately, give me usage and engagement.