A Tale of Two Subreddits: From Silence to Insightful Feedback
In the world of personal finance apps, our mission at DefineYourDollars is straightforward yet vital: to offer a simple, efficient, and free solution for managing debts and finances. Catering to those overwhelmed by complicated spreadsheets and seeking a non-intrusive tool, we’ve designed a mobile-first web app. But every great journey begins with a single step, and ours started with a soft launch on Reddit.
The Underwhelming Start on r/DebtAdvice
Our initial choice was the r/DebtAdvice subreddit. With just 3,000 members and a handful of active users, it seemed like a cozy community for a gentle launch. We offered free tokens for our AI auditor in exchange for valuable feedback. But, as fate would have it, our post vanished without a trace, leaving us with no replies, no clicks, and eventually, a removed post.
A Brighter Horizon on r/PovertyFinance
Not deterred, we found our way to r/PovertyFinance, a bustling hub with 1.9 million users. This time, our post garnered 6,300 views in 48 hours, leading to a modest 60 visitors to our site. We may have only received four upvotes, but the real victory lay in the constructive feedback we received, particularly regarding our UI.
Insights and Improvements
The criticism of our UI, initially designed to be an upgrade over traditional Excel sheets, was a pivotal moment. It pushed us to reevaluate and significantly improve the interface. You can see the before and after here.
Moreover, we tackled numerous small bugs and made necessary updates to our use of Vue’s Pinia State management and the OpenAI API. This process was crucial in enhancing the overall user experience of our personal budget app.
The Next Steps in Our Journey
Thirteen days into our soft release, we’re preparing for a more impactful launch. Key to this is a demo video, now available on our homepage, giving a quick run-through of our app’s functionality. While initially attempting a DIY approach, we eventually opted for a professional voiceover from Fiverr, ensuring quality and clarity (or so we thought).
As we continue to refine DefineYourDollars, our blog section remains a work in progress, aiming to offer valuable insights and updates. Our journey, filled with learning curves and small victories, is a testament to our commitment to ‘building in public’ and creating a personal budget app that genuinely resonates with our users.
Stay tuned for more updates, and visit us at DefineYourDollars to embark on your journey to financial clarity and freedom.
DefineYourDollars – Simplifying Personal Finance, One User at a Time.
