Last week I stumbled upon SnapABug, a feedback form widget. My heart sank. I had just released my own feedback widget, Barometer, the week before.
I signed up for a SnapAbug account to see the ‘extent of the damage’.
SnapAbug had been around for a while and contained lots of additional advanced features. When you submit a bug via a SnapAbug form your system details, such as your browser version, operating system and plugins, are sent to the website’s support team. In additional to this raw information SnapABug uses some clever Javascript to capture a screenshot from your browser. This extra diagnostic information is infinitely useful for a support team and invariably cuts down the bug resolution time.
SnapAbug also provides some appearance configuration tools so you can choose the colour and position of your feedback button, or even upload your own to seamlessly integrate with your website’s design.
I felt I had wasted my time building Barometer.
This product which I had failed to find during my research appeared to solve the same problem and do it better. I would have to implement SnapAbug’s additional features to salvage the time I had put into Barometer.
However over the preceeding days I realised that Barometer and SnapAbug were not the same product. If I implemented these additional bug fixing aids, Barometer would no longer be a simple feedback form. Barometer was a reaction to the complex social support systems such as Get Satisfaction. I just wanted a fast and easy way for someone to get in touch with me from any page on my website. That was it.
SnapABug is about bug fixing. Get Satisfaction is about social support. Barometer is about getting in touch with the author of a website.
Unlike SnapAbug, Barometer’s primary purpose wasn’t to help fix bugs. I rarely receive browser bug reports from from Barometers installed on my own websites. Typically I get questions about future features, a website recommendation, a job offer, a request for source code, or an idea for a blog post. In all of these situations knowing my user’s Operating system, Java version number, or screen resolution is irrelevant.
I also considered removing the ‘Subject’ field after seeing that SnapAbug only has fields for ‘Message’ and ‘Email’. Removing the subject field makes the form simpler. Why did I not think of that! I am all about simplicity…. But then I started to think about what subject lines are actually for. My form is for quickly sending an email. The subject line of an email adds to it’s value. Therefore it was relevant in Barometer. This is another example of Barometers purpose dictating it’s feature set.
So I will not be implementing the features in SnapAbug as my first instinct told me I should.
Finding a ‘rival’ product has taught me some important lessons:
- Research the marketplace extensively before committing to building a new product.
- Have a unique purpose and vision.
What’s the point in duplicating someone else’s idea? You may as well leave them to it. Vimeo is a video service like YouTube but it serves a different market. As a result it seems to be working. If I set out to build YouTube I will fail. If I set out to build Vimeo I will fail. But if I build a video service with a new interesting purpose I give myself a chance of succeeding.
- Remember why your originally created your product and the problem it solved.
Write this down and put it somewhere you can refer to.
- If someone else is doing x it doesn’t mean you have to do x.
Blindly copying a feature means you skip the thought process and could see you doing something which is wrong for your product. Always refer back to your product’s purpose when deciding on new features. Learn to be strong.
- Only build something you are passionate about.
If you are scratching your own itch then you will instinctively know what is right and wrong for your app and won’t be easily swayed by the competition.
- Know when to cut your losses.
“Whether your activity is a trivial one or a huge one, don’t stick with it because of the time or money you’ve already put in. That time/money is gone: you’ll never have it back. What you can recover, though, is the future time or money you’d otherwise be spending” – Knowing When To Cut Your Losses and Call It Quits
If you find something that does exactly what you are doing and does it better, it might be time to cut your losses. Playing catchup is not a good place to be.
Closing thought
Know what your product is about and don’t let the competition determine your actions. If you do it will no longer be unique. It will no longer be the thing you set out to create. It will no longer be YOUR product.
