Cloudmanic Labs

I’ve met many people over the years who absolutely love Basecamp, and also many who hate it. When I ask why they hate it, they often say they “could never really get into it.” At first I thought these people were idiots. OK maybe I still think they are idiots, but that isn’t the point. The point is that over the years I have tried to understand the mindset of a Basecamp hater. And finally, after many years, I have arrived at what I believe is a key insight. What Basecamp haters really mean when they say they “could never really get into it” is that they didn’t like the blank canvas—they had no idea where to start.

When you sign up for Basecamp it’s like getting a blank piece of paper in the mail. The software itself doesn’t tell you how to get started. Some people take that blank paper and start creating. Others panic—some of them so much that they never start. These are the “couldn’t get into it” people. Maybe I’m wrong, but I suspect that this is the fundamental issue with Basecamp. People simply do not know where to start and there is no onboarding hand holding to guide them.

So I decided to see whether onboarding can affect outcomes. An experiment!

When I sign up customers for my Skyclerk accounting service I sometimes have a chance to add sample data to their account. My hypothesis is this: when these accounts have sample data, customers are more likely to understand the power of Skyclerk faster and upgrade to paying accounts more frequently than those whose accounts don’t have sample data. That’s because with sample data the canvas is no longer blank—the customer has a starting point and can see from the get-go how Skyclerk can benefit their business.

Unfortunately, in practice I have to admit that the experiment hasn’t yielded much so far. My marketing efforts stink so I haven’t had many new customers to A/B test. But I suspect my hypothesis is correct. Or maybe I’m just an optimist who can’t accept the simple truth that I don’t market as well as 37signals. Stay tuned.