A couple of days ago I uploaded a new version of the Poker Copilot home page. The new version has a enormous, bright, in-your-face download button that you can't ignore if you try.
I've heard that this completely unsubtle approach maximises downloads. The idea is that when people look for a product - let's say a poker hand history analysis tool for Mac OS X - you should make it as easy and tempting as possible to get the product on their computers. Did it work for me?
Let's take a look at a chart:
The spike at the end of the graph says it all. Spike is not even an adequate word here. It's a kangaroo leap to a new level.
I've not yet determined if there were side-effects, such as a drop in downloads from the download page or an increase in sales.
The Poker Copilot Blog
Tracking the development of Poker Copilot, Mac OS X software for poker analysis and statistics.
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Do Big Shiny Download Buttons Work?
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About This Blog
In May 2008 I started working on Poker Copilot, initially as a product to help me with my own poker playing. Soon I joined a "30-day Challenge", where the participants each aimed to launch a software product in 30 days. As a result of this challenge, Poker Copilot version 1.0 was launched in July 2008.
This blog tracks the ongoing development of Poker Copilot. Who would find this blog interesting? People interested in 1-person software development, in Poker, or in both.
Contact me via email at steve at pokercopilot dot com.
This blog tracks the ongoing development of Poker Copilot. Who would find this blog interesting? People interested in 1-person software development, in Poker, or in both.
Contact me via email at steve at pokercopilot dot com.
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2010
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August
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- Full Tilt Poker for France Players - Please Help!
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July
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June
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- A Poker Copilot Update for PokerStars users in Fra...
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- Programming is Easy? No. It's Really, Really Hard
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2008
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October
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- Morbid use of Google Maps
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- Do Big Shiny Download Buttons Work?
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- Poker Copilot 1.34 released
- Download New Poker Copilot beta 1.33
- Chief Community Officer
- New Chart: Bankroll by Hands Played
- Version 1.3 beta Updated
- New Update with HUD Stats
- Using Mac OS X System Images in Java
- Incremental Improvements: Every day, every way
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- Back from Albania and in the Black
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- My (Java) Competitive Advantage
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- Poker Copilot 1.3 Code Freeze
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October
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5 comments:
You have proved the obvious. Of course big red download button is good. I can't understand why people don't get it. I can't understand why I need to search the page for download link. Just put the damn button on a landing page and make it really easy to spot and click. I want to download you program. Don't make to go away.
Maybe get scientific about it and A/B Test (or rather multivariate test) a suite of button/link/button types. See what comes out - i'd be interested.
I believe google has a free tool for this.
As Jason said, this is the kind of stuff you should A/B test. Here's an introduction I wrote, if you're not familiar: http://20bits.com/2008/10/06/an-introduction-to-ab-testing/
In general you should identify your key metrics (e.g., downloads per hour) and A/B test your pages to maximize those key metrics.
You're on ycombinator now, so your results are screwed.
I don't see numbers in your graph. If it went from 3 to 3000 downloads, it's one thing, but if it went from 2 to 8, it proves nothing...
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