Regular readers know that I occasionally review new companies and their services on this blog. I usually do this because I think their services could be somewhat beneficial to me or at least interesting enough to have a closer look at them. Actually I love testing services, comparing them to those I already know and discovering useful features. It is definitely a personal interest.
Sometimes I read about a service, think it might be a cool one, and go to their website. Though every now and then I have to realise they are still in private beta. Fortunately they offer notification by email when they go into public beta. That’s cool and perfectly ok. Companies should have a fairly stable product where most features have been realised already before it is publicly available.
Though there are companies that just seem to forget that people have registered by email. Not only haven’t I heard back from them for several weeks or even months but just by chance I learn that users can sign up already. This has happened to me twice. I have not mentioned those companies here so far and I certainly never will. So don’t start looking for any hints here. 
This is just not acceptable, I think. I understand that companies work hard improving their services, fixing bugs, talking to investors, legal stuff, you name it. That’s very important, no doubt. However in this age of user generated content (possible) users should be treated differently and not be alienated right from the start. Users are probably the most important factor of many companies these days. Companies need a critical mass of users to attract investors, generate advertisement revenue, basically for being successful. I doubt many people will sign up if they are treated that way.
People take their time and read about the company, visit their website, and register. They signal strong interest. However they are being ignored. Especially new companies should emphasise communication with their users.
- Set up a blog,
- be open about problems and even failure,
- just announce new features when they are ready to go live and
- don’t raise expectations that you can’t fulfill later.
I think people who sign up for beta services appreciate open communication; they accept that not everything is running smoothly in the beginning. Though not everyone is reading blogs, so people should be informed by email as well.Also I think companies should have a meaningful About page and contact info. Those pages should be easily accessible from the homepage. At least I want to know who runs the company and how I can get in touch with them if there are any problems or questions. Companies want me to create a profile, maybe even give some rather private information. So they should have the decency to tell me who they are.
Hopefully this doesn’t sound like moaning. I just think an open way of communication is vital for a comapny’s success and happy users.
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