It’s been a few weeks since I launched QuickXLS. I have shared it on Reddit, IndieHackers and also seeded it multiple times in my conversation with clients. In each of these cases, I wanted to understand real-world use-cases of this product so far.
First things first – the product has not taken off as virally as I would have assumed. Sure, I haven’t promoted it aggressively yet – just namedropping here and there. So, I believe it’s a matter of time before someone influential shares it with their network, and it kicks off.
But why is a product that is innately viral not taking off? I find two issues with this.
Firstly, I haven’t figured a non-spammy pull towards the product. It could probably happen if I were to put in a few hundred dollars of advertising to get the initial traction. But that’s not what I want to do.
I need to figure a natural way for users to see the product in the wild, and start using it. One way I can think this can happen is through bots.
Take Reddit, for example. If you go through trending videos on this website, you will often find users pinging /u/savevideo – it’s a bot that will invoke the redditsave.com website to download the video and upload it in the comments section for users to download.
Without the bot, the creator of RedditSave may have not found a way to promote their app so frequently as they have been able to now.
If I can figure a useful case for QuickXLS that can be botified, I think it will do a world of good for my promotion. It could be for Reddit, or Twitter.
But how often do people share spreadsheets, compared to videos and photos? This brings to my second problem.
There are simply not enough spreadsheets flying around in the wild for people to take notice. And even if someone does notice this site, they may no longer recall this exists when they finally have a need for it.
This makes me think I may need to reposition this app. QuickXLS can already do a lot more than share spreadsheets. It can be used to share anything and everything – screenshots, texts, other images, etc. It’s just that I have chosen to niche it down to spreadsheets.
If I position it as a tool to share everything, then there is a better chance for people to find a need for it on an almost-everyday basis. This means they use it more often; more people will then see it, and in turn use it.
I think this is where I headed with the app next.
