Intro
I’m not a beach walker. And I don’t really have a beach walk. But you can have a replica beach walk if you want it.
Replica Beach Walk is an experimental project where we are trying to recreate the experience of a beach walk at the same time as we are trying to make it more convenient, more accessible, and more durable than real beach walks.
This is a work in progress – but this is exactly as it should be for anything new: first you rush it, try to make it perfect, then take your time and find out how good or bad it is.
So, I might change my mind later on and start walking at the beach again with my best friends (which would mean ”replica beach walk” would not be so good) but that isn’t going to happen soon (well, maybe).
The website of the vendor
The website of a vendor is a great place to see how their product works. It is also a good place to use the “status quo” method described below. You can always add a new section or two, but you should only do that if it has been validated as a good idea. Often this is done by customers (as well as friends and family) who see the product in action and like what they see.
If your product has been successfully promoted, then you should have an up-to-date website at least for yourself to demonstrate that the change will be for the better (and with less risk). It will often be better if you publish your site from your own domain rather than from your competitors’ — although publishing from their domain may occasionally prove useful. Your website should include links to all of your products, so that customers can easily find out more about them even if they don’t know where to go directly (e.g., by searching Google).
If you are lucky enough to have access to an online editor without paying for it (e.g., Google Docs), then why not have something like https://www.tweakandplayground.com/ , which allows you to post documents on its servers?
If you are lucky enough to have access to an online editor with low hosting costs (e.g., AWS S3 or Rackspace Cloud Files), then consider using it instead of having something like https://www.tweakandplayground.com/ . With those services, the cost of hosting and initial setup are much smaller than with something like http://www.tweakandplayground.com/ . This allows for more flexibility in terms of when and where your site might go live — e.g., after launch events such as beta tests, or when there is a lull in sales or app uptake during non-critical periods (e.g., Christmas sales).
The quality of the product
The quality of your product will be largely determined by how you market it. If you’ve built a solid product with a strong value proposition and great story, people will know what they want to do once they have used it. And if you can build a solid product with a strong value proposition and great story, they will want to use it. The heart is in the right place.
And yet there is an unwritten rule that says: the quality of your product doesn’t matter. It’s not about the actual product at all; it’s about the way you market it. Let me explain why this is so important:
The reality is that many people are trying to build products for precisely this reason: because they believe that quality does matter, and that its absence doesn’t. This is because:
1) We have been taught that we should always be looking out for quality when building products (that’s what engineering is all about)
2) We are generally exposed to products which are of poor quality (and often thought of as “good enough”) in our training or education
3) We see excellence in other people and other companies through their products (which we assume means that their products are “greater than us, so we should do the same.”)
What we don’t see is how much better our own products could be at meeting some basic human needs — functionality, usefulness, etc., which bring things together in ways which add up to something greater than ourselves, or even just on par with ourselves! — but instead focus our attention on qualities we may not even fully understand, like “quality over quantity,” or “good enough over great” (one of those old truisms from marketing). While we don’t necessarily judge things at this level often enough and are only exposed to versions of life which don’t quite match our own interests (e.g., I have never seen anyone else care more about making money than me), this attitude seems fairly universal online as well as offline. The interplay between these two attitudes makes for some interesting interactions: just check out our comments section…
Testimonials and reviews of previous buyers
The first problem we face as a developer is that we often lack the opportunity to use our product in the way it was intended. We find ourselves being asked to show our work to prospective customers or potential customers, who have never worked with us before. The problem here is not with the person asking us, but that they don’t understand what I do. But if they don’t understand what I do, and they haven’t worked with me before… This all leads back to the “product-market fit” idea, about how well a product fits its market. Sometimes people ask for testimonials, but this isn’t necessarily how we would like them to receive them.
The best testimonials are from real users of popular products. They are written by real users of popular products and reflect what people have done with that product in their daily lives.
We try very hard not to make our audience feel like I am trying to push my own product on them (which is why we don’t provide testimonials online). But sometimes you get a request for one anyway. The easiest way is simply to say: “Yes, I will send you an e-mail with my testimonial once it has been published on MacRumors.com — so that you can see and judge for yourself if we have succeeded in building value for you or not!”
Here is an example:
“I have used Replica Beach Walk several times now and found it to be extremely user-friendly and easy to use.” – “It’s great! It keeps me on track during my busy day and I feel like I’m walking on the beach all day long.” – “Beach Walk is absolutely fabulous! It really makes me want to walk on the beach more often.” – “I love Replica Beach Walk!” – “I love your software, it’s great!” – “I’ve been using Replica Beach Walk for a few months now and absolutely love it!” – “My wife just bought two copies of Replica Beach Walk from Apple and said that she loves it too!” – A Reference Guide for Replica Beach Walk Version 1.0 . If you are looking for more than just reviews of past buyers — then check out our excellent guide on how to communicate replicas in blogs (part 1) , blogs (part 2), forums (part 3), or even Twitter (part 4). Our guide also
Shipping, returns and payment options
The shipping industry is a hotbed for counterfeits, knockoffs, and other illegal activities. The term “replica” is a misnomer as the products are not actually copies of the original (they are very similar in design, but not exactly the same).
Unfortunately, there is a murky gray area between these. Replicas (with different materials and manufacturing techniques) look like the originals without being exactly the same and they do not have to be shipped to an external location. If you receive a product that appears to be an original but is not an exact copy of a real item, it will ship outside your country. This can lead to serious problems if you need to return it or if you are unable to make payment.
There are two ways you can handle this: shipping them back or getting another item shipped directly from the manufacturer. Most shipping companies will ship back any package that looks like it came from China (or another country where counterfeiting is common). If your product is expensive or otherwise unusual, you might want to consider having the manufacturer ship it directly from China for free just so that they get paid for their time — otherwise, you will pay extra money if they ship your product back (and this isn’t always possible).
Otherwise, you can call up your local post office and make arrangements for them to pick up your package from them at no cost as long as they agree that it is an original item that has been received by them under their jurisdiction. You may also want to consider getting multiple packages shipped in different shipments so that one package gets picked up while the others wait in transit; this way there won’t be any confusion about which package contains which item.
If all else fails, at least keep track of what should happen next: call up your local post office after receiving the package and find out whether they have opened it or not (if so great; if not… well…). This should act as an insurance policy against accidental damage caused by someone trying to get their hands on something without paying for it.
Conclusion
I don’t know why but I love the phrase “replica beach walk” and while it has appeared on a few other things (mostly oriented towards tech startups), it is also on this one.
This is a reference to a famous scene in the movie “The Big Lebowski” where Humphrey Bogart’s character, Jeffrey Beaumont, tells his son (played by Jeff Bridges) that he doesn’t need to go out of their budget for “replica beach walks.” The subtext behind the line is that this is not what we make money on; if we could just afford a “replica beach walk” then we would be able to afford whatever extravagant lifestyle.
In reality, making money from advertising costs (at any scale) is expensive and thus will never go away. But one thing you can do well with advertising is give users the impression that you are trying to solve some kind of problem for them and so they will want to use your product or service. It may not be what you initially intended it to be, but it works well enough most of the time!