blizini final 2012 berkeley

Customers Interviewed – 138Online Surveyed – 60Lo-Fi Test - 55Unique Visitors – 580 (2000+ page views)

Pivots – 4

BLIZINI.COM

VISUAL COMPARISON & POLLING

Easy online polls for subjective opinion across items from multiple websites

TeamAjit Mahareddy

Product Manager at Dell MBA Candidate at UC Berkeley - Haas School of Business

Lars Folide

PhD at BI Business SchoolMasters (Innovation & Finance)Bachelors (Marketing & Computer Science)

Parimi Srinivas

Sr. Manager at BrocadeMBA Candidate at UC Berkeley - Haas School of Business

Rohit Paliwal

Sr. Computer Scientist at Adobe Systems Inc.MBA Candidate at UC Berkeley - Haas School of Business

Mentors & Advisors

• Sumeet Jain• Nick O’Connor• Steve Gertz

Original Idea

LinkedIn for life’s decisions

Enabling users to find and contact people in their network who can help and advise in day to day decisions

Blizini.com – #1

Internet users looking for advice in making a decision

- Build Trust with customers- Easy to use communication platform- Customer development- Partner development

- Trusted testimonials from people in network

- Quick access to “who” in network can help

- Historical perspective based on long term experience

- Access to 2nd and 3rd level contacts for trusted testimonials

Social networking platforms.

Businesses (local and online)

• Customer development• Software engineering• Operations

• Online Ads• Affiliate marketing• Premium subscription

Internet – web & mobile

- Users - Engineering- IP

- Build Trust.- Share information with only those who are authorized by users.- Give control to users.

Week 2

20Hypothese

s

13People

Interviewed

Key Hypotheses

? Friends’ opinions influence decisions.

? Friends’ opinions are trusted more than expert reviews & user reviews.

? Users find out what products friends use through traditional communication tools.

? Users seek advice only from a subset of friends.

? Users brag about the products they use.

? Facebook is not generally used to seek product reviews.

? Users share what products they use with friends and friends of friends.

? Users seek friends’ opinions through traditional communication tools.

Key Hypotheses - Result Friends’ opinions influence decisions.

Friends’ opinions are trusted more than expert reviews & user reviews.

Users find out what products friends use through traditional communication tools.

Users seek advice only from a subset of friends.

X Users brag about the products they use. Facebook is not generally used to seek product reviews.

Users share what products they use with friends and friends of friends.

Users seek friends’ opinions through traditional communication tools.

Week 3

10

People Interviewed

60

Web Survey

17/55 Responses

Low Fidelity Test

What• Sent email via MailChimp to 55 classmates• Asked if they can help finding a Dentist: Yes/ No• Yes/No Links took to Wordpress blog for commenting

Result: 17 responses• 9 Yes• 6 No• 1 replied via email • 1 thought this was a phishing scam

Lo-Fi Experiment

• 75% would be willing to offer advise to friends and family, if asked

• Almost everyone one said they will NOT do it proactively, i.e. will not create a profile

Challenge: Catch-22 situation

Key Learnings

TRUSTED ADVICE FOR LIFE’S DECISIONS

Enabling users to find and contact people in their network who can help and advise in day to day decisions

Pivot

Blizini.com – #2

Internet users looking for advice in making a decision

Advertisers

- Build Trust with customers- Easy to use communication platform- Customer development- Partner development

- Trusted testimonials from people in network

- Quick access to “who” in network can help

- Historical perspective based on long term experience

- Access to 2nd and 3rd level contacts for trusted testimonials

Targeted Ads



• Customer development• Software engineering• Operations

• Online Ads• Affiliate marketing• Premium subscription

Internet – web & mobile

- Users - Engineering- IP

- Build Trust.- Share information with only those who are authorized by users.- Give control to users.

23

10

23

Week 4

17

People Intervie

wed

Created Wireframes

MVP

MARKET LANDSCAPE

Q & A User Reviews

Expert Reviews

Social Network Q & A

Blogs

Specialized Forums

Search

Focus: Differentiate

Simplify

Why will I use you?

Context matters, but only in specific cases

Many people don’t ask others since its too much work

For most people, large number of reviews made them trustworthy

Lot of Q&A sites, some general

some with specific verticals

Customer Interviews

Blizini.com – #3

Web users looking to connect with friends for advice

- Build Trust with customers- Easy to use communication platformSocial

networking platforms.


- Platform development- Operational costs- Customer acquisition

- Online Ads- Affiliate marketing

Users EngineeringIP

- Build Trust.- Share information with only those who are authorized by users.

AdvertisersTargeted Ads-Email-Social Networks- SMS

Ad networks

Quick access to people across various Social networks and contact lists, to get trusted advice and/or gather opinion

40

18

40

Wireframes – v1

Week 5

31

People Intervie

wed

UpdatedWireframes

Lo-Fi #2

Focus: Online shoppingEasy experience

Less work for recommender

Provide a lot of context and do

homework before asking a question Most common

theme: Help in shopping products

online

People don’t want to spam and will not ask questions for cheap

products

The person providing help

should not have to do a lot of work

Different people can help in

different things

Clothes: Like to get help unless dress is for special occasion

and the other person may be there

Helping should not require a lot of

work

Customer Interviews

Person providing recommendation Person seeking recommendation

TRUSTED ADVICE FOR LIFE’S DECISIONS ONLINE SHOPPING

Enabling users to find and contact people in their network who can help and advise in day to day Online Shopping decisions

Pivot

Blizini.com – #3

All Web users looking to connect with friends for advice

- Build Trust with customers- Easy to use communication platformSocial

networking platforms.



- Online Ads- Affiliate marketing

Users EngineeringIP

- Build Trust.- Share information with only those who are authorized by users.

AdvertisersTargeted Ads-Email-Social Networks- SMS

Ad networks

Quick access to people across various Social networks and contact lists, to get trusted advice and/or gather opinion

40

40

18

All Web users looking to buy products online (e.g: digital camera, smart phone)

- Easy to use communication platform- Customer Development


Online e-commerce Sites (e.g: Amazon, BestBuy)


- Affiliate marketing- Online Ads

- Users- Engineering

- SEO- Partner sites- Blog- Virality

Advertisers

- Targeted Ads based on product being discussed

- www.blizini.com- Mobile app- P2P: Friend’s request - Partner Sites

- Ad networks- Direct Sales

Get trusted recommendations from friends for Online products

Blizini.com – #4

7171

42

Wireframes – v1

Wireframes – v2Screen 1: Person seeking recommendation

Screen 2: Person providing recommendation

Week 6

17

People Interviewed

Started Developme

nt

MVP

Focus: Apparel Shopping

for womenEasy experience

Primarily CPC model, very little

CPM

For electronics: most people

rely on expert reviews since spec based

Get free returns, so why bothers

friends?

Send links of dresses via email

to friends for opinion

Sometimes not sure which

dress is appropriate for which event.

Price may change behavior: Not

want to reveal if buying very

expensive shoes.

Initially use Google

AdWords or Microsoft

Customer Interviews

Interview with Online Ad Experts Interviews with customers

FB wall is for distant friends,

not for close friends.

TRUSTED ADVICE FOR ONLINE SHOPPING FOR WOMEN’S

APPAREL

Enabling women to contact people in their network who can help and advise in Online Apparel Shopping decisions

Pivot

All Web users looking to buy products online (e.g: digital camera, smart phone)



Online e-commerce Sites (e.g: Amazon, BestBuy)





Advertisers





Blizini.com – #4

71

71

42

Women looking to buy Apparel Online (e.g.: Clothing, Handbags)



Online e-commerce Sites (e.g: Amazon, Macys, Nordstrom etc.)





Advertisers





Blizini.com – #5

88

88

42

Week 7

16

People Interviewed

Completed

MVP v1

theKnot.com

F&F

Experiments

Test Success or Failure?

Several comments on theKnot.com

Zero comments on Blizini.com

Need Partners

How to engage & keep customers?

People went back to comment on theKnot

Virality unproven: Not yet clear if others will use Blizini.com for their use

People generally comfortable in clicking the link to a brand new website

theKnot Test: Key Learnings

One post of theKnot 72min on Blizini.com

Week 8

14

People Interviewed

Enhancements

MVP

Babycenter.com

CircleofMoms.com

Experiments

Stick to vertical or go generic?

Make it even easier & add polling

“Can we use it for”: picking gift, vacation planning, group event planning, car color, dress accessories ….

Key Learnings

Allow others to suggest alternates

Will use only for big ticket items



Social networking platforms

Online e-commerce Sites (e.g: Amazon, Macys, Nordstrom)





Advertisers





Blizini.com – #6104 104

552

2

54




Online ecommerce Sites (e.g: Amazon, Macys, Nordstrom)

Specialized forums (theKnot.com, weddingwire.com, theBump.com)





Advertisers





Blizini.com – #7118

2

5

2

65

118

4

1

Final 2 Weeks

20

People Interviewed

Enhanced

MVP

Yahoo Answers

theBump

LonelyPlanet

Tripadvisor

Experiments

Run more experiments

with a generic offeringCan it help in

deciding accommodation for

group vacation?

Can I compare more than 3 items?

I think this might work for furniture!

Is there a way for people to also recommend?

Need Domain Expertise!!!

People like comparing across

sites

Key Learnings

Lots of other interesting use

cases

TRUSTED ADVICE FOR ONLINE SHOPPING FOR WOMEN’S APPAREL

VISUAL COMPARISON & POLLS

Enabling women to contact people in their network who can help and advise in Online Apparel Shopping decisions


Pivot




Specialized forums (theKnot.com, weddingwire.com, theBump.com)





Advertisers





Blizini.com – #7

118

2

5

2

65

118

4

1

People looking to compare items subjectively from same/different websites




Specialized forums

Visual Arts websites


Affiliate marketingOnline Ads



Advertisers

Targeted Ad or Ad data based on product being discussed


Ad networksDirect Sales


Blizini.com – #8

Online RetailersCustomer Analytics

Customer Analytics

138 138

265

2

5 4

1

March 24 – April 1

NextSteps

Validate hypotheses

Update Business Model Canvas

Update MVP – run live tests

Analyze results

Pivot?

Questions

?

blizini final 2012 berkeley

Education

products friends

x users

subset of friends

friends offriends

lifes decisionsenabling

network partner users

contact people

customer quick access