ForumsNewsToodledo Update #1
Toodledo Update #1
| Author | Message |
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Sam |
Hey Toodledo community,
This is Sam from Toodledo. Last time we spoke I told you that I’d let you all in on our plans so you can follow along and give feedback as we go. Well, my friend, here’s update #1. Future plans The past month my team and I have dug into the backend of the product, marketing, the community, analytics, and more. We’ve come to the conclusion that people love the product as is and that adding new features should not the #1 priority at the moment. So, if you only care about how this update will impact you personally, then you can stop reading here as there are no major product updates right now other than updating the iOS app. But, if you want to know about changes on design, marketing, and the company, then keep on reading. Survey How did we come to this conclusion? By speaking with you all! We did multiple surveys, calls, shared emails, and more. Hre are some results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uuxJcDRlCIUvRSvl5IVQF2TmAgGhKl2u/view?usp=sharing We were amazed at a few things: 1. Lots of active users with accounts over a decade. Monthly user churn was far below other products like Toodledo. People love Toodledo. 2. A lot of people want the iPhone app to be updated - this is a priority of our’s. We’re currently hiring an iOS engineer (here’s the job posting!). 3. Most people don’t want major changes. While I believe users of most products say that yet are often pleased with updates that improve user experience, the responses show there’s an overwhelming attitude of “it works...don’t change!” The majority of changes request were minor. 4. Loads of people want a design update. Nothing major, but more updated and modern. Design and marketing The first move for us will be to update the design of the landing page. We looked at the conversion rate of new visitors to registered users and it can easily be improved. We feel that we can update the website to effectively explain the benefits of Toodledo and use a more modern design that’ll attract new users. Here is a mock up of what the page will look like (the copy is just placeholder): https://imgur.com/a/dO5P8mZ Also, nearly 99% of Toodledo users signed up organically with very little money spent on advertising or on content marketing. We planned on testing some paid marketing and will launch a blog that shows people how to use Toodledo and become more productive. Pricing and number of users I said this in the beginning, but we want Toodledo to be the best damn productivity tool out there. To do that, we need to sustainably (aka profitably) hire a talented team and invest into the product and people building it. Given the current pricing structure, the only way we can afford this is by either adding new paid users or increasing the price of subscription for new users. A combination of both is most likely the answer. So you’ll notice on the pricing page we will be running some tests. More likely than not, this won’t be so much of a pricing change, but combining the Gold and Platinum package. Please note that there is no plan to increase the price of current paying users. Conclusion Ok folks, I think that’s everything. We’d love your feedback on the design and anything else. The last thread had ~10 pages of responses, so I wasn’t able to respond to all of them but read every word. So make sure to let us know your opinions in the forum as I read them all. Talk soon, Sam |
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Olivir2018 |
"More likely than not, this won’t be so much of a pricing change, but combining the Gold and Platinum package."
This could be both logical and scary, depending on the chosen price of the combined package... Also, I would imagine I am not speaking for the majority of subscribers, but hopefully you will keep the monthly auto renewal option (for me, even the Platinum price would not be off-putting, if being payed monthly). P. S.: Thanks for being honest and transparent. It surely is helping gain more trust (in my eyes, I cannot speak for others). This message was edited Jul 26, 2018. |
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Sam |
Posted by Olivir2018:
"More likely than not, this won’t be so much of a pricing change, but combining the Gold and Platinum package." This could be both logical and scary, depending on the chosen price of the combined package... Also, I would imagine I am not speaking for the majority of subscribers, but hopefully you will keep the monthly auto renewal option (for me, even the Platinum price would not be off-putting, if being payed monthly). P. S.: Thanks for being honest and transparent. It surely is helping gain more trust (in my eyes, I cannot speak for others). Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the auto-renew is interesting. I think it makes sense to have it optional but make it auto-renew the default, which I imagine will happen. |
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GSP1963 |
Nice update, Sam. Thanks.
I think starting with updated and more aggressive marketing is a great approach. You and your team can do some real good in that area, all the while gaining more and more understanding of the product and the user community, which will put you in a stronger position when it comes time to start making decisions on what to change and how. I thought the mockups of the landing page look great. They have a young designer vibe that Toodledo sorely needs. As a user, I'm totally onboard with the ideas you've shared and like what I'm seeing in terms of the design. You guys are on the right track! Oh, and if I would make a suggestion in terms of the landing page, it would be this: Be sure to mention that Toodledo is designed to allow the user to customize the tool to his needs. Something like: "Add fields, delete fields, rearrange their display, use tags or don't, build custom searches--all this, and more, is possible. The product can be as simple or complicated as you want. Chances are, the way you managed your todo lists a year ago was different than today, and will be different a year from now. Toodledo is the one todo manager that can be reconfigured to meet your needs." This message was edited Jul 26, 2018. |
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Olivir2018 |
Yes, in my opinion the sheer level of customization is something unique for Toodledo. During my lifetime with Toodledo (with two or three other accounts, all of which I have impulsively deleted just to create a new one some time later), I have been able to reorganize my task management workflow from the ground up within days. For each workflow, there are alternatives - but just Toodledo allowed me to try all of these workflows within a single app!
On another note, one thing I miss is a two-way sync to Google Calendar (the subscribed one-way calendar with Google's up to 24 hours refresh cycle is not really that much helpfull), something that does Cronofy for Trello, or Droptask itself - the due dates are sync in realtime, and moving an event in Google calendar changes automatically the due date in Toodledo. Just a thing I forgot to mention in my previous posts in previous thread. |
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SquidgyFishy |
Hi Sam,
Really exciting news. Good luck with the developments and thank you for the update! |
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Purveyor |
Posted by Sam:
We’ve come to the conclusion that people love the product as is and that adding new features should not the #1 priority at the moment. 213 responses??... How did we come to this conclusion? By speaking with you all! We did multiple surveys, calls, shared emails, and more. Hre are some results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uuxJcDRlCIUvRSvl5IVQF2TmAgGhKl2u/view?usp=sharing How many Toodledo users are there? |
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matanln |
Small comment about the design mock up - I think the colors (blue and white) are a bit too similar to Remember The Milk.
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Sam |
Posted by Purveyor:
Posted by Sam: We’ve come to the conclusion that people love the product as is and that adding new features should not the #1 priority at the moment. 213 responses??... How did we come to this conclusion? By speaking with you all! We did multiple surveys, calls, shared emails, and more. Hre are some results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uuxJcDRlCIUvRSvl5IVQF2TmAgGhKl2u/view?usp=sharing How many Toodledo users are there? So we got about 900 replies to my first survey along with 10 pages of comments on the last thread. This survey with 230ish replies was sent to about 400 people who answered the 900 person survey and told me I could contact them again with more questions. Toodledo has over 1m people who've ever signed up. |
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Sam |
Posted by GSP1963:
Oh, and if I would make a suggestion in terms of the landing page, it would be this: Be sure to mention that Toodledo is designed to allow the user to customize the tool to his needs. Something like: "Add fields, delete fields, rearrange their display, use tags or don't, build custom searches--all this, and more, is possible. The product can be as simple or complicated as you want. Chances are, the way you managed your todo lists a year ago was different than today, and will be different a year from now. Toodledo is the one todo manager that can be reconfigured to meet your needs." This is helpful thanks. I've been using Toodledo for a while now and have used many other apps in the past. However, I rarely customize things. I just use the basic features. The customization piece wasn't a huge surprise to me when I saw people saying they love it as I know the community, but I was surprised at how many people actually love that. Can you tell me a little about your set up and how it compares to the other apps you've used? |
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Galvin Deleon Guerrero |
Posted: Jul 26, 2018
Score: 9
Reference
Sam,
I am a very busy executive who has experimented with multiple other task managers for the past 20+ years. I even experimented with a few after I registered with Toodledo in 2012. But nothing compares to Toodledo, especially its reliability, adaptability, and consistency. I appreciate helpful updates for my apps, but it seems that so many developers these days produce updates just for the sake of appearing fresh and innovative. As the adage goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So thank you for looking for ways to improve Toodledo, but thank you, even more, for listening to your loyal base of registered users. Best Regards, Galvin |
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sritama |
Hi Sam -
I am an organizing freak and I chose ToodleDo over a bunch of productivity tools. I am kind of satisfied but will really really love to have these two features in the desktop and the mobile app. 1. Ability to drag and drop tasks in the desktop view 2. Please please update the look and feel of the mobile app - it looks pre-historic! Will be very much indebted if you implement this! All the best! |
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SyneRyder |
Hey Sam,
The focus on marketing gives me a sigh of relief! The core product works really well for me, so I'm nervous of change, but I agree that the Toodledo marketing needed work... and any changes to marketing won't impact my use of the product! I'm glad I can see a path for growing the business that won't affect me negatively! I know the copy is a placeholder, but I'm still a bit surprised that GTD isn't more prominent. GTD was what introduced me to Toodledo (even though I don't actually use all the GTD features) and I think it had the ability to import from my previous To-Do software. Maybe the world has moved on and sees GTD as old & tired now, not the brand new book that just came out when I was 21! I'm also surprised the marketing mock up doesn't show the Web UI anywhere, as that can visually demonstrate the features & fields available... but it sounds like you know your A/B testing, and I'm sure you'll be trying all these things and seeing what works. I feel more relaxed about the future of Toodledo now! |
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justinhappy |
Hi Sam,
With the growing number of developers and expanding team, can you please work on encryption of our data, specifically data at rest. |
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curtisc_1337545806 |
Posted: Jul 27, 2018
Score: 10
Reference
Posted by SyneRyder:
….I'm still a bit surprised that GTD isn't more prominent. GTD was what introduced me to Toodledo (even though I don't actually use all the GTD features) and I think it had the ability to import from my previous To-Do software. Maybe the world has moved on and sees GTD as old & tired now, not the brand new book that just came out when I was 21!! I'm 71, so wasn't 21 when the first edition came out, <smile> but GTD is alive and well, and there's a recent (and significantly revised) edition of the book. I agree that GTD might be a marketing plus, but in my response to the earlier surveys I indicated that I felt there were a couple of significant functional gaps that negatively impacted use of Toodledo both for GTD and in more generic ways -- inability to reflect / automatically process dependencies and lack of a true "Projects" container capable of holding tasks with and without subtasks (i.e., without losing "Folders"). I don't consider either of those as violating Toodledo's core approach or design, but I also wouldn't consider those "minor". I am certainly a fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", but I think that the product does need additional functionality beyond "look and feel". |
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gnovelty |
Looking forward to the changes to the iOS app!
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Ashwin Avottil |
No Google calender or one-way/two way sync ! Its time to bring on the 'Toodledo Calender'
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brian |
The Android app could also use a lot of love.
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Purveyor |
Late last year, in response to Toodledo Needs a Project Manager, Jake wrote this:
We have thousands of tasks on our to-do list with estimated lengths for each one. Adding them all up and we have enough work on our to-do list to keep us busy for 10 years. And we're adding new tasks daily. The problem was not lack of ideas. It was lack of resources and, to some extent, lack of expertise.In the Future Plans announcement, Jake wrote this: There are still a lot of ways that Toodledo can grow and improve, but I feel like I personally have taken Toodledo as far as I can take it. Now, it's time for me to step back and let some new talent take it further. Toodledo is not "broken" but there are many ways that it can be improved. One thing that the new owners can do is compile a short list from the thousands of feature requests and get some user feedback about priorities.
This message was edited Jul 27, 2018. |
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Purveyor |
BTW, one thing that is broken is the list of topics in this forum.
After my previous post, the list shows the right time for the Last Post but it shows that it was posted by "Toodledo". |
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