This guide is based on Mixergy’s interview with Jason Fried.
Jason Fried knew that introducing a new version of his app was risky because customers might not like the changes, so he built a spectacular product and users liked the new version even better than the old one. It was all done by building products people love, so we invited him to teach you how to do it.
Jason is the co-founder of 37signals, which runs the Basecamp project management app.
Here are the actionable highlights from the interview.
Customers told Jason they were confused by Basecamp’s process for uploading different versions of files, so he killed that feature and made the app easier to use.
At first, Basecamp just showed pages for projects, but Jason added pages for people because his instinct told him it would be helpful to see everything a person was working on in one place.
Jason should have listened when his customer support team said people would need a way to sort files into categories, but he didn’t include that feature in the second version of Basecamp and lots of customers asked for it.
Jason makes all his developers take turns working with the customer support team, and the direct feedback they get from customers helps them build products that are easier to use.
Jason continued running the original version of Basecamp after he launched the new version, and people were happy that they didn’t have to switch to an unfamiliar product if they weren’t ready.
Jason says that instead of offering a free trial, a company selling a product that cleans up address books should show the first 50 results in prospects’ address books, then require them to pay to get all their contacts cleaned up.
Watch the full interview now
Written by Sarah Brodsky, based on production notes by Jeremy Weisz