Re: Tuning Your App: It’s All About The Funnel

tafproject — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:11:51 -0000

Hey Nick, thanks for spotlighting TAF. In our particular case we had A/B'd some different splash pages and went with the one that funneled people to the action of actually listing a favor. Because of the nature of our app we're faced with two simultaneous goals, each of which must be accomplished relatively effectively to make it grow organically: (a) make it viral and (b) make the database of favors grow. I admit that we could do a better job of the former. Thanks for the recommendations, and we welcome any specific recommendations from your readers as well. Post them here!

Stephen Frick
CEO | Trade A Favor, Inc.

Re: Told or Known

tafproject — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:26:50 -0000

Thanks for the thoughtful critique. Yours is the traditional, and true, economic argument that bartering requires the "double coincidence of wants," an inefficiency that points up the usefulness of money (an "abstraction to represent value").

However, Trade A Favor is not meant to replace the cash economy. It is meant to provide users a way to realize the value of their skills and talents that may not be recognized as valuable in the cash economy. We are not suggesting that it isn't useful to earn cash in order to pay the mortgage. But we are suggesting that you can get more out of life, and more out of your various talents, as well as meeting interesting, new people, by supplementing your cash transactions with barter.

Trading on Trade A Favor does not, therefore, depend on any "objective" valuation of favors, nor does it use its own common currency (such as "barter bucks," etc.). Instead, it puts people first by encouraging them to identify their talents and skills and then giving them the tools to find the people who may want them.

The favors and the traders are always driving the transactions, not an abstract, "objective" assessment of a favor's value.

It is now possible for many of us to earn, withdraw, and spend cash without ever meeting a human being. It is not possible to trade that way. Right now I'm trading with Tim Lillis, a talented illustrator who does a lot of "how to" designs for Make: and Craft: magazines. Tim is helping us with our Trade A Favor "how to" graphic, and I am showing Tim how to update his existing website with his latest work.

Now, if Tim and I had started out each valuing our favors in dollars (or any other replacement common currency), I don't think we would have hooked up. Our company probably never would have considered engaging an illustrator's help for a fee, and I certainly wouldn't be able to "sell" my ability to write simple instructions for updating one's website via an FTP client (at least not regularly enough to make the rent).

But both of us find real value in the trade, and both of us believe the trade was fair and more than worthwhile.

That is the power of Trade A Favor.

Stephen Frick
CEO | Trade A Favor, Inc.
http://www.tradeafavor.com

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Re: Tuning Your App: It’s All About The Funnel

Re: Told or Known