Integrating Webflow and Circle for your community startup

What is it:

Merging content, community, and the tools to help founders bootstrap businesses

Maker Insight:

"You can make almost anything with no code tools, don’t wait for an idea, just start seeing what’s possible by playing with them."

What did I learn:

1. WAMZ stack + so more no-code tools. At first glance you can see Webflow is used on the front end and CMS for all the content. It appears that curated content is the main value created, but I'd argue the community they are creating provides more. I think there is a value on the landing page with the content, but I feel strongly that this page should be their main landing page: https://www.gradschool.co/join.

I recommend using this stack of tools if you are promoting a member sign up, but I am curious how Memberstack integrates with Circle for community. I haven't tried using both, maybe they integrate well, but I would recommend mapping our your user flow and core value prop while exploring both tools before you commit to using them both or commit to either. Could you leverage Circle and have content stored there so that you do not have to use Memberstack? I am not sure, and I don't have a look under the hood on this project.

2. Community: It appeared to me the main value prop of GradSchool is community. I did not discover this at first glance but when I explored more I saw what they are offering is valuable. The app for community that they are using is Circle and is the most highly recommended community app.

Also, I found a back door to trying the free version of the community that I felt was really valuable. Why not show this on the front page and allow users to immediately experience the core value prop. See here: https://community.gradschool.co/c/intros

It's easy for me to evaluate and say I would do something different. Here is the thing. I struggle with this too.

Because as a Maker it's insanely hard to get outside of your head and see your app through unbiasedness that's blocking you from seeing things for the first time like a new user. It's taken me years to get comfortable doing this and I am still not comfortable. But an exercise that has helped me is drill your core value prop down to one thing. What is your value creation and what is your value capture mechanisms. Drill that down so that the user can experience it or understand it within 10 seconds.

Secondly, experiment. What do you have to lose? If I was the Maker of this page, I'd take a snapshot of conversion metrics. Then see what happens if you put this page https://community.gradschool.co/c/intros on the front page mid way down the page. You could keep it super simple like take a snapshot of gif of the community page and put a sign up button adjacent to it then allow users to join instantly. If it is true that the average time a user spends on your landing page is 6-8 seconds, and your value prop is community, (that you are giving away for free) how might you get them to experience that as soon as possible?

The content I would downplay and use as a curated list lead magnet. Offer for free if they are interested in Gradschool but not ready to start. I would put this at the bottom of the page and also use an exit pop up to grab them before you likely never see them again. If you get their email you can at least start building and nurturing leads into potential subscribers down the road. Further, you could email them personally, say the first 100 that sign up and ask them what exactly are they looking for. Categorize all the words they say, then map them out on a user journey for what you think your product solves. Including asking how did they find you? Now you'll get to see a really interesting trend of who these people are that are not signing up, where they come from and adjust your marketing accordingly or even your core value prop altogether.

3. Content: Using content and providing value through curation but I'd challenge the Makers to think about streamlining the landing page because I think that they are missing an excellent opportunity to really promote the main core value prop of his product which is free community! That's amazing. When I first glance at the site, I thought that it was just content. Which is organized by using Jetboost.io integrated into Webflow front end. Although, I am not seeing the dynamic filters, I could just be missing it, I think that all the tools used in this stack are what I would recommend.

Further, there is an opportunity to leverage Jetboost.io for allowing users to favorite or bookmark content. This would give the user another reason to sign up.

Along side Landen and Landbot, Jetboost.io is top 3 in most popular rising new no-code tools submitted to side project stack.