What's New: Finding good product ideas on Reddit

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

We all know that Reddit is a gold mine for finding viable product ideas:

• But how exactly do you go about sifting through countless posts for good ideas? This guide will show you where to start, and how to monitor discussions around niche topics.
• Slack has many amazing uses, but here's one you may not have considered: Customer support. Check out the whys and hows of exclusively using Slack to support your users!
• Founder Anthony Castrio sold two months of sponsorships in 23 hours just from one tweet. Below, he shares his struggle, his strategy, and the tweet that took it all the way.

Want to share something with over 110,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing

🔎 Finding Good Product Ideas on Reddit

from the Growth & Founder Opportunities newsletter by Darko

Most advice about finding viable business ideas on Reddit comes down to:

1. Find a particular subreddit.
2. Monitor for discussions around a certain topic.

What nobody tells you is how to monitor discussions. What do you look for? What do you avoid?

I'll try to answer those questions here!

Look for links in comments

The theory: There are certain websites, SaaS software, and web tools consistently being used by people within a particular niche. As a result, they often mention those tools in various discussions, usually in comments.

For example, in the FIFA subreddit, you'll find many mentions of FUTBin, a website where you can compare players, build squads, and other things.

FUTBin is actually a pretty popular website, according to SimilarWeb:

Another subreddit is /r/entrepreneur. Here are some products that I discovered there:

• FounderCafe was mentioned here, here, and here.
• PitchGround was mentioned here and here.
• Stylized.ai was mentioned here and here.

Some of those comments might be self-promotional, but if they have a good amount of upvotes, it can be a sign that the community finds the tool to be useful:

Does the mentioned tool have any traction? Use SimilarWeb to find this out:

• For PitchGround, we can see that it's already a popular platform about software lifetime deals.
• For Stylized.ai, we can see that it's starting to gain some traction. It first started appearing on the ranking list in December 2022:

Look for mentions of popular products

The theory: What popular products are people using in a niche? Those products probably have an app store, exchange, or API that you can build on.

Building app extensions for popular platforms is a great way to get started as a bootstrapped founder, because the platform usually handles the user acquisition part for you.

For example, while browsing through the most popular posts in /r/startups, I discovered this post on how LinkedIn works for B2B startups.

The keyword here is "LinkedIn." The ecosystem of software tools around LinkedIn is huge. If you type "LinkedIn post auto-scheduling" into Google you'll find only four paid search results at the beginning, which is a clear sign of strong competition:

Most of these tools aren't optimized for startups, which are usually software-based. If you could create a LinkedIn tool specifically for software startups, that could potentially give you an edge.

Furthermore, you could use Reddit Ads to advertise your software tool to people in this specific subreddit.

Automate how-to posts

Many subreddits have how-to posts with steps that you can automate.

For example, in this post on dropshipping, the OP shares how he uses videos to market his products. Many people agree that videos are a good way to get more sales as a dropshipper.

Product idea: A video ad spy tool for dropshippers. There are a few profitable video ad spy tools, but none of them are specifically for dropshippers.

You can get so many product ideas from how-to posts!

Beware the recency bias

The recency bias is our tendency to give more weight to current events than to earlier events.

Here's one example: Five years ago, net neutrality was a hot topic. If you take a look at the most upvoted posts in /r/entrepreneur, you'll find a post on net neutrality from five years ago:

Now, try looking for other popular posts there around net neutrality. You'll find zero. This is the recency bias in action.

How to avoid this bias: Look for multiple posts around the same topic. For example, in /r/entrepreneur, you'll see a lot of posts about business ideas.

This is a sign that finding good business ideas is a recurring need that people have. So, building a product to come up with good business ideas might not be a bad idea after all (no pun intended).

Have you used Reddit to find product ideas? Share your experience below!

Discuss this story, or subscribe to Growth & Founder Opportunities for more.

📰 In the News

from the Growth Trends newsletter by Darko

❌ If Google isn't approving your ads, don't panic just yet.

🔊 17 actionable marketing tips that you can apply right away.

💻 Don't optimize all your content for search engines; do this instead.

🌳 Twitter allows cannabis ads in states where it's legal.

🧠 Your mental health data could be for sale.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

💌 Using Slack for Customer Support

by Tom Bachant

Slack is a great way to communicate in real time, in a way that's faster and more flexible than email. We do all of our support via shared Slack channels, using Slack Connect.

Here's how and why!

The whys of Slack support

• Faster response times: People are over 60% more likely to respond, and respond over 80% faster to messages that come in through Slack than through email.

• Dynamic messages and improved collaboration: While emails are inherently static, Slack messages can be dynamic, updating in real time. You can easily upload a file, share a code snippet, and start a video call all from a single message. This is even more powerful when you add integrations like Dropbox, Zoom, Figma, and more, that let you share content directly without downloading and re-uploading files.

• Improved security: Slack reduces the risk of phishing and other cyberattacks by verifying the sender and receiver of each message. Emails can be subject to spoofing, putting you at risk of unknowingly sharing confidential customer information with a hacker.

• Automation: Slack has a rich ecosystem of over 2K apps and integrations that add new automations to your conversations. For example, you can find apps that automatically create support tickets when new messages are created in a shared Slack channel, and assign them to team members.

Best practices for using Slack for support

• Keep it casual: There's no need for a "To Whom it May Concern" when talking to customers in Slack. Slack is a chat interface, so talk to customers in a chat-like tone (though still keep it professional!).

• Get to the point: People are sometimes juggling several Slack channels at any given time, so it's important for them to easily navigate through the noise. Keep your messages efficient, and add the most important content in your first sentence.

• Respond quickly: Slack can be a double-edged sword. While you'll see higher engagement from customers, there is also a higher expectation for quick response times. To prevent messages from getting lost, implement Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee response times, and stick to them. The best way to stick to these is to use an app like Unthread to assign messages. These kinds of apps will also alert you if you're taking too long to send responses.

Wrapping up

Slack is a great way to reach customers in real time on the app that they use most often. Once you have the right tools and processes in place, your Slack support can become a competitive advantage that keeps customers happier, making them want to stick around!

Would you consider using Slack for support? Let's chat below!

Discuss this story.

🌐 Best Around the Web: Posts Submitted to Indie Hackers This Week

⚖️ Should you talk about features or benefits? Posted by Londoner.

👩‍🏫 Lessons learned from five years of indie hacking. Posted by Allison Seboldt.

🆓 I removed my free plan. Posted by Richard O'Dwyer.

🤔 Does no-code have a future in an AI world? Posted by Aesop.

💲 Best PayPal alternatives. Posted by EcomPlatforms.

⏱ How much time do you spend researching? Posted by Chris.

Want a shout-out in next week's Best of Indie Hackers? Submit an article or link post on Indie Hackers whenever you come across something you think other indie hackers will enjoy.

🗓 Anthony Castrio Sold Two Months of Sponsorships

by Anthony Castrio

Hi, founders! I'm Anthony Castrio, and one tweet helped me sell over two month's worth of sponsorships for my newsletter, Bot Eat Brain, in less than a day.

Read on for more!

The tweet and the strategy

I dropped my prices from cheap to dirt cheap for two reasons:

1. Next month, I can say: "Last month, we sold out!"
2. If a post is sponsored, I feel obligated to finish writing and publish it.

Here's the tweet:

The struggle

As a founder, one thing that I've really struggled with is consistency. Can you relate?

I get a new idea, and have a burst of energy and inspiration. This is enough to get a product out the door, but it's not enough to see it through. Sometimes, it's not even enough to get to launch.

After a few weeks, I lose the motivation to keep working on it, then I lose momentum, and the project falls flat on its face. Next, it's on to the next shiny new idea! The cycle repeats.

The solution

Here's the only effective solution that I've found: External motivation.

The threat of public humiliation, or people getting angry at me, are both external motivators.

That's why I decided to drop my prices so low. If every post is sponsored, then every post comes with a big stick poking me in the back to follow through.

Either one of two things happens:

• I finish, and get my reward: Money! New subscribers!

• I fail, and get my punishment: Angry sponsors! Shame!

As an indie hacker, all of the best things come after the fun runs out and the grind begins, so find whatever ways you can to force yourself to follow through.

Then, you'll finally get to see a project succeed!

Discuss this story.

🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

🏁 Enjoy This Newsletter?

Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.

Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.

Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Darko, Tom Bachant, and Anthony Castrio for contributing posts. —Channing