OutsidetheJar

Back in February, we launched the XAwards for early stage startups (2 to 5 members) to discover some of the world’s most innovative and exciting teams, and learn about the products and services they are building. We also wanted to give back to the startup community with three XAwards cash prizes: €20,000 for Best Overall Experience, €5,000 for Best Tech Achievement and €5,000 for Best Mobile App Experience.

We recently spoke with Martin Stone, Head of Research at Conversion Rate Experts and discussed their method for research-driven improvements, why Hotjar is so useful in their toolstack, and how you can get started with a similar approach to generate wins for your business.

If you’re building a startup or digital business (or want to), the worst thing you can ever do is fail slowly.

“Follow your passion!”

At some point in your life, you’ve undoubtedly heard someone say that all you need to do to succeed is to “follow your passion.”

While it’s true in some cases, it doesn't always (or often) translate into automatic success in the startup world. And, in many cases, following your passion can lead you straight into a failed business.

So, what’s the solution?

In June 2016 the Hotjar team flew in from all over the world to spend a week together on the gorgeous island of Malta (click here in case you’re wondering where it is).

Hotjar Headquarters is in Malta so we figured - why not hold our bi-annual company meetup there? The weather is perfect, there’s a lot do, and when you see how breathtaking the island is you’ll understand why movie and TV show producers like to film there (e.g. movies/shows like Gladiator, Game of Thrones, Troy, 13 Hours, The Da Vinci Code, and much more were filmed in Malta).

Hotjar has always been a 100% remote/distributed team. We live all over the world and the benefits of this, we believe, outweigh the challenges. Of course, the main challenge of being part of a fully distributed team is getting to know each other in person. Stuff like body language, nuances, and quirks that don't come across over a Google Hangout.

Team bonding even from a workshop setting tends to not happen when you're fully remote and we can't really toss a ball around over the Internet to learn agile (more on that later).

So twice a year we meet in person to achieve three things:

• To get to know each other (most of us haven’t met in person before)

• Have fun together (as Roald Dahl said, "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.")

• Work together and share ideas/knowledge (much easier in person)

Building a SaaS product, app, or site?

If you’re a Product Creator in any capacity, the way you build your product will dictate the level of success you'll achieve. Like me, you’ve seen products and apps come and go. Some disappear as quickly as they arrive, and some (like Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, et al) have achieved incredible success.

But, why is it that people get hooked on some products while others don't even make a ripple in the pond?

At Hotjar, we use Hotjar in everything we do.

Whether it’s building, writing, scaling, designing, or hiring - Hotjar helps us make Hotjar better. We’re firm believers of practicing what we preach (and we 100% believe in our product) so using Hotjar to grow Hotjar is a must for our team.

Now to the problem: most content marketers struggle with "creating more engaging content," as evidenced by this phenomenal study put together by The Content Marketing Institute:

We’ve learned some really great tips over the past few years when it comes to producing content and here's the secret: you already have everything you need to create great content at your disposal.

Garrett Mehrguth is the CEO of Directive Consulting, an agency he started in Southern California when he wasn’t even old enough to legally have a beer yet. Fast forward a few years and his agency is now an Unbounce Partner and MozLocal Recommended Local Company that serves small-enterprise level firms all over the globe. Garrett recently sat down with us to tell us how Hotjar has been essential in helping his agency grow and get clients. Keep reading to see what he had to say.

Who: HeyOrca is a social media planning and approval tool that allows marketing agencies, consultants, and their clients to seamlessly plan and approve content in their upcoming social media calendar.

Tools Used: Hotjar Recordings & Surveys.

Results: 65% of NPS respondents were "Promoters" and UX bugs were identified and fixed.