Here's an anecdote from Persol who produced a spaced repetition website: http://lesswrong.com/lw/e26/who_wants_to_start_an_important_startup/7834?context=3
> I actually wrote a site that did this a few months ago. I had about 4000 > users who had actually gone through a complete session...As guessed, the > problem is that I couldn't get people to start forming it as a habit. There > is no immediate payback. Less than 20 people out of 4000 did more than one > session....Additionally, there are at least 18 competitors. Here's the list I > made at the time > (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ApTkAjKtlSVodE1ja0RUSWpxN1QwMi1WWFhIN2JXdkE&output=html). > Very few seem to be successful. I shut the site down about a month ago. > There are numerous free competitors which don't have any great annoyances. I > wouldn't suggest starting another of these sites unless you figured out an > effective way to "gamify" it. Tough business. (Mirror of spreadsheet: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85192141/2012-persol-srssitecomparison.pdf ) More specifically http://lesswrong.com/lw/e26/who_wants_to_start_an_important_startup/7834 : > ~4000 people finished a session. Many more 'tried' than 4000... I just > couldn't determine which users were bots that registered randomly vs users > that didn't finish the first session. > > - Tried: lots (but unknown) > - Finished 1 session: ~4000 > - Finished >1 session: ~20 The attrition rate is pretty boggling. I didn't expect it to be 99.5%; maybe more like 90%. Advertising data: > About 75% of the hits came from Google adWords, which was on for about 8 > months. Maybe about 10% from search results. I also had a few links from > subject specific websites. Average CTR was about 0.25%. Best CTR were ads > that mentioned 'flashcards' and 'online'. The best conversion rate (answered > a study session question) was 17% with the ad below: > > Remember Facts > Spend less time studying. > Remember more material. > www.superbrain.me > > Graphic/animated ads were a waste of money, but at least I learned how to > make animated GIFs. -- gwern http://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20repetition -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "mnemosyne-proj-users" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
