Feb 20 - Update

Follow along as we build, launch and grow Vocal - a service to help customers share ideas with the managers of their local services by liking our LinkedIn page

Hello again 👋

It's only been a few weeks since we hit 'publish' on our January update but a lot has happened since then to share with you so let's do this!

February round-up

February will probably go down in history as the month storm Ciara and Dennis in the UK, not the month we launched... but we did! This weather gave us the chance to stay indoors code stuff and get the service LIVE 🚀

It was a #leapday well spent:

We also took the initiative to move away from our templated website provider to use Web Flow which gives us full creative control and a powerful blogging engine for all the content ideas we have planned. Bit of a learning curve but good fun to learn and super impressed with the features on offer.

On a personal note, this is the last month I will be working as a UX design consultant for Designit so that I can prioritise the growth of Vocal. I plan to write a short blog post on why I'm 'going all in' on this business shortly.

The month in emoji

🏛️ Interviews for the Royal Bank of Scotland accelerator programme

🚀 Launched an all-new backend built with node.js

🚀 Overhauled our place data using Open Street Maps

🚀 Re-launched a refreshed mobile app for iOS

🚀 Build a web front end (in about a week) and launched that too...

🎨 Began working with an awesome illustrator called Kate on our rebrand (more on this next month)

🖥️ Built our website from the ground up using Webflow to give us a powerful blog engine + more creative control. Will launch this in March.

🚣‍♂️ I left full-time contracting to work on Vocal

Look ahead to March

As the weather continues to threaten another storm, we're hoping for some sunshine that will make hitting the streets a little easier this month. Our main aim will be to re-establish the relationships we have with managers in Edinburgh, starting back in Marchmont. On that note, if you or you know anyone who would be interested in working with us then drop us an email at [email protected]

Now I have almost 100% of my time available to work on Vocal I'm really keen to practice some sustainable behaviours that will give Vocal the best chance for success in future. These are:

• Keeping you all updated with our goals, activity and progress. Accountability is key.
• Making data our focus. Our app has Amplitude running in the background so we can see how people are using the service. This will help us measure the effectiveness of the changes we make in relation to our prime metric - shared suggestions and business replies.
• Setting enough time aside for free-time with family and friends + exercise so I don't burn out immediately.
• Spending at least 50% of my time on traction (improving our prime metric) and the other 50% on improving the product. This means I'll be forcing myself to learn a bunch of new marketing practices to get our service in the hands of customers.

We've got some targets to hit (see below) so this Month is going to be

How are we doing vs. Q1 goals?

Just to remind you, they were...

#1 Launch Vocal App to our test group in Edinburgh

We've done the 'launch' bit ✅ and we'll do the onboarding of users in March.

#2 Migrate users from Marchmont that helped us in our pilot

This is also an aim for March. It's really just an email campaign though and the Mailchimp template is 50% there!

#3 On-board another 20 local businesses

#4 Acquire our first 200 users

Clearly we're going to be busy in March.

Vocal helps local customers connect with the managers of local services. Share suggestions, feedback or comments privately, anywhere you go in a few taps.

Find out more or download Vocal at www.vocal.app