Ski Nation, a recent ski app/marketing platform that tried a Kickstarter-like system, didn’t make their goal.

As I asked myself why, I couldn’t help but think of a comment that was posted on their site within the first 24 hours of the 2-month campaign. The commenter, “NixBeeman” said:

“I hate to be critical, but after surveying the site and even the FAQ, the value of this app to me as a skier isn’t entirely clear, especially to the point that I’d want to donate money to help you launch it — and profit from it. What does Ski Nation get me that I can’t get somewhere else for free, in terms of ski area information, or even a database to track my own ski activity (or, for that matter, a sheet of paper and a pen)? What exactly is on the app? Resort data? Maps? Lodgings? Ticket prices? And what’s the biz plan? Is this app going to be sold? Free? Available where? In other words, what’s its niche? How does it relate to your “ethic” that “skiers should own their own personal information?” and how is sharing it with your app consistent with that? What’s the value of a “confidential profile” containing stuff I and my friends already know about myself — unless it’s going to be offered to gear makers or resorts? Maybe i’m just thick. I just think you need to be more clear. If you can’t explain in a simple declarative paragraph exactly what the product is and what need it fills, it ain’t gonna sell.”

As I reread the copy again and again over the following days, searching for what I was missing, I kept coming back to three, simple points that NexBeeman made which, had they been heeded, may have turned the tide of this launch.

You can follow along with the original landing page.

1) Clarity
Nix said, “If you can’t explain in a simple declarative paragraph exactly what the product is and what need it fills, it ain’t gonna sell.” The first five headers on the page, in order, were:

1. Make First Tracks
2. Founding Skiers
3. Our Ethic
4. Ski Nation® Mobile App
5. All-or-Nothing Challenge

As I reached the call-to-action, requesting my support, I’m no closer to knowing what I’d be supporting than when I started. Nix was spot on.

2) Goals
Nix continued, “What’s the biz plan?… What’s the value of a ‘confidential profile’ containing stuff I and my friends already know about myself — unless it’s going to be offered to gear makers or resorts?”

He makes a very valid point and it all seems to stem from there being no answer to the question, “what’s in it for the creators and how are they going to make money?”

Without that answer, we’re left to our own imagination. Sometimes that’s a good thing (Tom Shane preferred radio because people can imagine better diamonds than the earth can produce) but I think that, because of the ambiguity in other areas, this had a negative effect.

3) Value
This also ties back into the first point, but Nix said, “the value of this app to me as a skier isn’t entirely clear, especially to the point that I’d want to donate money to help you launch it.”

As I read and reread the copy, the core conclusion I came to was that Ski Nation desperately needed a concise statement that told me what it was and what value it would provide for me. Nothing ever jumped out at me and held my attention for a few seconds to send that message. Nix was right again.

Without knowing what it was, without knowing the value it provided me, and without knowing where $300,000 were going, it quickly became easier to understand Ski Nation’s failure to launch.

Ideas
I hate to just talk about issues, even if they aren’t all my words, so let me suggest what I would do instead even if they are too late to help. These are based on, after a handful of trips through the copy, what I think they were getting at.

First, I’d have put what the app is and the role of the viewer front and center:

Next, I would have been very clear about what a skier gets out of it – the value it provides and supplement that with screenshots.

Finally, I would have given something unique, exclusive, and real to backers to enforce the fact that this is real and not vaporware. Plus, this might add an extra reason to support it now rather than just wait for a free version later:

What about clarifying the business model? I’m still not sure what that is so I can’t say much there. But on the rest, this is where I’d start.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.