# Email Sorter — Product Strategy (2-Week / Reddit Launch)

**Role:** Product owner. **Goal:** First paying users from Reddit (r/buildinpublic, r/SaaS, r/freelance). **Constraint:** Understandable in under 10 seconds.

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## 1. Homepage & Messaging

### Problems today
- **Hero:** "Clean inbox automatically in minutes" is vague. "Minutes" undersells; "clean" is generic.
- **Subhead:** "Create smart rules, apply in one click" — sounds like manual work, not automatic.
- **Badge:** "AI-powered email sorting" — buzzword; doesn’t say who it’s for or what outcome.
- **CTAs:** "Try Demo" vs "Connect inbox" — two choices slow decision; primary action unclear.

### Proposed copy (exact)

| Element | Current | Proposed |
|--------|---------|----------|
| **Badge** | AI-powered email sorting | For freelancers & small teams |
| **Headline** | Clean inbox automatically in minutes. | **Leads, clients, spam — sorted automatically.** |
| **Subhead** | Create smart rules… | Connect Gmail or Outlook. We put newsletters, promos, and noise in folders so your inbox stays for what pays. |
| **Primary CTA** | Try Demo (first) | **Try it free** (one button; goes to register or demo) |
| **Secondary** | Connect inbox | See how it works (scroll or short demo) |

### Implementation
- One primary CTA above the fold: **Try it free** → `/register`. Remove or demote "Try Demo" to a small link under the button: "Or try a 30-second demo first."
- Remove "in minutes" and "smart rules" from hero. No "Inbox Zero" in hero (use only in Features if at all).
- Trust line: keep "No credit card · Gmail & Outlook · GDPR compliant" but shorten to one line.

---

## 2. Activation & Onboarding (60-Second Flow)

### Minimum steps before value
1. **Sign up** (email + password or Google; no long form).
2. **Connect inbox** OR **Try Demo** (pick one as default; Demo gets you to "Sort complete" in one click).
3. **Done** → Dashboard with "Sort Now" or auto-result.

### What to remove or defer
- **Remove:** Step "Settings" (Sorting Intensity: Light/Medium/Strict). Use a single default: Medium. Expose in Settings later.
- **Remove:** Step "Choose your categories". Default: all 6 core categories (VIP, Clients, Invoices, Newsletter, Social, Security). No picker during onboarding.
- **Remove:** "Historical emails" toggle. Default: off for first run (faster). Optional in Settings.
- **Keep:** Connect email (Gmail/Outlook) + Demo. One click to "Done" then Dashboard.
- **Skip button:** Keep "Skip" but rename to "I’ll do this later" and only show after they’ve seen the connect step (so they can still land on dashboard with empty state).

### 60-second flow (concrete)
1. **0–15s:** Land on `/register` or home → click "Try it free" → sign up (email or Google).
2. **15–45s:** One screen: "Connect Gmail or Outlook" + prominent "Try with sample inbox" (demo). No steps 2–3.
3. **45–60s:** After connect or demo → "You’re in. Click Sort Now." → Dashboard. If demo: one "Sort Now" click → instant result.

### Implementation
- Collapse Setup into **one step**: Connect (with Demo as primary option for first-time). After connect or demo → go straight to Dashboard.
- Move "Sorting intensity" and "Categories" to Settings (and optional "tune later" link from dashboard empty state).
- Default for new users: Demo first (so they see a result in 30s), then "Connect your real inbox to sort it."

---

## 3. Core Feature Focus

### One main selling point
**"Automatic email categories: Leads, clients, invoices, newsletters, spam — without rules."**

- The moment of value: user sees **their** emails (or demo emails) sorted into clear categories and inbox count dropping.
- Everything in the app should point to: connect → sort once → see result. No "AI suggests, you approve" as hero message.

### Features to hide or delay (for 2-week launch)
- **Hide:** "Control Panel", "Smart suggestions" / "Apply suggested rules" as primary path. Keep in dashboard for power users but don’t push in onboarding.
- **Hide:** Daily digest / "Today’s Digest" for new users (show after 2nd sort or after 7 days).
- **Hide:** Referral / Share results until after first successful sort and upgrade prompt.
- **De-emphasize:** Multiple email accounts (show "1 account" in pricing; multi-account in Settings, not hero).
- **Remove from landing:** "Inbox Zero" as headline (overused). Use "sorted inbox" or "inbox that stays clean."

### Features to keep prominent
- Connect one inbox (Gmail/Outlook).
- **Sort Now** + result: "X emails categorized, inbox reduced by Y, time saved Z."
- Single clear upgrade moment: when they hit limit or after first sort ("Unlimited sorts from $X/month").

---

## 4. UX/UI Improvements

### Trust & clarity
- **Navbar:** Add one line under logo: "B2B email sorting" or keep minimal. CTA: "Try it free" (not "Get started free").
- **Pricing section:** One price for Reddit launch: e.g. **$9/month** or **$7/month** (single plan). "Most Popular" on the only paid plan. Remove Business tier for now.
- **Empty state (Dashboard, no account):** One sentence: "Connect Gmail or Outlook to sort your first emails." One button: "Connect inbox." No extra cards (Control Panel, Einstellungen) until one account is connected.
- **Empty state (Dashboard, account connected, no sort yet):** "Click Sort Now to categorize your inbox. Takes about 30 seconds." Big "Sort Now" button.
- **First-time sort result:** Keep current "First sort complete!" + numbers. Add one line: "We’ve put newsletters and promos in folders. Check your inbox — only important mail is left."

### Defaults
- **Onboarding:** Default = Demo (so they see value without OAuth). Then "Connect your real inbox."
- **Categories:** All 6 selected by default; no picker during onboarding.
- **Strictness:** Medium; no selector in flow.

### Skeptical / impatient users
- **Above the fold:** No carousel, no "4 steps". One headline, one subhead, one CTA.
- **FAQ:** Move "Do I need a credit card?" and "Can I cancel anytime?" to top. Add: "What do you do with my email?" → "We only read headers and labels to assign categories. We don’t store email content."
- **Footer:** Short. Imprint, Privacy, Contact. No long feature list.

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## 5. Monetization (Early Stage)

### Pricing that feels "no-brainer" for freelancers
- **Free:** 1 account, 500 emails/month, basic categories. Enough to feel the product.
- **Single paid plan:** **$9/month** (or **$7/month** for first 100 customers). "Unlimited emails, 1 account, all categories, cancel anytime."
- **Remove for now:** $19 Pro, $49 Business. One plan = no choice paralysis.
- **Trial:** 14-day free trial, no card. After trial, card required or account stays free-tier (500/mo).

### Early-adopter experiment
- **Reddit launch offer:** "First 50 from r/SaaS or r/freelance: $5/month for 6 months." Use a coupon or a separate plan ID. Mention in Reddit post and a small banner on pricing: "Reddit launch: $5/mo for 6 months — use code REDDIT50."
- **Churn:** Focus on "Sort Now" success in first 7 days. If they’ve done 2+ sorts and connected a real inbox, send one email: "You’ve sorted X emails. Upgrade to unlimited for $9/mo." No aggressive upsells.

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## 6. Retention & Defensibility

### One integration that increases switching cost
- **Gmail labels (or Outlook folders) as the integration.** Product already sorts into categories; make the output visible where they live:
  - **Sync categories to Gmail labels** (e.g. "EmailSorter/Clients", "EmailSorter/Newsletter"). User sees labels in Gmail; moving away means losing those labels or redoing work.
  - Implementation: After sort, apply Gmail API `users.labels` + `messages.modify` to add the label to each message. One-way: Email Sorter → Gmail. No need for bi-directional sync in v1.
- **Alternative (simpler):** **Weekly digest email.** "You sorted 47 emails this week. Top category: Newsletter (20)." Builds habit and touchpoint; unsubscribing = losing a small benefit.
- **Recommendation:** Gmail (and later Outlook) label sync. Real defensibility; realistic for a solo dev (Gmail API is well documented). Ship "Sync to Gmail labels" as a Pro feature or post–free-trial hook.

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## Implementation Checklist (Priority Order)

- [ ] **Hero:** New headline, subhead, single CTA "Try it free", demo as secondary link.
- [ ] **Onboarding:** Single step (Connect or Demo) → Dashboard. Move Settings + Categories to Settings page.
- [ ] **Pricing:** One paid plan $9/mo; optional Reddit code REDDIT50 ($5/mo for 6 months).
- [ ] **Dashboard empty states:** Copy and single primary action per state.
- [ ] **FAQ:** Reorder; add "What do you do with my email?"; keep short.
- [ ] **Defensibility:** Design/spec "Sync categories to Gmail labels" for post–launch.
