Idea validation for automated marketing app
I have decided to revisit an old idea I had about building an automated marketing system. I did work on a prototype a few years ago and stopped when I realized that such a business was too complex to run as a side business for one person.
Even though it still is, I came to the conclusion that if I change the business model a little, I could pull it off.
The new model is that I will provide the engine as a free open source plugin to Ruby on Rails (to start with) and just host the UI for creating segmentation rules, setting up flows, managing email templates etc.
The pros as I see it are:
-
That all user data stays at the clients apps. They own it and that requires less security on my side.
-
Since I just host the UX, It will be cheaper to run.
The risks are:
-
Someone will copy my engine and create a competing frontend
-
People doesnt want to self host this at all
So, what I ask the community are if anyone has build something with similar business model and technical solution and have some insights, questions or comments.
Definitely reduces a lot of overhead for you but do you know if marketers will welcome such a tech savvy solution?
At least where I work, they wouldn't know. We developers have made it easy for them by handling the complex part of syncing the data to their email marketing system.
So I guess you'll have to figure out who you are going to sell to - 1) Tech savvy marketers or 2) Developers who want to quickly setup a stack for their marketing team.
Might become tricky, but definitely a great idea from a time to market standpoint.
The question I would have is how do you differentiate against Active Campaign, Mailchimp etc?
Not sure how Active Campaign works. Do they work without managing user data on their servers? Otherwise that would be the differentiator.
Active Campaign does require that you push your list to them. If the system is built around email, who would be responsible for deliverability?
It's an intriguing idea, and something I've thought about in similar forms. Concerns I had which prevented me from pursuing it:
Yes, I already have the code for RoR. So that would be the start. My second language is Elixor so Phoenix Framework would be next, but the market is way smaller. I would need to hire someone to do Django/Flask and Wordpress further down the line.
Im also thinking I could create a Rails application in a Docket container with an easy installer.