Help make diving easier - Please share this 60 second survey: http://bit.ly/zQlIZ1

Hi Everyone,

I'm developing a web application to help make diving easier and more fun and would love to get some feedback on whether or not we're on the right track.

We find that all the steps involved in organizing a dive can be complex, time consuming and frustrating, especially for new divers. We hope that by providing an easy to use resource for divers to plan, organise, and share their diving experiences all in one place we will make the sport easier and more fun.

We want to make diving easier and more fun by taking the hassle out of organizing dives and helping you share your dive experiences with family and friends.

The basic idea behind scube.me is to provide an online map of dive sites showing what trips are available, reviews, photos, and any other information that might help divers plan and organise trips more easily...... But that's just an idea. We need you to tell us what is most important to you so that we know what to work on first.

We've developed a short 60 second survey at http://bit.ly/zQlIZ1 and would really appreciate any thoughts / feedback you may have.

We really want to build something useful and value your feedback - If you would like to leave your email address we will give you priority access to any new functionality we roll out. Please feel free to send it on to any divers and/or dive stores that might be able to contribute to the discussion.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to hearing from you!

Nathan
scube.me

You need an explanation here, and on the survey, what your 'product' is... and how it makes diving "easier and more fun".

Having glanced at your 'scuba.me' link, it just looks like another 'dive site directory' and 'online log' type website, of which there are many,... with the added function of booking dives (through your company?) as an intermediary.

I went to do your survey.

You ask, "What interests you about scube.me?" Nothing interests me about it, because I have no idea what it is. You later ask me what I would pay for it, and again, the answer is nothing, because I don't know what it is.

If I were you, I'd at least put a face page on the survey, explaining what your website is and why you think I might be interested in it, or willing to pay anything for it.

Hint: lose the request for an email address as the first question on your survey,

Seriously dude, not a good start.

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for your responses - This is the first survey I've sent out so am a little inexperienced . Good points on the intro - I'll update my original post with some more info and have fine tuned the survey based on your feedback. The scube.me website has a little more info but you're right, it should be on the survey too.

At present we're trying to define the problems around organising dives and what we can do to fix them. Personally I find it really difficult to find out where the good dive spots are, who are running trips and when (especially when travelling), booking a trip and gear that will fit, and having it all organised so all I have to do is turn up at the site, dive and go home.

I'd also really like to keep a record of my dives and the photos I take that I can share with others, as well as to participate in mapping the layout of the actual sites.

The idea is to make diving easier and more fun by taking the hassle out of the above steps. However, I'm not sure what to focus on building first (or what is most important to people) which is why I'm asking . Any information people provide will be kept private and the email address is only required if you would like alpha access when available and so that we can get in touch if we have any follow up questions.

Also, you mentioned there are a lot of sites out there doing the same thing - I've looked around but not been able to find anywhere that does exactly what I want (ie. an all in one dive console), if you know of any I would love to hear the URL/name.

Please feel free to get in touch either here or at nathan.dunn@UNSWalumni.com - Any further feedback is most welcome.

Thanks again (and apologies for the wall of text)!

Nathan

gcarter:

Hint: lose the request for an email address as the first question on your survey,

Seriously dude, not a good start.

Click to expand...

That's a good point. I don't see the need to collect emails as part of the survey. When I see that, I can't fail to think "Oh, lookie... I'm going to get spammed".

Your survey seems to be more about developing a marketing profile than making diving easier and more fun. I also found this http://www.meetup.com/The-Australian-Society-of-Entrepreneurs-Sydney/members/13028370/ which leads me to suspect you may be more interested in developing a "Scuba Dating Service" than making the sport easier and more fun for me.
I think I'll pass on the survey and the site. It looks like SPAM to me. Besides, I already have a site that provides many of these "services" for free. It's called Scubaboard.

I'm confused. Booking a dive trip is anything but complicated. You want to know where good to dive and who with? Post a quick question here and you'll get more responses than you're looking for. Ready to book the trip? Simple as a phone call or a few clicks on the web. There are numerous electronic dive logs that will allow you to download your camera's pictures as well as all computer info from the dive and share it with whomever you wish. In fact, the only thing you really can't do here on SB that you've mentioned is the actual booking which as mentioned, shouldn't take much more than a few clicks of the mouse. Oh, and the mapping of course but if I'm at all curious about the layout of a site before I dive it, again a quick google search usually turns up everything I need or just ask the dive op (this should be covered in the briefing). If they were planning on taking me to a spot they hadn't mapped or didn't at least have some detailed descriptions about I'm probably not going to splash, let alone get on the boat.

Cudos on the attempt at free advertizing. Why not just contact NetDoc and find out how much it costs to run a legitimate add on SB?

Love the avatar, scubafied.