Fast Growth vs. Smart Growth
Jan 27, 2025
Selling Blog
Here at Bonanzle Headquarters, we spend a lot of time thinking about what Bonanzle will look like 6-12 months down the road (and beyond). Many of our "old timers" have been able to enjoy the oft-recounted tales of our snappy growth to date, having now built to almost one million unique monthly visitors and two million items less than a year after our launch. This growth has been fast (and exciting!), but in considering the longer-term vision for Bonanzle, the key question is always: what next?
When in doubt about what comes next, we check what words are being spewed from the the tophat.
There are many possibilities. Do we try to build inventory to get a bigger Google footprint and increase traffic through increased item volume? Do we start an advertising campaign to buy ads that will draw more users in? Do we find more places to syndicate Bonanzle's inventory, so we're driving traffic from an ever-increasing number of sources?
All of these approaches would spur traffic growth that could take us well beyond one million monthly visitors. In the case of buying ads, it is growth that could come quite quickly.
But for at least the next month or two, our "growth plan" turns out to be "none of the above." I thought it might make for an interesting blog to explain why.
The growth that a site gets from an advertising campaign or more syndication sources is like the energy that a fire gets from lighter fluid: it's fast, and it's certain, but when the fluid runs out, your fire is going to be the same size it was before you added it, unless you built a solid base of kindling to catch fire.
In our case, Bonanzle's "kindling" is the end-to-end buying experience on our site. When it is smooth, effective, and memorably fantastic, whatever extra fuel (= traffic) we add to the site is converted into fire (= sales) efficiently. Letting traffic growth slow while we refine a smooth and enjoyable buying process is what we call "smart growth:" the type that doesn't dissolve three months after it's generated.
Look over our changelist for the last two months, and you can see our focus has shifted away from driving traffic (as we previously were through increased item syndication and media attention) and toward creating a great end-to-end buying experience:
* Item traits for improved item search and browsing
* Item trait suggestions (implemented tonight) to help build a unique trait ecosystem that further separates Bonanzle from other buying choices, and drives home why we are the best marketplace to find everything but the ordinary
* Remove 2 of 3 steps from checkout process for first time buyers (they can jump directly from the cart to Paypal or Google Checkout when using "Buy now")
* Efforts spent getting the Instant Messaging connection to work more reliably, so buyers can find sellers that are online
* Related search suggestions, and auto-completion of search terms
None of these initiatives are going to make a direct impact on our traffic in the short term, but this is the kindling that ensures that when buyers do hear about Bonanzle through Google or word of mouth, they'll have an experience that they remember, and an experience that makes them eager to return.
After we can see that our buyers are consistently having purely satisfying buying experiences, that is when we begin to convert our smart growth into meaningful growth, by simply adding more fuel to the fire.
As of early May, we've still got a couple more tricks to pull out of the tophat before we return to intentionally driving traffic Bonanzle-ward. Between the great suggestions we're constantly receiving, and our own ideas, I think we could realistically expect to spend May and June polishing and perfecting the Bonanzle buying experience. Are we overly obsessive about creating the perfect user experience? Quite possibly. But we like to think it is a good, healthy obsession. Especially since you don't have to pay for the therapist.
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