Add an AI Feature and They Will Come

As you probably know by now, Pxl is all about helping you become a better marketer. We do that by providing you with short links, dynamic QR codes, and Microsites (‘micro websites’ or link-in-bio pages).

Our users especially like Microsites, but when I looked closer at the overall UX and usage metrics, I saw room for improvement.

For context, Microsites help you design small landing pages with just a few clicks and up until now, to get started, you would either choose a template or an empty page.

Both options were not ideal, as templates do not always reflect the design a user has in mind, and an empty page quickly leads to Blank Canvas Paralysis.

As Van Gogh once said:

You don’t know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas, which says to the painter, ‘You can’t do a thing’.

(You didn't expect a Van Gogh quote in this issue, did you?)

In order to overcome this problem and have more users create Microsites, we introduced four more professional templates a couple of weeks back.

However, I figured we could go a step further to create personliazed experiences. So, we launched Microsites with AI ✨.

To build this feature, we added an integration with OpenAI's API, which allows users to prompt designs. For example:

• A microsite for a digital marketing agency with professional design, or
• A link-in-bio page for a fashion influencer on Instagram with 3 buttons

The returned response is then translated into a custom Microsite design using the streaming component, which creates this step-by-step effect you can see in the video below.

The feature went live on 27. June 2024 and below is what we learned a week after the launch.

The impact of 'Microsites with AI' one week after launch

Within the first 3 days after launch:

• 85 Microsites were AI-generated
• 27 new Microsites were published

For context, the launch was only marketed to existing users by sending them one email announcement. Given this, I’m quite happy with the result and I can see that without the AI-supported generation, less Microsites would have been created.

Every user received an allowance of 10 credits per month and they were required to get in touch with me if they wanted more credits, which some of them did.

Going forward, I’m planning to improve on the initial feedback and start taking measures to attract new customers outside the existing user base, as the first internal validation was successful.

How to think about adding 'AI' to your product

As a product manager, I’m torn about adding AI to an existing product just for... the sake of adding AI to an existing product.

However, what I see in the market is that customers clearly want AI-supported features.

Even much so that a few months back, I received feedback from Pxl customers that they were somewhat disappointed because Pxl had not yet incorporated AI into its product.

And I'm not alone:

A recent survey by Emergence Capital found that 60% of companies have already integrated generative AI into their products, and another 24% have it on their roadmap. AI is quickly eating the world. (Source)

In my opinion, one caveat, especially with hyped technologies, is the Tourist Problem.

It describes a high signup rate, but an almost equally high churn rate paired with low retention. People are interested to learn more and do not want to miss out, but more often than not, 'AI'-supported features do not live up to their expectations.

In any case, I think it’s important to experiment. ‘AI’ is a tool, but eventually, it comes down to who solves relevant problems the best, regardless if you call it 'AI-supported' or 'AI-assisted' or not.

My take-away

I’m happy with the first week after the launch of Microsites with AI. Whether or not ‘AI’ can assist in solving problems, people want solutions, and calling it ‘AI’ really does give you a boost.

'Microsites with AI' is now ready to be marketed beyond the existing user base and based on the learnings from this launch, more AI-supported features will be introduced to Pxl, making the product stand out against its competitors.

But first, Pxl's new pricing will go live soon. Stay tuned!