Angies List Free Trial

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Angie Hicks, the co-founder of the Angies List this week and she shared how her toughest moments were in the early days of the user review company a decade ago.  After manning the phones during the day she’d go out and promote the contractor review service in the evenings and was only adding one new member a day. 

Angies List Free Trial

Since the biggest value of the service is the large number of user reviews I can see how it would have been hard to get the initial group of people to sign up.  What incentive is there to join a user review site when you’re the first one leaving a review, right?  

One thing I learned from the interview is that when they first start offering reviews in a new city, they offer a one year free Angies List membership to get people using the service.  They’re able to accumulate enough reviews using the Angies List free trial offer to make the service worthwhile in the new city.

Angies List Live

They’ve also added a new feature called “Angies List Live” where you can see in real time what kinds of services members are searching for reviews on.

If your area was just added to the Angies List cities you won’t see many people searching in your town but you can get an idea of how people are using it in other nearby cities.  Here are some of the services that scrolled by in the short time I was watching:

• Plumbing
• Roofing
• Chimney Sweep
• Windows
• Carpet cleaning
• HVAC
• Ophthalmology
• Computer Repair
• Exterior Painting
• Glass & Mirrors
• Air Duct Cleaning
• Pest Control & Exterminating
• Metal Fabrication and Restoration
• Exterior Painting
• Lawn Irrigation
• Masonry
• Landscaping
• Gutter Repair
• Home Inspection
• In-home Child Care
• Mattresses
• Family Medicine
• Florists
• Accountants
• General Surgery
• Siding
• House Cleaning Services
• Lawn and Yard Work
• Fencing
• General Remodeling
• House Cleaning Services
• Interior Painting
• Carpentry
• Moving
• Dentists
• Kennels
• Tree Service
• Windows
• Appliance repair
• Concrete Driveways
• Auto Repair
• Property Appraiser 

As the WSJ article revealed, in her early days Angie probably had no idea that one day there would be hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people using the service every hour. Pretty cool, nice work Angie!

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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