Launching a new marketing automation platform is a journey filled with learning curves, pivotal moments, and invaluable user insights. When we embarked on our Spotlites pilot programme in February, we envisioned simplifying the complex world of online marketing for businesses. Today, we’re sharing how our first pilot unfolded, what we learned, and how it’s shaping the future of marketing automation.

The Birth of Spotlites: Solving a Real Problem

Marketing can be overwhelming. With the first instance of our Marketing Task Matrix containing over 200 potential business activities, we recognised a critical need: how could small and growing businesses possibly know which tasks to prioritise without dedicated marketing teams?

Spotlites was born from this challenge—a platform designed to analyse a business’s digital presence and deliver daily, actionable marketing insights directly to their inbox. There is no jargon, no complex strategies—just clear, implementable recommendations tailored to each business.

Our premise was simple yet powerful:

• Deliver two bite-sized, actionable marketing opportunities daily
• Provide step-by-step implementation guides for each recommendation
• Create a feedback loop to improve recommendations continually

Pilot Structure: Starting Small, Thinking Big

For our initial pilot, we partnered with five businesses across different sectors. We began with website analysis as our foundation, focusing on extracting actionable insights from their public-facing content.

The pilot structure included:

• Daily Insights: Each morning, participants received emails linking to their Spotlites dashboard containing specific opportunities identified for their website.
• Quick Feedback: Users could provide feedback on each recommendation’s usefulness and implementation preferences.
• Easy Access: A secure dashboard housed all recommendations in one location, accessible via email links.

We used Airtable as our hosting solution to secure information and provide a seamless user experience, which allowed us to develop and iterate quickly during the pilot phase.

Behind the Scenes: The Technical Foundation

While participants interacted with a seemingly simple interface, behind the scenes, we were building a robust system capable of:

1. Analysing websites for optimisation opportunities
2. Categorising tasks according to our marketing matrix framework
3. Generating clear, actionable recommendations
4. Tracking user engagement and feedback
5. Learning from implementation patterns

Throughout the pilot, we continuously refined our recommendation engine based on user feedback, ensuring each Spotlite delivered genuine value rather than generic marketing advice.

User Experience: What Our Pilot Participants Said

The feedback from our first pilot users was instrumental in shaping our development roadmap. Here are some key insights we gathered:

“The daily format made marketing improvements manageable instead of overwhelming.” – Pilot User

Users particularly appreciated:

• The bite-sized nature of recommendations
• Clear implementation guidance
• The ability to track progress
• No-fluff approach to marketing advice

Areas identified for improvement included:

• More customisation options
• Integration with additional marketing channels
• Enhanced reporting on implementation impact

Evolution: From Pilot One to Pilot Two

Based on the valuable feedback from our first cohort, we quickly iterated and launched a second pilot with enhanced features:

• Increased Daily Insights: We doubled the number of daily Spotlites to two recommendations per day
• Improved Dashboard: A refreshed interface with clearer organisation of tasks
• Enhanced Recommendations: More specific, actionable insights based on first-round feedback

We also refined our onboarding process, creating a clearer user journey from signup to first recommendation implementation.

The Growth-Based Pricing Model: Rewarding Early Adopters

During our pilot phases, we also developed our unique growth-based pricing structure. We believe early adopters should be rewarded for their trust and feedback, so we created a tiered pricing model that benefits those who join us early:

• Genesis Tier: £9.99/month for our first 100 subscribers
• Early Adopter Tier: £14.99/month for subscribers 101-500
• Growth Tier: £19.99/month for subscribers 501-1000
• Scaling Tier: £29.99/month for subscribers 1001-2500
• Premium Tier: £39.99/month after 2500+ subscribers

The most powerful aspect of this model is our lifetime price-lock guarantee. Early subscribers maintain their original pricing tier as long as their subscription remains active, creating a powerful incentive for early adoption and long-term loyalty.

Lessons Learned and Future Direction

Our pilot phases taught us several valuable lessons that continue to guide our development:

1. Simplicity wins: Users consistently valued clear, straightforward recommendations over complex strategies
2. Feedback loops are essential: The ability to quickly incorporate user feedback dramatically improved our platform
3. Prioritisation is key: Helping businesses identify their most impactful subsequent actions creates disproportionate value
4. Continuous improvement matters: Users appreciate seeing their feedback implemented in future iterations

Looking ahead, we’re expanding Spotlites’ capabilities to include:

• Integration with broader business assets
• Enhanced AI-powered recommendations through our new Spotbot assistant
• More customisation options for different business types
• Expanded reporting on implementation impact

Join Us on the Journey

We’re planning an expanded beta test in March, building on the success and lessons from our pilot phases. If you’d like simplified, actionable marketing insights delivered directly to your inbox, we’d love to have you join us.

The marketing world doesn’t need to be overwhelming. With Spotlites, you can tackle one meaningful improvement at a time, guided by insights tailored to your business needs.

Ready to simplify your marketing journey? Join our waitlist for early access to our March beta launch and secure your place in our Early Adopter tier before spots fill up.

Spotlites is on a mission to democratise marketing expertise for businesses of all sizes. No more overwhelming task lists – just clear, actionable insights delivered daily.