Web Service Muse - Good/Bad idea?

[CashCache]

I have an idea for a Muse and wanted to bounce it off of the group before getting too involved with it. I know it is not very common to have someone “voice” their idea to an open forum, but in this case I am really not too concerned with someone stealing and implementing my idea.

First off, this is a software Muse – more correctly stated – a Web Service Muse. I’ve written many web services over the years. One that has always worked very well is Address Validation, Standardization and Correction. The application is really very simple: You send a US street address to my web service and my service will standardize it and send it back. It also fixes misspelled street names, wrong zip codes, etc… It’s very accurate and fast. Just about every company imaginable can use a service like this.

Competition is fierce in this space. Do a Google on “Address Verification” or “Address Standardization” and you will see what I mean. Here is where I think I can differentiate myself from the pack… Most (if not all) of these companies charge per transaction (every single address submitted). This can get very expensive for high volume customers. Since the real value and cost of this service is the IP, I can practically give away transaction and not lose money. I am looking at charging a very small monthly fee and allow an unlimited number of transactions per customer – making money based on the number of customers, not the number of transactions – just the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

I have not produced a Muse as of yet, but I have two in the works (this one and one in the manufacturing process). I am new to the marketing side, so any advice, ideas, suggestions are all welcome and appreciated.

By the way, I already have the infrastructure in place including all the servers, firewalls, IP and Bandwidth needed for this. I am also locked into a datacenter contract for another 2 years, so I am going to pay this cost no matter what :D

Thanks…

[jetpacklife]

I think it's a great idea. Your hardest part will be getting your name out there and getting companies to notice you. I'd say that, at least in the beginning, you should offer a completely free version for companies with low volume. However, require that they link to you from their site.. Address verification provided by CashCache... or whatever.

I assume as well that their is just a simple web based entry way of doing this, where it could be ad supported? Are there other services that would go well with this?

[CashCache]

Jetpacklife – keeping it free for low volume users is a great idea – thanks!
Since this is a web service, some companies will create their own front ends (think desktop applications) that will call my service across the internet (very easily done). This is especially true for companies that want to batch large address lists at one time. In fact, I have this done already and could give it away as part of the subscription. Other companies will want to embed the service into their own fulfillment systems, call centers, lead generation systems, etc… And yes, a very simple web form can be created and used to interact with the service one address at a time – for small customers or individuals.

I believe there are many complementary web services that could be used with this, but I want to sell this service as a stand-alone service for many reasons. For one, this service has a fixed cost where the other services that I have created in the past have data supplier costs and a lot less margin. Second, I really like the idea of the 1-3 page site promoting just one product. And third, I am very good at software development, but my website and artistic skills leave a lot to be desired. Starting off with a “Muse Site” makes it (seem) much simpler to get my arms around.

Thanks…

[kamakiri]

Interesting muse. I have been in the restaurant industry for far longer than I like to remember and basically saw POS systems rise from DOS to 3rd generation heavy duty marketing machines. One improvement that all of them added nearly instantly after implementation was to confirm and lock down the database. Much the same way that the state option is locked down to the 50 states in many address entry sites.

From my perspective, it looks easy to buy the database and create a program that will compare entries. The hardest part will be marketing and getting your name out there, and finding companies that use 'lazy programmers' who need your service. That might be a strength though. If you know of one CRM program that doesn't have that capability innately, you can target users of that program for a kind of fish in the barrel marketing method.

[CashCache]

Kamakiri,
Thanks for your reply!
Your statement about creating a program that “compare entries” is exactly the hill I have to climb. If it were that easy, there would be no need for a service. I’ve been writing web services long enough to know that you can’t just create a service to pass data. You have to create a lot of value around the data. In this case, that means fixing misspelled street and city names based on how they sound and how they are spelled, scoring each address and standardizing the results to the USPS standards. To do it right, it takes a lot of horsepower.

However, this is exactly the type of thing I need to relay to the customer. I have to educate before I can sell. A good case and point: Several years ago most E-tailors believed they did not need address standardization services because Master Card and Visa did this for them at the time the order was placed. UPS and Fed Ex got rich charging “accessorial” fees to these companies.

I won’t bore you with the details of why this is difficult to for most companies to build and manage in house (unless you want to know), but it is and this is the reason why there has become more and more competition in this space.

I may be wrong, but this feels like a sellable service – the trick is to get either qualified customers (meaning they understand why they need this already) or finding a way to educate the customer during the sales pitch.

So many possibilities, so little time….

[kamakiri]

This post is pretty much only directed to the OP. This is probably not the place, but if you want to discuss it further give me an email.

On with my problem (and solution). Since I actually went through the process it might shed light on what you are doing.

I used an English POS at my pizza chain for years. Perfectly fine with me and my drivers. I ran into a problem when I started sending out direct mail. The Japanese post office didn't like my addresses at all.

With a POS system, you can allow anything to be added as an address, and from there you can restrict the entries to certain streets, numbers, on down to the apartment names and room #s.

I set the street database up very fast. It only took a few messed up deliveries to put the fire under my arse to get it done. Had I been in the US it is takes almost no time at all. All of the data is easily available. That might mean you will have a harder time in the US. Checking into the same data availability in other countries might be a good niche. I am sure that all English speaking countries have delivery pizza.

After cleaning up my database, I needed a way to get the street names into a Japanese kanji. They also use a different system for zip codes. xxx-xxxx, and the innagte system only had the option for a US style, xxxxx-xxxx so it was disabled from the start.

I paid a guy to write a script that sheered the numbers off the front of the address then compared the entered sytreet name to the one in the database. Intereestingly at this point, I noticed that there the street database I had so 'painstakingly complied' months before had some crappy data in it.

Nishiyama machi
Nishiyama Machi
nishiyama machi

look different to excel! I could export the database into a csv file and then used excel to open it. Instead of fixing the street database, I just made more entries in the excel file that correlated the alphabet name to the kanji name. So that all of the above 3 choices would come out as 西山.


My file had my customer database on one excel tab. The correct kanji name in the next, and I paid a guy to write a macro that generated a proper Japanese address mailing list on the 3rd tab.

It took the programmer an hour, and the small changes made me thousands. It also sped up the process when I needed to get more shops ready for d-mails. By the 5th shop, it took me only a few minutes to format a streets list into the proper list and get it lined up with the streets database in the POS. Then a run through with the macro to find any unusually spelled names, a quick entry into the kanji database, and my d-mail address list was ready to go.http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=49354431ix6.gifhttp://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20476051ir5.png

[jetpacklife]

I ran a subscription web service way back, well, actually it's still running. I don't even charge for it anymore, as I've moved on to bigger and better things.

I don't know the exact nature of the types of clients that would connect to you, but if there is a client software project out there that would need your service, check to see if you can get integrated into it.

As for your lack of design skills, I really wouldn't worry about it. You don't have to limit yourself to a 3 page site. Look at plentyoffish.com guy, my second hero next to TF. That site has no design, but he makes $10m/year. For my own site, design is usually the biggest critism of it (and it's not as bad as PoF), however, people know it works and millions of people have used it. I don't waste my time on critics, I have my own plans.

[CashCache]

I don't waste my time on critics, I have my own plans.

Nice! I try not to get too bogged down with what other people think, but I figured I would express my muse idea to get some feedback - good or bad.

Thanks...