Recently, I have been thinking about what our next product should be.
Vofy is built from a traffic-first perspective. We identify demand that already exists online, acquire users at a relatively low cost through channels such as SEO, and convert that traffic through the product. This is a valid way to build a business: find real demand, control acquisition costs, and make the unit economics work.
But it feels different from building a large, enduring product. At first, I thought of this as the difference between a “traffic product” and a “brand product.” That distinction is too simple. Traffic and brand are not two opposing types of products:
Traffic explains how people encounter a product. Brand changes how readily they recognize, recall, and choose it.
Traffic, Retention, and Brand
Traffic creates the first encounter. If the product provides ongoing value, people may continue using it, which creates retention. But retention is not the same as brand. Users may stay because they like the product, but they may also stay because their data is stored there, switching is difficult, or there are few alternatives.
Brand is about what people remember and expect. A product has begun to build a brand when users can recognize it, associate it with a particular value, and choose it when alternatives are available. Retention and brand can strengthen each other, but neither one proves the other.
Why Some Traffic Is Hard to Turn into a Brand
Consider a user searching for a PNG maker. The user usually has a temporary task: process a PNG as quickly as possible. The need is often infrequent, the tools look similar, and switching costs are close to zero. After finishing the task, the user leaves and searches again next time.
In this case, the user remembers the function rather than the product. The traffic belongs mainly to the query and the search engine. A PNG maker becomes more brandable only when it creates value beyond the one-off task—for example, by becoming a complete product-image workflow for online sellers. The search tool is the entry point; the broader use case gives users a reason to remember the product.
Innovation and Mindshare
When many products solve the same problem in similar ways, users have little reason to remember one of them. Innovation can create that reason. It might deliver a much better result, introduce a new interaction, or make something difficult feel simple. A meaningful difference makes the product easier to notice, describe, and share.
Stronger innovation can even introduce a new way of doing something. If the product helps users understand both a new problem and its solution, it may become closely associated with an emerging category. But novelty alone is not a brand. The difference must be easy to understand, solve an important problem, and remain valuable over time.
This is also how I now understand the “battle for the mind.” A product does not literally own a fixed slot in the customer’s mind. It becomes more likely to be recalled in a relevant situation: “When I need to do this, this is one of the first products I think of.” When several products compete for the same association, product value and repeated communication determine which ones are remembered. Exposure helps, but it cannot replace real value.
First Movers and Later Entrants
An innovative startup may define a new position before others see it. But being first is not a moat by itself. The lead matters only when it becomes something that compounds: brand memory, user habits, data, content, network effects, or workflow switching costs. Otherwise, the first mover may simply validate the market for everyone else.
Later entrants face less uncertainty, but they need a strong reason to change existing preferences. Being more aggressive should not mean only spending more or copying faster. It should mean offering a clearly better product, a new technology or interaction, a different distribution channel, or a more useful way to define the category.
Back to Vofy—and the Next Product
Vofy is currently closer to a traffic-efficient business: identify clear demand, acquire users through search, and convert them. That model can become a good business. If we want Vofy to develop a stronger brand, however, adding features or improving retention is not enough. The product needs to create a clear and distinctive association: “This is what I choose for this kind of work.”
For our next product, the key questions are:
- Does it offer a difference that users can clearly perceive?
- Does that difference solve an important problem?
- If retention is high, is it driven by preference or simply by habit and lock-in?
- In which situations do we want the product to come to mind?
- Can the product accumulate advantages that become stronger over time?
The relationship among these ideas is ultimately simple:
Traffic creates exposure. Product value can create retention. Meaningful difference and consistent experience can build a brand. Retention and brand may reinforce each other, but they are not the same thing.