Palimpsest — Go-to-Market Plan
V1 · Edinburgh launch · all numbers are hypotheses to be tested, not forecasts
1. Positioning
For curious city-break visitors, Palimpsest is the walking companion that shows the street as it was a century ago — reviewed by historians, honest about what we don't know — unlike guidebook apps that recite facts or AR gimmicks that invent the past.
Three proof points, everywhere: (1) historian-reviewed, sourced scenes; (2) uncertainty drawn visibly, not hidden; (3) works offline on the actual street.
2. First launch segment
English-speaking visitors to Edinburgh's Old Town, on foot, day-trip to 3-night stay. The Royal Mile compresses ~1M+ annual visitors into a 1.1-mile self-guided route — the densest possible pilot surface. iPhone share among this segment is high; the route is walkable in 75 min.
Explicitly not targeted first: schools/groups (v2), non-English (v2 with localization), residents of other cities.
3. Channel-specific experiments (first 8 weeks)
| # | Channel | Experiment | Spend | Success metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | On-street, on-route | A-frame chalkboard + postcards at the Esplanade and two mid-Mile cafe partners: "This street, 1824 — hold your phone here." QR → App Clip → free Stop I. | ~£300 print + £200 cafe placements | QR → App Clip open rate ≥ 8%; clip → install ≥ 20% |
| E2 | Walking-tour guides | Give 10 licensed Old-Town guides free Pro access + a "see inside the tour" demo; offer a co-branded stop card they can hand guests (£1/referral). | ~£500 | ≥ 4 guides actively referring; ≥ 30 installs via guide codes |
| E3 | Travel creators | 5 mid-size UK travel/history creators (50k–500k) get a walking shoot with founder; unique link per creator. Pitch: "I stood in 1824." | £0 + product | ≥ 3 videos, ≥ 100k combined views, link CTR ≥ 1% |
| E4 | Hotels & concierges | QR table tents in 6 Old Town boutique hotels/B&Bs: "Tonight on the Mile: 1824." Concierge gets free codes for guests. | ~£150 print | ≥ 60 scans/week across properties |
| E5 | Museums & heritage retail | Pitch NMS / Museum of Edinburgh gift shop on a co-marketed "then & now" postcard; offer revenue share on pack sales via promo codes. | time only | 1 signed retail pilot |
| E6 | App Store / search | Apple Search Ads on "edinburgh tour", "royal mile", "edinburgh guide" — tightly geofenced to visitors in EH1 + trip-planning searches. | £500 cap | CPI ≤ £3.50; install → paid ≥ 12% |
Kill criteria: any channel under half its success metric after 3 weeks gets cut or re-designed.
4. Example creative
- Postcard/A-frame: split-image Royal Mile (the same now/then visual language as the site) — "Rub away 200 years." QR at corner.
- 30s creator video: POV walk → phone rises → engraving fades over the street → caption "Edinburgh, 1824. Reviewed by historians, not imagined."
- Guide hand-card: "Your tour ended. The street hasn't." — a free Esplanade stop + guide's referral code.
- Hotel table tent: "What did this street look like when your room was a coaching inn?" — evening hook for next-day walk.
5. First-100-users plan
Week 1–2: friends & Edinburgh tourism-network contacts + guides' guests (E2). Week 3–4: street QR + hotels (E1, E4) during a Festival-adjacent high-footfall window. Personal touches: founder stationed at Stop I two mornings/week watching first-run UX; every purchaser gets a hand-signed "expedition member" digital postcard (shareable — doubles as E3 fuel).
Target shape: ~40% guide/hotel referrals, ~35% on-street QR, ~25% creator. If the mix inverts toward paid search only, the on-street creative is failing — fix creative before scaling spend.
6. Pricing tests (hypotheses)
| Test | Offer | Price | Reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | City Pack (Edinburgh, forever) | £6.99 | Baseline anchor; compare vs £12–20 walking tour |
| B | Trip Pass (all packs, 72 h) | £12.99 | Tests trip-duration willingness; vs audio-tour apps ~£9.99 |
| C | Guide-bundled | £1 off via guide code | Measures channel elasticity + guide incentive alignment |
Run A vs B as a paywall A/B for 4 weeks ≥ 200 paywall views; keep winner, retest at ±20% price. C runs in parallel via distinct promo codes. Gross margin target ≥ 80% post-Apple-fee; content cost amortized per 1,000 packs sold ≤ £2.50/pack (hypothesis).
7. Metrics
- Activation: install → completes free Stop I on-site. Target ≥ 45%.
- Conversion: Stop I completion → purchase. Target ≥ 15% (A) / ≥ 10% (B).
- Depth: stops completed per purchaser. Target ≥ 4 of 6.
- Retention: D30 re-open (returning visitors / second route re-walk). Target ≥ 15% — tourism apps decay fast; measure honestly.
- Referral: share-postcard sends per purchaser ≥ 0.2; guide-code installs as % of total.
- Qualitative: on-street intercepts — "was 1824 worth it?" NPS target ≥ 50.
8. Validation gates (before city #2)
- Activation ≥ 45% and conversion ≥ 12% sustained 4 weeks.
- App Store rating ≥ 4.6 with ≥ 50 ratings.
- Content cost per shipped stop ≤ £4,000 fully loaded (license + art + review) — proves the pipeline scales.
- ≥ 2 distribution partners (guide or hotel or museum) producing measurable installs without founder involvement.
Gate failure → deepen Edinburgh (more eras, evening/ghost layer, localization) rather than opening a second shallow city. The brand is "one city, deeply" — expansion must be earned by the model, not the map.