I have a pretty high churn rate, so I've recently been rolling new features to try to stay afloat. User feedback is positive, but the usage stats aren't.
Like you said, user feedback is one thing and usage stats quite another. I learned from threddie (so far my only SaaS which got any traction) that feedback should be taken with a Gibraltar-sized grain of salt. Often, people tell you your app is great out of sympathy or because they hope to gain something from you. Don't disregard feedback, but focus on your metrics. I'm curious about your metrics strategy. Are you keeping track of ALL meaningful user actions with a tool like mixpanel, or simply relying on google analytics? A good metrics tracking strategy can be quite revealing.
By the way, kudos for the project and for posting it.
Usage: I have a very restricted core of regular users. Most new users quit after a few days or a week (I suppose the app did not deliver on the reason why they joined the website in the first place?). When contacted, these users basically never reply. Paid users also never reply when contacted for feedback.
The spontaneous feedback I'm getting is positive but unhelpful, in the lines of "this site is great, love the concept", etc.
My first impression: "why are there so many naked girls?"
IMHO it would be better to show the Latest tab rather than the Top Rated, it's less intimidating to see random pictures than only the "best". It's easy to see the stuff of more experienced users and think that I'd be out of my league, instead of "hey, people like me - let's learn together". It'd also make the front page more dynamic, different content every visit.
I'm in a similar position to you, I'm bootstrapping an analytics service and need feedback. I'd be happy to give you a free account and help you with your analytics so you can figure out what's wrong with your churn.
Any insight as to what I could be doing wrong?