the essentials of successful software sales
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given by Nico Westerdale at ESWC in London 2011. www.euroconference.orgTRANSCRIPT
Essentials of Successful Software Sales
• Nico Westerdale• President BitsDuJour– Leading US Based Software Daily Deals
Website
• Run Thousands of Software Promotions for 4+ Years
The Insane Headlines
Promotions are a Huge Market
Source: BuySellAds.com
The Way People Buy Has Changed
• 44% of Online Customers use Daily Deal Sites, and rising
• 60% of Subscribers receive emails from 2+ Daily Deals sites every day
• 60% of Email Recipients are Actively checking their emails at least once a day
Source: BuySellAds.com
Where Groupon Fails
• Traditional Merchant’s Overheads are High• Physical Venues cannot scale easily• Only 63% of Vendors said their Groupon was
profitable • 49% of Vendors said they would not
Advertise with Groupon again• 82% of Vendors unsatisfied with repeat
business• These Numbers Don’t Add up!• Software Vendors don’t have these problems
Source: Cooper Murphy Copywriters
Do The Math
• The Key to Running a Successful Software Promotion
• Determine our Per-Unit Cost• Look at some Real Sales Data• Determine how to promote and still
be profitable
Product Cost Calculator
• Determine the Variable Per-Unit Cost
Product Price $Total Hours Per Week on the BusinessHours Per Week Supporting the ProductLicensing per Product $
Per-Unit Product Cost
Calculate $12.35 ...
Percentage Discount
• Total Sales Revenue based on Discount
< 3
1
31 -
39
40 -
44
45 -
49
50 -
54
* 55 -
59
60 -
64
65 -
69
70 -
74
75 -
79
> 7
9
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Sales
Sales for Regu-lar Price < $35
Sales for Regu-lar Price >= $35
* Small Data Set
BitsDuJour.com
MUPromo.com
MacZOT.com
SoftwareDoD.com
MacAppDeals.com
GrabSomeDeals.com
SparCode.com
MajorGeeks.com
MightyDeals.com
GiveawayOfTheDay.com
MacAppDeals.com
AppSumo.com
StackSocial.com
Startups.com
Bundle Websites
Everything … and the Kitchen Sink
Who Purchases Software?
• Different Rules in Different Countries• Vendor Websites are not the Only
Place the Purchase Decision is Made– Download Sites– Forums / Social / Community– Coupon Sites– Promotion Sites– Search & Aggregators
• Different Types of Customers
Different Customers
Impulsive Buyers
Verifiers Researchers
Seekers Fans Devotees
Impulsive Buyers
Fills a Need
Great Deal
Urgent
Easy to
Buy
Verifiers
Want to
Know it’s The
Best
The Best Price
The Best Deal
The Best
Vendor
Researchers
Study the Competitio
n
Read the Manual, Forums,
FAQs
Ask Specific
Questions
Purchase Only After They Trust
the Answers
Seekers
Already Know What they
Want to Buy
Found a Deal
Through Search
Any Percentage Will Do
(even 5%)
In and Out as Fast as Possible
Fans
Subscribe to Your
Social Feeds
Will drop by
Regularly
Choose You First
Will Contribut
e if Asked
Devotees
Have Drunk the Kool-Aid
Want Insider News
A Huge Unpaid Asset
Cornerstone of your
Community
Make your case
• Make it clear what you’re selling
• Entertaining write-up• Lead with one point• Don’t say too much
Easy Purchases
• Main call to action is to “Buy Now”
• Lead with your percentage
• Show the deadline• All other links and
information are secondary
The Fine Print
• Features not Functions
• Spell out your license terms
• Testimonials help, comments are better
• Don’t let this detract from the main promotion
Trust is a Delicate Thing
• Show you’re a real Person behind the site
• Allow questions to be asked and answered
• Be seen to be responsive now, so you’ll be responsive later
• Handle problems (and problem people) easily
More is Available
• Show relevant alternatives that don’t directly compete
• Don’t overwhelm your main promotion
• Don’t blind them with Choice
Key Points to a Successful Promo
Easy Purchas
e
Correct Discount (not Price)
Limited Time
Trust & Transpa-
rency
Make it Fun
Successful Promotion
Extending the Promotion
• Creating a Deadline forces a ‘Buy Now’ decision
• Extending the deadline allows you to force the ‘Buy Now’ decision again
• Extending allows you to pick up new customers and persuade unsure customers
• We see 60% Sales in the second 24 Hours
Facebook Promotions
• Use Static FBML Page to entice Likes
• Use the real estate• Be yourself• Vary your posts• Reply and be
visible• Don’t overpost
Twitter Promotions
• The goal is to add followers and get backlinks
• Use Twitter OAuth to create your own promotion
• Use Bitly to track your clicks• Tweet like crazy
Spreading the Word
• Email Reminders / Newsletter• Comments / Contact• RSS / Twitter / Facebook / ShareThis• Forums: Deals.Woot / SlickDeals /
Industry Specific• DOTD Aggregators: DODTracker• Affiliate Program
Trends
• Customers Comfortable With Deals (and Expect It)– More Registered Users
• More Promotional Opportunities– The “Me Too” Factor– Specialization
• Promotional Sites Evolving– Coupon– Geographical– Local / Mobile / PoS– Digital Products
• Social Media Sharing Services• Specific PPC Ad Networks
Software is the Perfect Promotion Product
• Presentation Available @nicowest
Nico Westerdale
Your Product
Do The Math
Use the Services out There
Get Behind your
Promotion
Sales & Success