So you‘ve developed an awesome software tool that solves a real problem for a specific niche. Congrats, that‘s a major accomplishment! But now comes the even bigger challenge – getting your software into the hands of paying customers.
Selling your own software product online can be a highly lucrative business model with the potential for recurring revenue and high profit margins. However, it also requires wearing many hats – marketer, salesperson, business manager, customer support rep – in addition to software developer.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you through the step-by-step process we used to successfully launch and sell our own premium WordPress plugin. You‘ll learn the critical components required to sell software online, the tools and technology you‘ll need, and proven strategies for getting your first customers and scaling up sales.
While our experience is with a WordPress plugin, most of the principles and tactics covered can be applied to selling any type of software product online. Let‘s dive in!
Step 1: Validate Your Idea and Find Your Niche
Hopefully you‘ve already done your research to validate that your software idea solves a real problem for a specific target market. You don‘t want to invest months developing something no one actually needs or is willing to pay for.
Some key questions to ask:
- What problem does my software solve?
- Who exactly is my ideal customer? (be as specific as possible)
- How many potential customers are there? (what‘s the market size)
- How are they currently solving this problem? (what are the alternatives)
- What can I offer that‘s significantly better/different than existing solutions?
- What price would they be willing to pay?
Really take the time to understand your target customers – their needs, pain points, and buying behavior. Create a detailed profile of your ideal buyer persona.
If possible, try to pre-sell your software or get people to join a waiting list before you even start developing. This can help gauge real demand and de-risk the project. You may need to create a prototype or demo video to communicate your concept.
Step 2: Develop a High-Quality, User-Friendly Product
It goes without saying, but to successfully sell software, you need to create something that delivers real value to your niche. It needs to satisfactorily solve their problem while being intuitive and easy to use.
Aim to create the best possible user experience. Your software should be simple, fast and bug-free. Focus on the core functionality that matters most to your users. Resist the temptation to pile on extra "bloat" features.
If design and UX aren‘t your strengths, consider hiring a professional designer to create the interface. The aesthetics and usability of your app make a big difference.
Invest time in creating thorough documentation, tutorials and help guides. The easier you can make it for non-technical customers to use your software, the better.
Importantly, make sure you rigorously test the software yourself and consider a beta testing period to get feedback and stamp out any bugs before launching. You need a rock-solid product to put into the hands of paying customers.
Step 3: Build Your Audience and Email List
Ideally, you don‘t want to launch to crickets. Having an engaged audience and email list to sell to right off the bat makes things much easier.
How do you build an audience? By consistently putting out valuable content that attracts your target customers. This could be blog posts, videos, social media posts, podcasts, etc. The key is to focus on topics your niche cares about and to showcase your expertise.
Guest posting on popular blogs in your industry is a great way to get exposure to a relevant audience. You can also engage in online communities where your target customers hang out, like Facebook Groups, Reddit, Slack channels, etc.
Make sure to have email opt-in forms scattered across your site and content to continually build your list. You can offer a free lead magnet, like an eBook, whitepaper, video course or discount to incentivize signups.
Building an audience takes time and consistency. Aim to grow your email list as much as possible before launching. Having a list of even a few hundred or a few thousand engaged contacts can make a huge difference in initial sales.
Step 4: Craft a High-Converting Sales Page
When you‘re ready to launch, you‘ll need a dedicated page to send traffic to and sell your product. This sales page needs to educate visitors on what your software does, the benefits it provides, who it‘s for, and compel them to buy.
Some key elements to include on your sales page:
- A big, bold headline that grabs attention and communicates the key benefit
- Engaging copy that clearly explains what your software does and who it helps
- A list of features and benefits
- Screenshots and/or a demo video showcasing the software in action
- Testimonials and social proof from beta testers or early customers
- FAQs that address common objections or concerns
- Multiple call-to-action (CTA) buttons to purchase scattered throughout the page
- A clear 30-60 day money back guarantee to reduce risk
Your copy should focus on the end results and transformation your software will provide customers, not just the features and tech specs. Tell stories and paint a picture of how their life or business will improve by using it.
I highly recommend using a professional copywriter to craft your sales messaging if that‘s not your strength. The copy on this page will make or break your conversions.
Design-wise, keep things clean, skimmable, and visually appealing. You can use visual cues like arrows to direct attention to key information or CTAs.
Step 5: Recruit Affiliate Partners to Promote
It‘s extremely difficult to generate enough traffic and sales all on your own, especially as a new software business. One of the best ways to extend your promotional reach is by recruiting affiliate partners.
Affiliates are other business owners, bloggers, influencers, etc. who agree to promote your product to their audiences in exchange for a commission on any sales they refer (typically 30-50% for digital products). They are only paid when they make a sale, so it‘s performance-based.
To recruit affiliates, put together an information page on your website detailing your affiliate program, commission rates, cookie window, etc. You‘ll want to give affiliates promotional assets like email swipes, graphics, ads, etc. they can use. The easier you make it for them to promote, the better.
You can reach out directly to influencers in your niche that you think would be a good fit. But it helps to have at least some sales traction first to make your offer appealing.
Consider doing a special promotional "launch" period with higher commission rates and prizes to attract affiliates and make it a big event. Many software companies do annual launches around the same time each year which affiliates look forward to.
Step 6: Use a Reliable Ecommerce Platform
To sell your software, you‘ll need a way to securely process payments, automatically deliver the product, and manage customer accounts and licenses. You could try to piece together your own solution, but it‘s much easier to use an established ecommerce platform.
We used JVZoo to sell our WordPress plugin as it has a built-in affiliate system and makes delivering software simple. It also has a huge existing user base of affiliates to tap into. Other popular options include:
- FastSpring for desktop software
- Gumroad or SendOwl for digital products
- Paddle for global payments and subscriptions
- EDD or WooCommerce for WordPress
Most of these platforms take care of payment processing, secure file hosting, VAT collection, and affiliate tracking for you. It‘s worth the nominal fees to not have to worry about the technical headaches yourself.
Make sure your platform of choice integrates with the email marketing software you‘ll use to communicate with customers. We used GetResponse which connects seamlessly with JVZoo.
Step 7: Provide Top-Notch Support and Continuous Improvement
Providing outstanding customer support is critical to the long-term success and sustainability of your software business. The better experience customers have with your product and team, the more likely they are to stick around, recommend you to others, and buy future products.
Make sure you have a system in place to handle customer inquiries and issues in a timely manner, ideally within a few hours. Use a helpdesk platform like Zendesk, Freshdesk, or Helpscout to manage support tickets.
Offering live chat support on your website can also be a great way to engage visitors and close more sales. Tools like Intercom, Drift, or Crisp make this easy.
It‘s inevitable that customers will encounter some bugs or technical issues. That‘s just the nature of software. What matters is how quickly you resolve those issues when they arise.
Make sure to have a developer on hand that can investigate and patch any problems promptly. It can be worth hiring for a support/QA role as you grow.
Gathering customer feedback and ideas for new features is also key. Really listen to what your users are telling you and prioritize improvements based on that. Regularly releasing updates and new functionality is important for keeping the product competitive and giving users a reason to stick around.
Step 8: Drive Traffic with Content Marketing and Paid Ads
With your systems in place, it‘s time to pour gasoline on the fire and scale up your customer acquisition efforts. Content marketing and paid advertising are two of the most effective channels.
Content marketing involves creating blog posts, videos, podcasts, or other valuable content that attracts your target customers. This content can serve to educate, entertain, inspire or help them solve problems.
By consistently publishing high-quality content, you can attract organic search traffic, build trust and credibility, and indoctrinate leads into your brand. Make sure to promote your content across all your channels.
Some content ideas:
- Ultimate guides or tutorials related to your software
- Detailed case studies of customers getting great results
- Interviews with experts or influencers in your industry
- Free tools or templates related to your software
- Opinionated or thought-provoking posts that get shared
Paid ads are the other key pillar. By strategically investing in platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter Ads, or newsletters in your niche, you can significantly expand your reach and scale up customer acquisition.
The key with paid ads is to segment your audiences, personalize the messaging, and present a relevant offer they can‘t refuse. Start with small budgets and scale up as you dial in what works.
Retargeting past website visitors can be extremely effective as they are more likely to convert. You can also upload your email list to create lookalike audiences that behave similarly.
Step 9: Track, Analyze and Optimize
Finally, make sure you are tracking all the key metrics across your sales funnel so that you can analyze what‘s working and optimize your process to maximize profits.
Some of the most important metrics to monitor:
- Website traffic
- Opt-in rate
- Sales conversion rate
- Customer lifetime value
- Churn/refund rate
- Acquisition cost
- Net promoter score
- Monthly recurring revenue
By diligently tracking these numbers, you can identify points of friction where leads are falling off, which traffic sources are most profitable, and opportunities for improving the customer experience.
Continue to A/B test things like your sales copy, pricing & plans, opt-in offers, onboarding emails, and ad creative. Small improvements in conversion rates can lead to significant increases in revenue over time.
Going from a Minimum Viable Product to a 7-Figure Business
In closing, selling your own software product can be an immensely rewarding and profitable venture. But it‘s not easy.
You need to build something people truly want, assemble the right technical stack, put together a high-converting offer, and constantly work to acquire and retain customers. There are a lot of moving pieces involved.
My biggest piece of advice is to start small with an minimum viable product and a core group of early customers. Don‘t try to do too much too quickly. Really validate the demand and nail the customer experience first.
From there you can layer on more features, expand to new customer segments, and pour fuel on the fire with content marketing and paid advertising. Just keep focused on consistently delivering value and results to your niche.
Tools will change, tactics will evolve, but the fundamental principles of building a great product, providing real solutions to customers, and getting the word out will always remain.
Now get out there and make it happen! Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.
