4 ms·
I haven't done this, but if I was going to, I would target an existing platform that big companies depend on (salesforce, slack, more niche CRM's, etc.) and cre
by seibelj 10y ago
I haven't done this, but if I was going to, I would target an existing platform that big companies depend on (salesforce, slack, more niche CRM's, etc.) and create a super focused niche plugin that 1) Is not core value prop of the platform, 2) Has little chance of being duplicated by the platform, 3) Has no competition, 4) Solves a real problem companies have.
For example, do research that shows that 7% of companies in industry XYZ use certain CRM. Analyze that industry and see what common use cases and pain points are. Somehow figure out what the CRM is missing for that industry. Validate the idea before building it by reaching out to said companies.
There would be a lot more to it, but basically a plugin for established software a company already uses is much easier and less risk to sell when you are a small shop.
- caseysoftware 10y agoI did exactly that ~10 years ago and made pretty good money with it at $50/install. My plugin allowed you to put in your hotel when you traveled. Then it showed a list of your current & past customers' offices that were within X miles. Now you can fire off those "btw, I'll be in town in 2 weeks, we should talk about X" emails well in advance. If I had to do it now, I'd tie into Tripit or Google Calendar to get the most accurate info, pull the data from your CRM, and send you an email with some "last contact" info & links to email them. Oh.. and I'd make it a monthly charge instead of a one-time purchase.
- seibelj 10y agoAbsolutely about the recurring revenue. Make it monthly or annual with a steep discount, but auto-renew. When I make mobile apps with advertisements, removing the ads is a yearly fee, not a one-time payment. Otherwise, they get lifetime benefits which does not accurately compensate me for my time, and I need to keep making new sales in perpetuity.
- caseysoftware 10y agoYes. If I had just known that 10 years ago. ;) I think the more important aspect is that the benefits happen regularly. If you close an extra deal a year or lower churn a tiny bit, it's a huge ROI. Which says to me that the price should be non-trivial..
- kkoomi 10y agoThis sounds great, but it doesn't seem easy to pull off. Does it sit well with them and are they willing to pay for something like this? EDIT: wording
- seibelj 10y agoI would rather get die-hard users who would pay yearly, than constantly have to game the rankings to be high enough to get more sales. Even if the rankings change, you can get longterm value out of those who do pay, even if annual payments make less total customers.
- jamesq 10y agoWe've just done something similar with our product https://fliprss.com https://fliprss.com - it integrates with MailChimp and Campaign Monitor to solve a niche problem neither solve. We knew it was a problem for at least one company as our client approached us to see if we a product that would allow them to send automated newsletters with multiple RSS feeds based on individual subscribers preferences. It's since turned there is a demand for this beyond our one client too thankfully. I think it's helped that this product is aimed at businesses primarily too. With a higher price point we won't need a mass volume of clients to be profitable reducing demand on customer service requests etc.
- thepredestrian 10y agoMaybe I'm a little too inexperienced to understand how this works - how does your app access Mailchimp without their permission? Are you using their API? Sorry if it's a silly question