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Thank you for the suggestions. We do have a referral program, free upgrade if you refer two people - however referrals only account for 2% of our signups which

Thank you for the suggestions. We do have a referral program, free upgrade if you refer two people - however referrals only account for 2% of our signups which doesn't really move the needle. We are thinking about trying affiliate marketing through something like Commission Junction, where we would pay affiliates directly for conversions.

hermitcrab 6y ago
I have been making my living selling software online since 2005. I know lots of other people who do the same. We've almost all tried affiliate marketing and almost none of us have had any worthwhile results from it. Affiliate marketing also attracts a lot of bottom feeders and scumbags. For example they will advertise an non-existent discount for your product, stuff a cookie for anyone who finds that 'discount' via web search and then take their affiliate commission if they buys later. Also your LTV is probably too low to attract any decent affiliates. I'm not saying affiliate marketing never works, just that it almost never seems to work for small software companies. So I would put trying it very low on your TODO list. Also don't bother with Google Adwords unless you are prepared to put in some serious effort and money to learning the system. I have also been doing PPC ads for 15 years. During that time the cost per click and the complexity of Adwords has just gone up and up. PPC works best when you have a high LTV and there are clear, unambiguous phrases that convert. Do both of those apply to you? Have you tried partnership? Try approaching someone who already has distribution and a complementary product. See if they will push your product to their existing customers for a percentage. Perhaps a VPN vendor. That might be a case where affiliate marketing could work.
- sanity31415 6y ago
  Thank you, great suggestions. I've had some interest from potential partners, I'll look for other opportunities.
  - dwd 6y ago
    Second that: the partnership/cross-promotion suggestion is a good idea.

hermitcrab 6y ago

I have been making my living selling software online since 2005. I know lots of other people who do the same. We've almost all tried affiliate marketing and almost none of us have had any worthwhile results from it. Affiliate marketing also attracts a lot of bottom feeders and scumbags. For example they will advertise an non-existent discount for your product, stuff a cookie for anyone who finds that 'discount' via web search and then take their affiliate commission if they buys later. Also your LTV is probably too low to attract any decent affiliates. I'm not saying affiliate marketing never works, just that it almost never seems to work for small software companies. So I would put trying it very low on your TODO list. Also don't bother with Google Adwords unless you are prepared to put in some serious effort and money to learning the system. I have also been doing PPC ads for 15 years. During that time the cost per click and the complexity of Adwords has just gone up and up. PPC works best when you have a high LTV and there are clear, unambiguous phrases that convert. Do both of those apply to you? Have you tried partnership? Try approaching someone who already has distribution and a complementary product. See if they will push your product to their existing customers for a percentage. Perhaps a VPN vendor. That might be a case where affiliate marketing could work.

sanity31415 6y ago
Thank you, great suggestions. I've had some interest from potential partners, I'll look for other opportunities.
- dwd 6y ago
  Second that: the partnership/cross-promotion suggestion is a good idea.