It seems to me that when you ask for feedback here on this site, most answers are about website design and typography and length of text and other unnecessary but very visual stuff. This stuff is unimportant. If a person needs your software, all that stuff will not deter him from trying it. If I need some deployment software and your text is a bit gaudy, I'm not going to abort the download.
I've been selling software at your pricepoint for 5 years and more. If you want to sell, follow these rules:
- Design of your website don't matter
- Add a price-list request form and remove the price
- Get into a real and genuine conversation with each person who requests your pricelist
- Answer emails within 30 minutes and be very helpful
- Make sure there is no competition with exactly the same featureset who is cheaper
- Use affiliates and people who are selling similar stuff. Get into partnerships with them
- Make sure you have your website listed in all download sites possible. They will rank higher than your actual site typically
- Make sure your software works perfectly, has an easy install and does not require any additional installs and does not crash
- Capture the email addresses of your potential customers and email them
People want software that works well, is at a reasonable price and that has a human behind them, when they buy at those prices. All the other stuff is really secondary.
The "human behind" was exactly my selling point. I wanted to show people that I have full interest in their success with my product, and that I'm passionate about my product and its future.
And I totally agree that if I'm selling a desktop application I should probably concentrate in making its UI simpler instead of my Websites UI... it's not a web-app.
These price-list requests are quite interesting, I would think people would like to know right away what the price is, but maybe that's not the case considering your experience - thanks for the advice.
If I don't see a price, I assume I'll have to endure some pushy sales guy whose job is to pocket most of the consumer surplus by charging almost enough to make us walk, so I'm only going to call as a last resort if none of the competitors work out. I also expect to hear a price many times higher than $500, simply to cover his commission draw for however many hours it takes to land a sale.
When you email people, they are not interested in your passion or anything else. They have a problem. They want someone helpful to fix their problem without trying to sell them anything. That's it. Don't be too chummy, don't be too cold. Just be straightforward and helpful - like a guy fixing a computer.
If you are too friendly, you often lose the sale.
Also, being a human behind it is not a selling point. It's not a differentiator. It's just the expected thing. Your product is your selling point, don't try to sell anything else.
People want to know immediately what the price is - but people who are communicating with you are a LOT more likely to buy from you (assuming you know how to communicate with them).
I've been selling software at your pricepoint for 5 years and more. If you want to sell, follow these rules:
- Design of your website don't matter
- Add a price-list request form and remove the price
- Get into a real and genuine conversation with each person who requests your pricelist
- Answer emails within 30 minutes and be very helpful
- Make sure there is no competition with exactly the same featureset who is cheaper
- Use affiliates and people who are selling similar stuff. Get into partnerships with them
- Make sure you have your website listed in all download sites possible. They will rank higher than your actual site typically
- Make sure your software works perfectly, has an easy install and does not require any additional installs and does not crash
- Capture the email addresses of your potential customers and email them
People want software that works well, is at a reasonable price and that has a human behind them, when they buy at those prices. All the other stuff is really secondary.