What is the Process to List on Appsumo for SaaS Founders?
And What Are Software Lifetime Deals?
If you are a SaaS entrepreneur or startup founder looking to grow your business and want to know how to list on Appsumo, you’ve come to the right place.
I’m sure you already know Appsumo is a leading e-commerce site for online marketing and growth hacking tools, where the SaaS startups and entrepreneurs can list their products for a limited time offer.
Appsumo is not just a place to sell your product, but also a platform where you can get new customers and grow your business.
If you have not heard of what Appsumo is, then you are probably not familiar with what a “Lifetime Deal” is and the potential of getting your early product in front of thousands of people.
What is a Lifetime Deal?
A Lifetime Deal is a limited time offer to promote your product at a discounted price. Entrepreneurs and startup founders usually offer a lifetime deal to make their product go viral and get a massive amount of sales in the short period of time.
How does a Lifetime Deal work?
SaaS startups and entrepreneurs usually offer a lifetime deal for 30 days, 60 days or 90 days. For example, if you list your product on Appsumo for 30 days, you will offer your product at a discounted price for a lifetime access.
This usually differs from the subscription-based business model, where you offer a free trial period and then the customer has to pay for the subscription.
The customers will receive the lifetime access to your produt and can use your product after paying the discounted price made on Appsumo. In return, you will get a lot of customers who are willing to be active users of your product.
In other words, Appsumo is a place where you can promote your product and get new customers. It is a platform where SaaS entrepreneurs and startup founders can make their products go viral and get massive sales in a short period of time.
The downside of Appsumo is that the Lifetime Deal would mean that your customers from the deal only pay once, and you need to create a huge hype around your product before it ends. If you are successful in creating a hype around your product, then Appsumo can be a huge source of potential revenue for your business.
After a certain time, these customers will turn into a liability as they are not expected to pay again, unless you offer an extremely attractive add-on or upgrade on their accounts (after the Appsumo deal).
Another downside is the commission that Appsumo takes from the sales. Appsumo usually takes up to 60% of the lifetime deal price.
This means that you need to set the lifetime deal price at a higher level to cover the cost of the commission and still get a good margin, to operate and support the lifetime customers acquired from your Appsumo deal.
In addition, Appsumo will only make payment to your company only when the deal is over, hence you do need to have enough capital to run your business during the lifetime deal period and provide support to the users that have bought and redeemed the deal.
Furthermore, Appsumo customers are known to be demanding and are usually a bit picky about the quality of your product. They are not expecting you to fix their issues or answer their questions.
This means that you need to have a well-designed and well-functioning product before listing it on Appsumo. You also need to provide good support to your customers during the lifetime deal period, as well as after the deal ends.
If you have done your homework and have worked hard to prepare for the Appsumo deal, you can expect a lot of new customers from Appsumo and the customers can help you to grow your business in the form of referrals and product feedback.
How does the redemption process work?
There are two ways that you can offer your product on Appsumo. You can either offer your product as a redeemable coupon, where users will purchase a number of coupons and redeem them for your product.
The other way is to offer your different account plans on Appsumo directly, where users will only be able to select the account type that suits their needs.
The difference is that for the former, Appsumo customers will be able to “stack” their codes, if you allow it during the Appsumo campaign, which means that they can buy more coupon codes to get additional features or upgrades (usually in the form of increased limitations on their user accounts on your product), while the latter is a bit more strict as users can only choose the plan that suits their needs.
I recommend that you offer your product as a redeemable coupon as it is more flexible for your customers and allows them to purchase more coupon codes to get additional features or upgrades.
However, if you are concerned about the potential abuse of your lifetime deal by Appsumo customers, then you can offer your product as a single plan on Appsumo.
Either way, you need to know that you will have to pay the Appsumo commission even if the user buys additional coupons from your company (for example, if the user buys 5 coupons at $99 each). You need to consider this cost when pricing your product on Appsumo.
Here are the steps involved in listing your product on Appsumo as a Lifetime Deal:
Step 1: Find the Right Product for Appsumo
Before you list your product on Appsumo, you need to find the right product that will fit Appsumo’s audience.
This is because Appsumo’s audience are early adopters of new technology and products. The users are also likely to be entrepreneurs and startup founders, who have a clear understanding of what they want in a SaaS product.
You should not waste your time and effort to promote a mediocre product on Appsumo. You need to have a great idea or product that is useful and makes sense for the target audience.
If you are able to meet these criteria, then you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Creating the Right Product
You need to have a well-designed and functional product before you list it on Appsumo.
This is because Appsumo’s audience are not expecting you to fix their issues or answer their questions. They are not looking for a free trial period and they expect your product to be fully functional from the start.
If you have a beta version of your product, then it would be wise to make sure that your product is in a good shape before listing it on Appsumo.
Step 3: Create the Marketing Plan for Your Product
Appsumo has a massive audience and it can help you reach out to thousands of potential customers in a short period of time.
You need to make sure that you have an attractive marketing plan ready for your Appsumo deal, as well as other promotional activities such as press releases, guest blogging and social media marketing (if possible).
The objective of the marketing plan is to create a hype around your product and increase the number of sales during the lifetime deal period. You also need to think about how you will continue marketing after the lifetime deal ends.
If possible, you should try to get more referrals from existing customers after the lifetime deal ends.
Step 4: Contact Appsumo to List Your Product
If you have a great product and a well-designed marketing plan, then you can contact Appsumo to list your product.
The team at Appsumo will review your product and marketing plan and they will provide you with feedback on the design of your product.
You need to work with the team at Appsumo to fix any issues that they find in your product. You also need to create the right sales page for your lifetime deal on Appsumo.
Step 5: Setup Your Lifetime Deal on Appsumo
Once you have worked with the team at Appsumo, you can list your product on Appsumo.
You need to be careful about how you price your lifetime deal. You need to have a fair price that is in line with the market value of your product.
You also need to make sure that you will be able to make a profit from the lifetime deal, after paying Appsumo their cut.
Step 6: Promote Your Product on Appsumo
Appsumo has an impressive marketing team and they will help you promote your product during the lifetime deal period.
They will send out emails to their massive audience and they will also send out an email blast once the lifetime deal goes live on Appsumo. You can also take advantage of their social media channels and guest blogging opportunities to increase awareness about your product.
If possible, you should try to get a few reviews for your product before listing it on Appsumo. This is because reviews can help improve conversion rates for your lifetime deal on Appsumo.
In addition, you should reach out to the Lifetime Deal community found in non-affiliated Facebook Groups. The members of these groups are also likely to be interested in the lifetime deal for your product.
Step 7: Improve Your Product and Marketing Plan
After you have listed your product on Appsumo, you need to take a break and look at the feedback that you are getting from customers.
You need to identify any issues that your customers are facing and fix them as soon as possible. You should also continue working with the team at Appsumo, so that you can improve your product and marketing plan.
In addition, you should take a look at the Lifetime Deal for your product and think about how you can improve it.
For example, if your Lifetime Deal is for 30 days, then you should work with Appsumo to increase the lifetime deal period to 60 days or 90 days.
If you are able to follow these steps, then you will be able to create a great product and get massive sales on Appsumo.
About the Author
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies (www.cudy.co), a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces, and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
You can connect with me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlhk) and let me know that you are a reader of my Medium posts in your invitation message.
