Shareware Author Tips - The little things matter.

(this article is part of a series)

These aren't real numbers (and in no way represent sales of the SpamButcher spam blocker application).

Shareware authors should generally expect a significantly smaller "conversion rate" than shown in this example. The important part is the message.

Collectively - the little things matter. They matter a lot.

Scenario A

Your download-to-purchase conversion rate is about 2%.

At $30 a copy, you average $3060 gross each month.

You have expenses of $1200 from your online advertising campaign which you aren't monitoring very closely.

You make $1860 each month or $22,320 a year.

That's pretty good - probably pays the mortgage.

Scenario B

Your download-to-purchase conversion rate is about 3%.

At $30 a copy, you gross about $6240 each month.

You have expenses of only $650 from your online advertising because you removed campaigns you determined weren't profitable.

You make $5590 each month. That's $67,080 a year!

You quit your day job and marry Nicole de Boer.

I assure you it's all doable, and it's doable in ways that are short of turning your product into spyware. The trick is to setup little experiments of near-scientific quality.

For example - serve "Homepage A" to half your users, and "Homepage B" to the other half. Who downloads more often?

The data is in your web server's log files. A good log analyzer like Weblog Expert can make analyzing them a bunch easier.

Evaluate your uninstall surveys over an extended period of time. Did version 2.0 reduce the percentage of users complaining about problems with your user interface? Are you making more sales compared to your number of downloads, or fewer?

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