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23 Comments

Black Friday anti-deals

For Black Friday, we are actually doing anti-deals.

For context: I run multiple profitable software companies with no investments, no team, and even no CS degree.

We fundamentally don't believe in Black Friday. BF is all about discounting and mindless shopping. Instead, we believe you should practice intentionality with your purchases and don't waste money on things you don't need.

So, while everyone else is dropping their prices, I'm actually increasing them on some of my products.

For example, Treendly will go from $29/m to $49/m on Black Friday. The price increase will be permanent and will only affect new customers.

I want users to upgrade their account now, but only if they need it and not because of some discount, but because this year we have been working hard on making Treendly better and better. And, we did.

Anyone else doing this?

  1. 3

    Not at all. If the blackfriday exists and is successful (and it is), there is probably a reason....

    1. 1

      Success for who? Not buying mindlessly is good for the consumer because he/she will have fewer regrets and more money saved, it's good for the environment and for the business (fewer chargebacks, fewer support tickets, etc..)

      1. 3

        buying when there is a promotion doesn't mean that the client doesn't know what he is doing, or doesn't think.

        It's a success for sellers and buyers. Of course, not in 100% in case, but if you look just the success of sellers in appsumo marketplace, it's a sign that people like promotion. Again, promotion is not good for all products, and all people, but I think that, globaly, it's worthy.

        1. 1

          If you look at appsumo, almost all of the people that buy, later have regrets or they resell stuff =)

  2. 1

    Black Friday discount going on UIHUT. Buying Lifetime for $149 saves you $1449😍
    Over 21,000 designs are available on www.uihut.com

  3. 1

    good luck - i tried this last year and it totally bombed

    1. 1

      Thanks! It's working so far!

  4. 1

    Thats actually a good idea. Blind consumptionism just because something is cheaper that day, is wrong on so many levels (IMO)... This would be a great initiative for broader spectrum of shops. :)

    1. 1

      100% - Of course, if it's something you truly want then it makes sense.

      Most people just buy for the sake of buying, though. Not buying mindlessly is good for the consumer because he/she will have fewer regrets and more money saved, it's good for the environment and for the business (fewer chargebacks, fewer support tickets, etc..)

  5. 1

    I'm curious about the numbers. What's your normal sign up rate? You stated that you've done this before and it worked. Do you keep raising the price?

    It ain't crazy if it works

    1. 1

      And, yes, the idea is that you always keep increasing prices

    2. 1

      Yes, this product has ~1 year so it's the first time, but I've done it on other products.
      Just on this product, Treendly, I had 3 upgrades in the last hours due to this.

      The important number is not new sign-ups but how many customers upgrade.

  6. 1

    This is a funny idea that may get some traction in the press. Maybe you should try emailing a few journalists and see if you get a response.

    1. 1

      Interesting. I don't know how to get PR or even which journalists to pitch to. I'll dig in

  7. 1

    There are many companies out there which doesn't offer any sort of discount on Black-Friday.

    For Example,I use Kinsta as my hosting and they never offer a Black-Friday-Deal.

    1. 1

      Interesting, do they communicate why? Do they also increase prices?

      1. 1

        Their explanation is that they are willing to improve the product and deliver more to the customer rather than decreasing the price which thereby can have an effect on the product itself.

        They are not anti against Black-Friday but it's their own way of delivering the best product.
        I am with them for 3 years and gonna continue with them in future too, their service is best in industry.

        Personally, I don't like most of the anti-movements...either you like some process and stick with it or make your own.

  8. 1

    You could possibly make that price hike sound like a discount to new customers by simply putting something like $75 in <strike> formatting and then putting the new actually increased price there

    1. 2

      Not gonna do that, I practice honesty and transparency. I even disclose how many people use each plan on the pricing page https://treendly.com/pricing

  9. 1

    I've never heard of this, but it sounds like a pretty interesting experiment. Keep us updated on how it works out.

    1. 2

      It's already working well. I do it every year =)

      1. 1

        Cool! Thanks for the intel, I will keep this promotion in mind if I ever launch a saas

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