How can I monetize a chrome extension?
I've created this extension a couple of years ago I wanted to revive it and monetize it somehow: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/emoji-2
Any ideas?
Thanks!
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I've created this extension a couple of years ago I wanted to revive it and monetize it somehow: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/emoji-2
Any ideas?
Thanks!
What an awesome extension! I run BudgetSheet, which is a Google Sheets Extension currently doing 1.6k MRR, so I have some experience here in monetizing extensions.
I think the easiest way to monetize this with minimal extra work is to make it some sort of time-limited trial, and then take some sort of payment that unlocks the full unlimited version. The trick with this extension is that you want the trial time to be long enough to where the user is used to using it all the time and is then annoyed when they can't anymore and have to upgrade (so they are more likely to pay for it).
I would recommend taking payments with Gumroad since they have a feature that generates license keys for each sale. This way you don't have to build any payment flows - you just:
This is what I started with and still do today. Let me know if you need anything else!
That’s a great tip.
Thanks for the detailed description on how to achieve it.
Great comment @vlucas! Those tips are super insightful and can be applied to pretty much any product that doesn't need an API/Database.
Thanks for sharing!
This comment was deleted 2 years ago.
Yes - This is what I use for BudgetSheet. They have a decent dashboard with analytics and mobile app too. It's a good option to get you started.
I didn't even know I needed a tool like this!
Thanks for building it @Gonelf, would definitely pay a monthly euro or so for it 😎
That’s good to know. I’ll send you the payment link soon 😂
I personally monetise all of my Chrome extensions with a SaaS model. However, after looking at your extension, I'm not sure if it would lend itself to this model. Your extension falls into the more novelty style category which will likely make it more difficult to charge for it. I'm not sure if this is necessarily the best extension to make money off of due to that reason but I look forward to seeing what other people say.
Nonsense! People pay for all kinds of "novelty" things all the time. I'd just slap a price on it and see. No harm in finding out.
How do you do that?
You added a login to use the extension?
can i ask for your feedback on my chrome extension:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/2ndfeed/jiagbhjgocclknkbjnlpgbenpnfldoii
i have total of 8 users so monetizing it is not an option(for now i have a kofi link) but do you think if it ever reaches few hundred users it could be monetized with a saad model?
I actually think this is a pretty cool extension, nice job! This seems like it potentially could be monetised with a SaaS model, but I don't think you would be able to charge too much for it. The exact way you would implement the paid plans would require some brainstorming. For example, whether you want to offer a free trial as soon as people install and then charge them a one-time or recurring fee after the free trial has finished. Or operate on a freemium model where certain features are restricted unless they pay.
thank you so much for your reply!
I like the extension (just installed it).
One way I would see it is to sell (for like $2) a custom emoji pack and/or the ability to customize the shortcuts.
Note: the link to the domain on product hunt is broken.
I think Freemium would be a good model for it. You could charge per volume. Or you could restrict some premium features so that the user has to subscribe to get access to the premium features. I think you should look into Grammarly and grab some lessons from them.
Agree. Lots of folks expect an extension to be free and will download expecting minimal friction. If I got some value from a free extension and kept it, I'd consider shelling out a monthly fee to get more from what I already use.
pretty nice idea! Although, there are many websites that automatically convert the emojis
Currently monetizing a chrome extension as a major part of our saas https://www.swipewell.app/
What is a swipe file?
What part does the extension play in the saas?
A swipe file is a collection of marketing ideas or inspiration. It could be screenshots of all your favorite landing pages, onboarding emails, facebook ads, etc.
The extension is one of the main ways users swipe content - clicking the chrome extension icon automatically saves the page they're on to their swipe file with some extra metadata.
This seems like a b2c tool so it's going to be hard. You can try to grow the organic installs by partnering with popular tik tokers.
Then you can use this extension to acquire users for another B2C product or sell your extension to an existing B2C company that would benefit from having the tool + users.
If you are looking to make money with B2C you need to get enough users where you can make money off ads.
I'd personally switch to a B2B model
Here's your B2B playbook:
Create a new extension that does canned messages, this is useful for customer support or anyone with a large audience they want to respond to quickly.
Integrate the emoji feature into this extension and VOILA! You have a b2b product that I'd even pay money for.
The reason I'd switch to B2B is because just looking through the related extensions I can't really see any that have been monetized. I'd like to be wrong here though.
Good luck!
What is the problem you’re facing that makes you say canned messages is the solution?
Basically I have responses that I usually store in a google doc to respond to common support questions for my business.
There are lots of canned messages chrome extensions but many of them do not exactly cater to customer support or are integrated with gsuite only (which I do not use).
An ideal product may be one that integrates a customer support wiki like a google doc/notion database into it.
The closest existing solution for the problem:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/canned-responses-company/iinfjdloicbbgbdliglpofadahlmgjop
This is awesome, and much needed. I think you would need to think of extra features and put those behind a paywall. I like the stickers and gif ideas already mentioned.
I also thought about putting certain emoji's behind a paywall but that will just cause competitors to take your idea and run with it. You need the extension to do the main task really well and then try to add new features to lure people to a paywall.
You can also look into a patreon like model, like https://ko-fi.com/visualeffects
Maybe add a premium level that has extra features. Premium could have a /giphy search option that searches giphy.com with a phrase and inserts the image url into the text field.
I tried with GIPHY and the problem is that people don’t want the link, they want to share a link they want to share the gif and that’s really hard to achieve
Maybe sell custom sticker packs?
Emojis are universal. To have sticker packs you’d need for everyone to have the extension
Ah that's true, I misunderstood
Just wanted to let you know that it's a fun extension! We're just starting with a new extension, as well (https://www.ratepunk.com/) Not planning to monetize it in the near future, though. Maybe the advice here will be useful later 😅✌
This is cool, and I think it has a lot of potential. It reminds me of Honey, which sold for quite a sum iirc.
The only downside is that for regular people booking a hotel is not something that happens a lot. So I would target frequent travellers. But are frequent travellers still a thing in this post-covid era. Business travellers are not a good target group I think, as most have their booking done for them by the company.
Thank you for your thoughts!
Yes, all you said is true. We're trying to focus on that frequent traveler's group, but now we also target people who travel once or twice a year. It's free, it only takes a few clicks to install, and it saves you money... Maybe they'll be teased 😅So we'll see how it goes!
I am quite hesitant to getting people to install it and show it to them when booking. I think most people will forget they installed it and click it away as soon as it pops up.
Is there an option to try and extend the usecase to other markets?
We're focusing only on comparing hotel prices, didn't consider other options. If we'll be super stuck we might consider this idea, and for now we'll check how the users react to the current version.