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How I doubled sales with one tiny change ๐Ÿš€

Hey IndieHackers, I wanted to share with you how I doubled sales with a tiny change to the pricing section of my product (divjoy.com).

I had been thinking about raising the price of my product from $59 to $99. It saves developers potentially weeks of dev time, so I felt I was undercharging by a bit. Anyway, it occurred to me that before doing so, I should try indicating that the current price is only available for a limited time. So I added some minor tweaks with the upcoming $99 price crossed out and immediately noticed a 100% uptick in sales.

In retrospect, it's pretty obvious why. Urgency convinces people to buy now rather than wait (and potentially forget the name of your product and never come back) and the "real" price makes it clear the value of your product is actually much higher than the limited time price would indicate.

What do you think? Have you discovered any pricing page tweaks that increased sales significantly?

  1. 6

    I am one of the customers that bought the Divjoy product. So let me give you my unique perspective as an actual paying customer ;)

    I bought the product first and foremost because it's exactly what I was looking for. I had been spending a lot of time building the pages included in the bundle and the value of this product seemed obvious from the get go.

    I've been building software for a long time but I've only been building SPA web apps for the last couple of years. For this project I decided to try React and immediately fell in love with it. The problem I was struggling with was how to best structure my app. I felt that if I could find a decent template project as a starting point it would give me a boost and help me learn faster. To my surprise, finding a decent open source project on Github turned out to be pretty difficult and when I found Divjoy it was obvious that spending a little money would be worth it.

    In terms of the actual pricing page I do think the crossed out $99 price had an impact on my decision. It was a pleasant surprise that I found the product when it was on sale. Would I have still purchased at the $99 price tag? Very difficult to say, although, the higher price would have made me more hesitant, simply because I only allocate a small budget to getting a new project off the ground. The product does save me a lot of time, but I have more spare time than spare cash.

    I canโ€™t imagine it would feel good, as a paying user, to return a year later and see that โ€œlimited timeโ€ price is still in effect. I suppose the long term way to price anchor would be to have multiple plans.

    To be honest, since this was a one time purchase I don't think it would bother me much if I returned in a year and noticed that it was still on sale. I would still feel that I got it at a good price and that's all that matters to me.

    However, it might be helpful to change the details of the sale every so often so that it doesn't become stale. Maybe try one week on, one week off. Different price points, different wording. Sometimes changing things from "was $99 now $59" to "40% off" or something can make it feel fresh even though it's actually the same deal.

    One other thought I had would be to try having one of those "email newsletter" boxes right under the Buy Now section. Explain that by signing up for the newsletter they get a discount or whatever. This way when you have another sale you can email people directly and let them know.

    Yeah will likely try out some premium integrations (like more extensive backend logic) as well as some slicker templates/components. Appreciate the feedback!

    One of the things I like about your product is the simple pricing. As an existing customer I'm sure I would consider buying extras now that I trust the quality of the product. However, before buying I think I'd rather have a low entry price so that I can build up this trust factor. Does that make sense?

    Btw.. one thing I would really love for you to add is a "dark" theme. I'm using the Bulma template and making things dark is pretty easy but it would be much nicer if there was a way to toggle between dark and light at the top level of the app.

    1. 2

      Wow, thanks so much for jumping in here! I couldn't ask for a better perspective than from someone who actually purchased.

      Would I have still purchased at the $99 price tag? Very difficult to say, although, the higher price would have made me more hesitant, simply because I only allocate a small budget to getting a new project off the ground.

      This is good feedback. My thinking now is to test the higher price point once I have the following: Stripe integration and a couple more pricing page variations, functional user settings/account page, simple admin dashboard with a few different kinds of stats components. I know it's hard to theorize about "would you have paid more", but I'd be curious to hear if those things might tip the decision making scale for you.

      Maybe try one week on, one week off. Different price points, different wording. Sometimes changing things from "was $99 now $59" to "40% off" or something can make it feel fresh even though it's actually the same deal.

      This is a great idea. At least easy to try and see if it has any impact.

      One other thought I had would be to try having one of those "email newsletter" boxes right under the Buy Now section. Explain that by signing up for the newsletter they get a discount or whatever. This way when you have another sale you can email people directly and let them know.

      Good call! I need to do a better job at collecting emails. I do wonder if whether hinting at deals in the newsletter might make people wait on purchasing now. But again, something worth testing.

      One of the things I like about your product is the simple pricing. As an existing customer I'm sure I would consider buying extras now that I trust the quality of the product. However, before buying I think I'd rather have a low entry price so that I can build up this trust factor. Does that make sense?

      Yeah, that makes sense. Did you feel some concern about the code quality before buying? I'd be curious to hear if allowing you to actually view your project's code before purchase (with some kind of message saying you don't have a license to use it until purchase) would seal that trust. Or is it more you need to work with the code for a while to know it's quality?

      Btw.. one thing I would really love for you to add is a "dark" theme. I'm using the Bulma template and making things dark is pretty easy but it would be much nicer if there was a way to toggle between dark and light at the top level of the app.

      Great idea! Actually hadn't thought of that but makes perfect sense. I'll need to look into how difficult it is to customize Bulma to do that. I imagine it might take some refactoring, as classnames like .is-white are used in some places.. If you're implementing this yourself I'd love to hear how it goes.

      Again, really appreciate the feedback here. If you don't mind I'd love to followup soon and hear how things are going in terms of building on the codebase. Any critical feedback on the code and its extendibility is super helpful.

      1. 2

        Wow, thanks so much for jumping in here! I couldn't ask for a better perspective than from someone who actually purchased.

        Yeah, no problem mate. I only found the indie hacker community a few weeks ago and it feels good to be helping fellow indie hackers. Funnily enough, I didn't actually know you were here on IH until after I purchased. I think I found you on bulma.io which I got to somehow googling about using Auth0 to React.

        I know it's hard to theorize about "would you have paid more", but I'd be curious to hear if those things might tip the decision making scale for you.

        I think having a proper "Divjoy account" would be better than having the magic link that you email out currently. Only because I'd rather keep my login credentials in my password manager and not have to search my email when I want to login again.

        Aside from that, I think building out your site a bit more could be a good way to kind of "demo" what kind of site can be built with the codebase generator. Although, there is something nice about the simplicity of the way it works now directly from the landing page. Don't be a afraid to try some things, but get feedback regularly.

        In terms of the decision making scale, I don't think any of these things make a huge difference to the perceived value of the product but they might work to push more people over the line. Secondly, they open up the possibility for recurring revenue. I would log into the account more often if there was something of value behind the wall.

        I do wonder if whether hinting at deals in the newsletter might make people wait on purchasing now.

        I had that thought as well. My thinking is that you want to try and capture the email early for people that don't purchase so that you can follow up with them later. I'm not sure how to do that without impacting the primary call to action but it's maybe something to experiment with.

        Did you feel some concern about the code quality before buying? Or is it more you need to work with the code for a while to know it's quality?

        I don't think you need to give access to the code before purchase but being able to get an idea of what is in the bundle helps a lot. For example, having a screenshot of the code open in VS Code would go a long way to show that the folder and file structure is neatly organised and the code itself is clean and easy to understand.

        When I came across your product I was in the middle of integrating Auth0 with React and an ASP.NET Core backend. It was clear to me that the value your product provides over some generic template sold on other sites is that yours shows how to tie everything together (UI, Auth, Newsletter, Contact Form and Analytics). I know I can get these things done myself but it's a lot of work and your template makes it easier to get up and running fast.

        The problem with some of the other templates on the market is that you get them and spend more time unpicking them than you would building the thing yourself. So I guess the point of taking a peek inside is really to get an idea of how much work it's going to be after purchase.

        If you're implementing [dark mode] yourself I'd love to hear how it goes.

        Sure thing. I run all of my apps and websites in dark mode if the option exists so it's always something I like to put into my own stuff. I've got quite a few other tasks on the to-do list but when I get around to it I'd be happy to discuss and send the code back to you.

        If you don't mind I'd love to followup soon and hear how things are going in terms of building on the codebase. Any critical feedback on the code and its extendibility is super helpful.

        That would be great. I'll send you a quick email now so that we have another contact channel.

  2. 5

    Nice FOMO move (and results!) ๐Ÿ‘ I'm considering doing a similar thing when I launch a paid version.

  3. 3

    It is crazy to see how well anchoring works. I'm always amazed that we humans take those kinds of "limited-time deal" badges as factual information.

    I guess it's a benefit-of-the-doubt thing. As long as you follow through, this is perfectly fine.

    We did that at FeedbackPanda in December 2018, giving people a lot of time to lock in their current prices or convert their trial to the lower prices before the end of the year. Urgency, when real, is effective.

    1. 2

      Yeah Iโ€™ve heard anchoring is effective many times, but wasnโ€™t expecting the results to be this dramatic. I definitely wouldnโ€™t feel right faking it, as I canโ€™t imagine it would feel good, as a paying user, to return a year later and see that โ€œlimited timeโ€ price is still in effect. I suppose the long term way to price anchor would be to have multiple plans.

      1. 2

        Absolutely. You can have a "bulk" tier where you have unlimited exports, and limit it for normal tiers to something sane - IF # of exports is your value metric.

        Looking at Divjoy, which looks amazing, btw, I see that there is also the opportunity of "premium components" that could warrant a premium tier. Or multiple levels. IN any case, you have a lot of good options for a tiered system.

        1. 2

          Yeah will likely try out some premium integrations (like more extensive backend logic) as well as some slicker templates/components. Appreciate the feedback!

          1. 1

            Awesome! I wish you maximum success :D

  4. 2

    Just discovered this product today and it looks brilliant. 59.99 is the price of a theme forest wordpress theme so it has to be a split tested price by envato.

  5. 2

    Awesome! I'll need to implement this too!

  6. 2

    I have a background in mobile games and this is a pretty common trick to boost sales! Though keep in mind, if your product is not a one-time sale, customer fatigue can become a very real issue.

    1. 1

      What do you mean by customer fatigue?

      1. 1

        Basically if a customer sees that there is always a sale, it loses itโ€™s luster. You mentioned in another comment that itโ€™s temporary so shouldnโ€™t be an issue. Cool idea!

        1. 2

          Gotcha! Yeah that makes sense. Definitely a temporary thing, although Iโ€™ll be careful about letting the limited time period stretch on for too long.

  7. 2

    I really like the UI layout with this Gabe, nicely done.

    1. 1

      Thanks so much!

  8. 2

    Yeah, this trick is pretty effective for me as a customer. I've seen some products do this permanently which feels shady but if I like the product it doesn't bother me too much.

    1. 1

      Ah yeah, I think it's pretty lame if it actually isn't a limited time deal.

  9. 2

    Love this! We should do this with https://RoomSteals.com

  10. 1

    Great strategy, have implemented this now, really excited to find out how this is going to work

  11. 1

    It's indeed a great experiment. Thanks for sharing @Gabe

    Urgency is definitely a great approach for products that solves "need" instead of "want.

    I'm also considering turning my free downloadable from free to a small price point before launching the actual product. What would be your advice?

    1. 1

      That looks pretty great! How many downloads / day are you getting currently?

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