I've got my first 2 paying customers after 5 years.
I've been running my side project for almost 5 years, offering it for free with no plan to monetize it. Just for fun, using it to learn new technologies, learn a little bit about design, product and the whole life cycle of a digital product.
However, I decided that I wanted to give it a second push of energy now, charging for it. I integrated Stripe and created three different plans. I wanted to see how many of the current 120 users would become paying customers.
I moved all the users to a 30-day trial and this trial ended last Friday.
I got 2 activations during the weekend, but they were 2 of my friends :p
What will happen? I'm not sure. I'd love to hear what do you guys think about it?
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Honestly it takes a lot of dedication to run something for 5 years without getting anything form it, so good job.
But now that you are charging money you have a completely different product, basically you started again from scratch, you now have entered in another sector of payed software.
So I'd say that you need to look at it like you just launched a new product.
Thank you @filippo_b for your comment! Honestly, I thought that more users were going to activate their accounts, so it was a little bit dissapointing at the beginning.
As you mention, I should take it as a just launched product. Thanks for that advice!
You are welcome.
2 paying users just after the launch is pretty good!
have you used platforms like producthunt & hackernews to promote this a bit organically?
Hi @karanveer! I posted on PH a few years ago, but with zero impact. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/dailytics
By the way, this is the side project: https://dailytics.com
I wasn't expecting all these positive comments, thanks a lot IHs!
I wanted to give a small update: there are 3 paying customers now <3
Gustavo,
Your prices are really good and the service you provide looks great. With only 120 active users you really did not have enough of a sampling to know what the future popularity will be. I think your service has a lot of potential and you just need more visibility to your target market.
Your plan tiers of Personal, Studio and Enterprise are great also. Maybe too great and people are not realizing the value. What I would recommend is to increase the price dramatically then offer a steep discount to the first 100 subscribers, thus showing people what the price will be in the near future. Maybe something like:
Early Adopter Special
Although Dailytics has been around for 5 years with our latest enhancements we are providing a special Early Adopters pricing. Subscribe now to have the price locked-in forever. Offer only valid for first 100 subscribers!
Personal: $2.99 - later will be $4.99 / month
Studio: $7.99 - later will be $19.99 / month
Enterprise: $14.99 - later will be $29.99 / month
Those are just some ideas. I look forward to seeing your future posts on growth!
-Alec
Hi Alec, thanks a lot for all this feedback, it sounds like a really good idea! I'll try to play a little bit with this message in the landing page.
You've got 2 paying customers!! That's what matters. Don't dilute it because they are your friends.
Get testimonials from them and add them to your site. Market these testimonials and drive more paying customers.
Good idea! I'll refresh the testimonials I have with theirs!
Good luck.
Well, a little update 5 months later: I have 6 paying users now :)
Try to contact as many of your 120 users as possible and figure out who they are and what did they use it for. Promise them a free year or an Amazon coupon in return. Maybe they set it up out of curiosity and forgot about it. Maybe they really need it but they found another free service. Maybe they are using another service for $100/month that has that critical feature that you don't have. You never know until you ask.
You remind me of "founder" movie. Perseverance..
Good inspiration reading this, well done!
Hopefully you've got some good SEO and credibility built up with all your work so far.
Oh, thanks Nick!
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Hello Kevin! haha yes! an incredible 100% growth in MRR! from 3 USD to 6 USD
lol
congratulations for Libreture, btw!