SliceWP

Recently we celebrated our very first sale (https://www.indiehackers.com/product/slicewp/we-have-our-very-first-customer--M0vU64bg4yzQC6OB0b6). Also, in the meantime we managed to onboard a couple more customers, which really really boosted our morale.

However, the time has come. We had our first refund request and, in the end, decided to process it.

I say "decided", because we contemplated if it would be fair to honor this request.

Here's what happened...

To start, and for more context, I'm a strong believer that "no questions asked" money back policies are detrimental for new businesses. This is the time where you want to gather as much feedback as possible.

Furthermore, we're in the WordPress plugins business. With so many combinations of themes, plugins and servers, unexpected issues can occur.

Which is what happened with this customer.

He opened a single line support ticket about a certain problem. A single line of text, without much context about the problem.

Nevertheless, within a couple of hours I tested the feature, which worked on my end. I got back to him letting him know this and at same time offered to assist him technically so we can get to the bottom of this.

I know technical issues can occur frequently in the WordPress world, so we're committed to solve any problems. These problems could affect other customers, so it's in everyone's best interest to solve them.

Not a word back from him until the next day, when he asked for the refund. I insisted with offering technical help, while also letting him know the refund is on the table.

He got back with a simple "call me".

Now, we're based in Europe, he isn't. The cost for such a call could surpass our product's price, so it wasn't really an option. So, I let him know this and offered a call through Skype or any other service.

Haven't heard back.

At this point my thoughts were that we did our best to help and at the same time didn't really consider it to be fair to honor the refund.

(I know this is a sensible are and very subjective, so feel free to share your thoughts on it.)

But, we decided to process it anyway. We're at the very start and I believe a negative review would hurt us more than losing some money.

I ended the whole process letting him know the money should be returned shortly and thanking him for trying SliceWP, which I know may sound sarcastic, but it wasn't. Even though he didn't collaborate, he did purchase a completely new product and I appreciate it.

To end this, I'd like to leave you with two things, especially if you're at the start of your product journey:

1. Refunds suck. They all do, no matter if you're in business for a day, a year or a decade. They're a rejection and we're wired to be affected by rejections. But, you'll get better at managing these emotions with time, so don't sweat it. Try to learn from it.

2. Offer feedback. At the other side of your email, chat bubble or whatever, is another person. If the product is small, it may be the only human behind the project. Detail your issue or your request and offer screenshots or videos. Be patient for a response. You'll help the other person help you.

It was almost midnight and I was preparing to go to bed when a support ticket came in. It was titled "Am I your first customer?".

I froze for a second before checking it. I then opened the email and went into our payment processor. Yep, it was our first customer.

And what a customer, she has been following our blog and read our transparency report ( https://slicewp.com/blog/january-2020-transparency-report/), where we detail how in our first month we managed to accumulate zero customers.

She just wanted to say hello and that she's thrilled to be able to support a brand new product. We hope we won't let you down!

So, with this news, I started jumping with my girlfriend like two school girls, and drove my sleep away.

Here's to many more!

We just ended our first month since going live, and it's been quite the rollercoaster.

Mostly emotions and reflection, as I wasn't expecting that it would be so difficult to get traction on a new premium WordPress plugin. Even with a free version released on WordPress' official repository, growth seems to be flat.

In short, in our first month we had 0 (zero) customers. However, here's what we learned: https://slicewp.com/blog/january-2020-transparency-report/

Building trust around a WordPress plugin is quite hard. Due to the nature of these kind of products, it's quite hard for potential customers to get a feel of what the plugin is all about.

A WordPress plugin needs to be installed on a WordPress instance for you to actually play with it. This can be cumbersome, as not everyone has a WordPress test instance at their disposal.

To add to this, people are reticent, and for good reason, to install plugins on their live websites. The fear of something breaking is valid, especially when considering newly released plugins.

And that's why we've decided to launch our own demo website for SliceWP, where users can create their own WordPress instance, a sandbox if you will, where they can test the plugin without fearing that anything could break.

So, without further ado, here's the link to the demo: https://demo.slicewp.com/

To build your own instance just solve the simple math problem, no email address is required, and have fun.

The IndieHackers community is really dear to my heart, as it provides so many learning opportunities from so many great people. Because of this, I wanted the first ever announcement about our latest product to be here. Mainly as a thank you for everyone that shares their journey here.

So, this is it, we're officially live!

After one year in the making, we (myself and my brother) are proud to present SliceWP, a WordPress affiliate management plugin that can help shop owners, using WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads, create an affiliate program in minutes.

SliceWP is a passion project that we want to nurture and grow into one of the best affiliate management plugins for WordPress. It's going to be hard, but it's also going to be fun. Welcome on our journey!