Several people posted comments on yesterday’s post asking about what benefit the statistics actually provide. I can only speak for myself so that’s what I’ll do. 
My goal as a marketer of software is to get my advertising in front of as many people who are interested in my product at the moment when they would be most inclined purchase my product or at least download the product if they aren’t going to purchase immediately. In short, I feel that the information posted yesterday gives me, at the very least, a benchmark for which times to target in order to reach my goals.
One commenter said that the information was obvious and that we all know that downloads are lower on the weekend. Yes we do, but I’ve been selling shareware for several years and I wasn’t 100% sure that most purchases were made on Tuesday. My sample size isn’t quite equal to that of Thomas Warfield or Nick Bradbury. Why is it beneficial to know that Tuesday is when most purchases are made? Because now I can offer an incentive to purchase on Thursday or Friday and possibly increase my overall conversion ratio.
Since my business is best served by making more money, my time is best spent with ways that will increase my overall profit. Two of the primary ways to do this are to increase sales and decrease expenses. In talking with many shareware developers, I’ve found that most use Google AdWords as a primary method of marketing their product. Now that Google is opening up the AdWords API, my guess is that we’re going to see dozens if not hundreds of apps that will handle scheduling of ads. By scheduling ads to appear at times when people are more likely to download my software, I have a better chance of both increasing sales and quite possibly, decreasing expenses. My other option is to use the API to increase the bids on my AdWords so that they appear first in the list during non-peak times which has the potential to increase sales during times that are traditionally slow. The statistics posted yesterday give me the information on where to start with minimal trial and error and, in turn, less wasted money.
The one question I asked eSellerate that they weren’t able to answer was “What is the average number of days that pass between the time the software is downloaded and the time its purchased?” Because downloads are highest on Wednesday and purchases are highest on Tuesday, then a guess can be made that most people purchase the software 6 days after they download. If this is in fact the case, I’d like to find ways to incent people to purchase the software more quickly. These statistics gave me this information which I may not have known otherwise.
Ways to use the stats:
- Target ads for peak times
- Make ads more visible during non-peak times
- Offer incentives to purchase on non-peak days
- Decrease the time between download and purchase
- Focus my marketing efforts with less trial and error
- Focus my marketing to spend less money to make more sales
- Print out the pdf and burn it to keep warm for a few seconds
This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 17th, 2005 at 9:32 am and is filed under Marketing.
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Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
Several people posted comments on yesterday’s post asking about what benefit the statistics actually provide. I can only speak for myself so that’s what I’ll do.
My goal as a marketer of software is to get my advertising in front of as many people who are interested in my product at the moment when they would be most inclined purchase my product or at least download the product if they aren’t going to purchase immediately. In short, I feel that the information posted yesterday gives me, at the very least, a benchmark for which times to target in order to reach my goals.
One commenter said that the information was obvious and that we all know that downloads are lower on the weekend. Yes we do, but I’ve been selling shareware for several years and I wasn’t 100% sure that most purchases were made on Tuesday. My sample size isn’t quite equal to that of Thomas Warfield or Nick Bradbury. Why is it beneficial to know that Tuesday is when most purchases are made? Because now I can offer an incentive to purchase on Thursday or Friday and possibly increase my overall conversion ratio.
Since my business is best served by making more money, my time is best spent with ways that will increase my overall profit. Two of the primary ways to do this are to increase sales and decrease expenses. In talking with many shareware developers, I’ve found that most use Google AdWords as a primary method of marketing their product. Now that Google is opening up the AdWords API, my guess is that we’re going to see dozens if not hundreds of apps that will handle scheduling of ads. By scheduling ads to appear at times when people are more likely to download my software, I have a better chance of both increasing sales and quite possibly, decreasing expenses. My other option is to use the API to increase the bids on my AdWords so that they appear first in the list during non-peak times which has the potential to increase sales during times that are traditionally slow. The statistics posted yesterday give me the information on where to start with minimal trial and error and, in turn, less wasted money.
The one question I asked eSellerate that they weren’t able to answer was “What is the average number of days that pass between the time the software is downloaded and the time its purchased?” Because downloads are highest on Wednesday and purchases are highest on Tuesday, then a guess can be made that most people purchase the software 6 days after they download. If this is in fact the case, I’d like to find ways to incent people to purchase the software more quickly. These statistics gave me this information which I may not have known otherwise.
Ways to use the stats:
- Target ads for peak times
- Make ads more visible during non-peak times
- Offer incentives to purchase on non-peak days
- Decrease the time between download and purchase
- Focus my marketing efforts with less trial and error
- Focus my marketing to spend less money to make more sales
- Print out the pdf and burn it to keep warm for a few seconds
This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 17th, 2005 at 9:32 am and is filed under Marketing.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
February 17th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Hi Brian,
With regards to your question related tot he time between download and sale I actually did a piece on this not too long ago. The results were really interesting and detailed - The Golden Hour Michael Halls from FileKicker/Emetrix provided me the information. I’m sure he’d be willing to share additional information if you are interested.
February 17th, 2005 at 3:31 pm
Thanks Sharon, now that you point it out I remember reading that article when it was first posted.
February 17th, 2005 at 11:20 pm
I have a question about these two suggested ways to use the stats:
1) Make ads more visible during non-peak times
2) Offer incentives to purchase on non-peak days
Assuming the ads cost money, why would you want to (presumably) pay more in order to make them more visible during a time when people are less receptive to buying? If it is to increase the sales, then shouldn’t you also want to increase the sales during peak times as well?
If you have incentives to purchase on non-peak days, why not offer those same incentives on peak days to further increase sales (make the peak even higher)?
Just curious
February 18th, 2005 at 8:40 am
Robert,
For #1, my goal is to increase sales during times where I normally would see less sales. If having the number one ad postition, in AdWords for example, during a non-peak time gives enough increased visibility to significantly increase the download/purchase ratio then it would be worth it.
As for #2, I’ll take increased sales any time I can get them, provided it is in the best interest of my business as a whole. My goal is to get more people to purchase who may be on the fence. Like everyone, especially if an incentive decreases my profit in any way, I’d like for the people willing to pay full price to pay full price and for those who are on the fence to be paid customers as well, as long as I can do so without making it a losing proposition for me. The other option I would prefer is to have people pay more quickly.
The statistics tell me that there could be more room for growth on the non-peak days, so that’s where I would start. Most shareware developers would be very happy with a .5% or 1% increase in their conversion ratio, especially on traditionally low sales days. There is more room for growth on the days that are not currently the highest in terms of purchases so why not start there.
February 19th, 2005 at 8:18 pm
Two comments Brian:
1) I’ve worked with AdWords for over 2 years, managing several large accounts. As a Micro-ISV, you do not want to overthink your approach. Choosing “peak times” for ads (aka dayparting) is usually not an optimization that you need to worry about unless you’re spending $20K a month or more. More important things to worry about first:
- Keywords you buy.
- Ad Copy - what your ads say
- Landing pages - what the page the visitor first sees after click your ad
- Your shopping cart ease of use.
- Your customer support.
My experience is that “day-parting” is akin to day-trading. For a Micro-ISV, it’s really not the best use of time. Do not optimize the wrong thing… Take that energy and focus on more keywords, or better copy or testing your landing pages. That will pay off with 3-5% increases in conversion rate.
2) Your post on the AdWords API inspired some comments over at my http://gotads.blogspot.com blog where I talk about PPC ads regularly.
February 19th, 2005 at 11:04 pm
Brian,
A couple of comments:
1) From my experience managing large AdWords campaigns for 2+ yrs, I’d say that “day-parting” or choosing when to run ads in order to reduce cost is not the right thing to optimize unless you are spending upwards of 20k/month on AdWords. Day parting may make sense for high volume sellers who have very good understanding of their demographics. If you have already focused on:
- Keyword selection
- Ad Copy optimization
- Landing page testing and design
- Store usability
- Customer satisfaction.
Then day parting and other bid management strategies are worth exploring. In other words, there are better ways to spend your time if you are looking to maximize profit on an AdWords campaign. Consistently focusing on keywords, ads and landing pages can easily increase conversion rates by factors of 2x or 3x.
2) For more comment on the AdWords API, and why I think it’s not being adopted as fast as it could be, see http://gotads.blogspot.com