As I increased sales of modules for CMS

Introduction

Hello! My name is Konstantin, I am the author of several modules for the ImageCMS site management system. About four years ago I still did not understand how MVC, OOP works, I could not install any php framework from scratch. But having got acquainted with the ImageCMS system (then still version 1.6 or 1.9), I figured out all this and the next three years I worked only with this system, having made more than 60 projects on the basic version of this CMS.

In the course of working with the system, I lacked some functionality, in particular, there was no form designer in the system box. Probably, for my part, it would be worth saying thanks to the developers for this. Because it is this fact that made me start learning how to write modules for this CMS and, accordingly, all the subtleties of OOP and MVC.

For three years, more than 5 modules have been accumulated, which I developed for my own needs:

• xForm is a form design module;
• Cart - module shopping cart with orders;
• Rating - evaluation of materials;
• Add - the module for adding materials by users;
• Click - slideshow management module and counting clicks on banners.

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When I saw that there was a demand for these things on the forum, I decided that it was time to raise not only the karma on the forum, but also to make up for the time spent on developing modules.

First sales

I set the prices for the modules fairly low, 300 rubles apiece, and for xForm I took 500 rubles each. In a month there were 5-10 sales and, as you understand, for a resident of Kamchatka, where the minimum wage was about 13,000 rubles (for comparison, in Ukraine there are no more than 5,000 rubles), the average patch is 30,000–40,000 rubles, this profit did not give a chance switch to full-time development of modules and deal only with them.

The first thought for the increase in sales was to create a key protection system for the modules. Since many people use modules on different sites, you can bind keys to domains and pre-sell keys for different domains. That is, after purchasing the module, it was necessary to buy a key for each domain. On LAN, accordingly, the key was not required, so it was easy to test.

The system of pre-sale of keys increased the cash flow of interest by 20-30%, but has not yet made it possible to completely move from the stage “my hobby” to the stage “my business”.

Piracy

Immediately I was faced with hacking my modules and selling them to the open forum at reduced prices. It was both painful and pleasant at the same time. But honestly, I felt sorry not for my sales, but for those people who buy the module from him, and then will not be able to upgrade, or get quality technical support. In the end, they will have to pay twice. Therefore, I rushed to save them, I wrote to tech support, developers and admins of the forum, and the pirate was quickly blocked. No one filed complaints, so we went further.

We connect marketing

Sales went by themselves, the number of keys was replenished in the system, but there were no results I expected. In September 2013, I took marketing courses in one cool training company. Then for the first time I structured the knowledge that I had and learned about the concept of Langing Page. Do not laugh, the era of landing pages is just beginning in Kamchatka.

Then I decided to completely change the standard sales scheme of modules for CMS, and the most probably important thing is to increase the average bill. What I've done?

First, I decided to sell not one module at a time, but all my modules at once in bulk. Such wholesale sales made it impossible for me to use the keys, but it gave other advantages, namely, an increase in the average receipt of one sale.



Secondly, I made a landing page with a limited time offer “Five best paid modules, for only 990 rubles instead of 2500 in one package!”. The product of the locomotive was of course the xForm module, mostly bought because of this module. The offer was very cool and profitable.



Third, it was necessary to automate sales, that is, to make them without my participation. I came to the aid of the service AvtoOffice, which aggregated payment systems, accepted payments and issued goods to the consumer.

And the last, probably the most important, is to attract traffic. I launched Vkontakte targeting by ImageCMS group, set up Yandex.Direct, Google.Adwords. I rummaged in my mail, where I usually wrote when I wanted to buy modules, I collected about 100 addresses of my clients and launched a newsletter. Wrote on the forum about the action and on other sites where my target audience could live.

As a result of all the manipulations, I did not get the results I expected, but I got a lot of experience in building online sales and internet marketing. I managed in a relatively short time to get a net profit of 12,000 rubles.



I think in such a niche as modules for CMS, this is a good result. I hope you find my experience useful.

Thanks for attention.