Bundles, Promos, and Discounts, Oh My!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:01:12 -0800

(Apologies for the title of this post. My kids are working on a production of The Wizard of Oz so we're hearing a lot of songs about the Yellow Brick Road in our house these days! Since today is Friday, traditionally cat-blogging day, I thought I would feature a picture of a bundle of little cowardly lions.)

Photo by abcrumley

Bundles

In yesterday's post, Jacob Gorban raved about software bundles. Anybody reading this post is probably well aware of bundles and the controversy surrounding them. Let me see if I can sum up both sides of the issue:

First, the bad impressions of bundles:

Bundles cheapen the value of your software — and Mac software in general. People expect to get it for 10 cents on the dollar so they won't buy it at full price.

It's making the bundle-makers filthy rich, even though the developers do all the work.

The developers are exploited, making peanuts per license.

Having to support thousands of new customers with so little income makes bad financial sense.

On the other hand,

Bundles do a great job in exposing your software to an audience that may not have found out about your app.

The bundle companies often give a lot of money away to charity.

The developers that participate are going into the deals willingly and with their eyes open.

Many people only use a few of the applications, yet the developer still gets paid for each bundle sold.

It gives the developers a chance to offer their upgrades and other products to their new customer base.

I've been on both sides of the fence, so although I may have missed some of the positives and negatives, I think that covers the basics. Really, I think the answer to the question "Is a bundle right for me?" depends on a lot of factors.

Where I think a bundle has huge advantages is the last point in my list of positives. If you have more than one product, and you can get people exposed to your company by selling bundles for product A, then you can now help these new customers know via your email list about product B and product C. This is key. It's way easier to sell your products to people who have already bought a product from you. They know you and trust you. So if you have more than one product, it could be a real win for you to participate in a bundle, as long as you are able to apply some leverage to the bundle sale.