Common Myths and Misconceptions about Consumer Shareware

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Common Myths and MisconceptionsaboutConsumer
Shareware

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Myth 1

• Get the user addicted to your program and then
  ask them to buy
• At the end of the trial period, users love the
  program so much that they will have no choice but
  to buy

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Fact

• A trial versions half life is one day
• Over 75 of registrations happen within two days
  of download
• No significant jump in registrations at the end
  of the trial period

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Myth 2

• Rich functionality speaks for itself
• An attractive interface is not too important

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Fact

• Users generally only use the programs most basic
  functionality before purchase
• A high quality interface convinces users your
  softwares functionality is high quality
• If you do not have the skills to design a good
  interface, hire a professional

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Myth 3

• Use gentle reminders to encourage users to
  register
• Provide generous trial periods

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Fact

• Nice programs do not sell as well
• Ask for registrations early and often
• Make sure the user has an incentive to register
  and register early
• What you are selling is merely the difference
  between the shareware and registered versions,
  not the registered version itself
• Steve Pavlina, Dexterity Software

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Myth 4

• Shareware users always evaluate the trial version
  before purchase

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Fact

• As many as 20 of your customers can be convinced
  to purchase immediately
• Encourage impulse buys through well placed buy
  links on web sites and product cross-sells
• Get the sale as early as possible

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Myth 5

• There are only two types of customers those who
  are honest and those who arent

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Fact

• There are two types of customers those who are
  honest, and those who are honest when it is more
  convenient to be honest
• An easily found, widely available crack can
  impact sales by 30 or more

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Myth 6

• Offering free lifetime upgrades will increase
  sales

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Fact

• Free lifetime upgrades might kill your product
• Your past customers are one of your most
  important assets

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Myth 7

• Focus the majority of your marketing on the
  United States - most of your sales will come from
  the USA.

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Fact

• These days, Europe generates nearly the same
  amount of downloads as the United States
• Combined, Europe and Asia / Pacific generate more
  downloads than the USA

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Myth 8

• The majority of my potential customers use a
  dial-up internet connection

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Fact

• 75 80 shareware downloads are done over
  broadband connections
• When you ignore Region 4 (all countries but USA,
  Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia), 85 of
  shareware downloads are done over broadband
  connections

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Download Speedsfor Shareware

• Percentile Download Speed Kb/s
• 5 20
• 10 41
• 15 77
• 20 95
• 25 101
• 30 105
• 35 111
• 40 122
• 45 180
• 50 243
• 55 334
• 60 430
• 65 534
• 70 663
• 75 799
• 80 1020
• 85 1342
• 90 1811

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Myth 9

• Spend a lot of effort putting your file on every
  download site and every search engine
  everything helps!

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Fact

• 99 of your sales from download sites and search
  engines will come from the top 25 sites
• Spending a lot of time putting your software on
  small download sites and search engines is
  generally not profitable
• Alexa Rankings (www.alexa.com) are a good way to
  determine the popularity of a website
• Focus on sites that have an Alexa ranking of
  40,000 or lower.
• Consider using a submission service such as
  SharewarePromotions.com, Rudenko.com

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Referring SitesPercentage of Sales

• Site Percentage of Sales
• www.google.com 32.85
• www.download.com 19.81
• www.snapfiles.com 4.35
• www.softpedia.com 4.35
• www.google.co.uk 4.11
• www.google.de 3.86
• 5star.freeserve.com 3.86
• downloads-zdnet.com.com 3.62
• search.msn.com 2.90

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Questions???David HallsDirector of
Development, EmetrixA Digital River
Companyhttp//www.emetrix.comdavid_at_emetrix.com