The Benefits of Selling Software Outside the Mac App Store
Dan Counsell (comments, tweet):
Now lets look at a real world example, RapidWeaver has been on the Mac App Store since it opened in 2011 and has generated over $2,000,000 in revenue. Apple has taken $600,000 (USD) of that in fees. Ouch!
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I’m specifically talking about bundle deals run by StackSocial, MacUpdate, and MightyDeals. I used to love bundles, then I got convinced they were bad for our customers. I stopped participating in them for awhile and missed out on a lot of revenue because of it. I’m now fully behind bundle deals again and am glad I changed my mind.
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When you have a new product coming out you’ll want to let your existing customers know. They’ve already bought from you once and trust you, so they may be interested in buying from you again. If you’ve only ever sold on the Mac App Store you have no details for any of your customers. When you sell directly you can simply email them and say “Hey, we know you bought X and we’d love you to check out Y, you’ll even get 20% off because you’ve purchased from us before”. This is a big deal.
Here’s another example, when App Store customers email me asking for a refund I have to say “I’m really sorry but you’ll need to contact Apple directly, we can’t issue refunds”. However, Apple doesn’t always give refunds, and this often results in unhappy customers and bad App Store reviews.
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I’m not suggesting you pull out of the Mac App Store and only sell direct, I’m recommending you sell in as many places as possible.
