High quality software and low volume sales
It's so annoying that your competitor's software
isn't nearly as good as yours, but they sell a lot more copies than you do. Perhaps their success is due, in part, to a web site that addresses real-world problems, in ways that non-technical prospects can understand.
One of my cousins called me this week, asking me for software advice. He'd bought a portable music-playing gadget so he could enjoy music while jogging, and he was having trouble finding a Windows application that would help him convert a handful of songs that he'd been given.
I visited a bunch of software developers' web sites to try to find the right application for him, and I couldn't believe my eyes. Most of the sites were written in techno-babble language. The sites talked about OGG, AIFF, WAV, WMV, g721 and other strange things. Few of them used understandable English to talk about solving the real-world problems that real people - people with credit cards and disposable income - are having.
In the next two weeks, millions of people will unwrap holiday packages containing portable music gadgets. These people will find that:
- The devices hold only a fraction of the music that they claim to hold. Perhaps if somebody marketed audio conversion software that would allow users to transform flabby music files into lean, mean music files, they could fit a lot more tunes on their new toys.
- The devices won't play songs that were recorded in older formats, or on computers that run less popular operating systems. If only there were audio conversion software that allowed users to translate these out-of-date or off-platform songs into today's format.
But, alas, most of the software that I found did things with VOX and Vorbis and other techno-babble things.
End-users are confused by tech-talk
Seriously, I know that the music conversion software that I'd found will solve these real-world problems. But the end-users who need this software have no way of knowing. These people have no idea what file-extensions are, and they're totally baffled by many developers' web sites. And, of course, the problem isn't confined to music software sites. It's a serious problem with many developers' sites, across every category of software.
There's no reason that your web site can't be an outstanding communication and sales vehicle. Here are a couple of approaches to thinking about your software in ways that will generate more sales:
- Remember why you wrote your software. You wanted to solve problems. Describe these problems, and your solutions, on your web site. Don't assume that your description of the solution alone will get prospects to make the mental leap that they have a similar problem that your software can solve. Give them samples of real situations, with suggestions for using your software to save the day.
- Think like a customer. Ask, "What's in it for me?" Asking this question gets you thinking about real-world scenarios and experiences. Talk about the difficulties that you encountered before your program provided the answer, and tape record this information as a source for the straightforward communication you'll need for your web site. Develop a compelling argument for using your software, and present it simply on your web site. Prospects are willing to learn, but you have to help them. If it's necessary to use technical jargon to explain real-world solutions, then give them a simple, brief definition of the tech terms that you'll be using.
- Stand behind a computer novice while they read your web site for the first time. Do they understand what they're seeing? If not, translate your site from techno-babble to English.
You'll sell more software.
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