I <3
I’m addicted to 2 things, sweets and deals. I can’t pass up a deal, and I will work for Peanutbutter Cups.
So when I first heard about AppSumo from an interview on Mixergy, it was love at up to 90% off.
Getting a right wicked deal on Crazy Egg is exciting and all…but let me tell you how we used AppSumo to start a business and get 1000% ROI on the money we spent on deals.
After buying some bundles and receiving thousands of dollars worth of web toys, we started development on CoinWhale, which, admittedly, is basically AppSumo for Facebook Games.
The AppSumo Deals We Utilized:
1 ) First we needed a design, so we used the 99Designs coupon from the Lean Startup Bundle to get a hassle free attractive design and save some money.
2) Next we need a way to email the impending User Tsunami (that happens right?), so we used the MailChimp coupon from the Startup Bundle.
3) We wanted a toll free phone number to build user trust and confidence, so we used the GrassHopper.com coupon from the Lean Startup Bundle.
4) We wanted to involve the community in suggesting games to be in bundles, so we setup Voting with a UserVoice coupon from the Lean Startup Bundle.
5) Live Chat Support with SnapEngage was probably the most valuable coupon of them all - got this one from the User Love Bundle.
6) We setup Community Q&A Forums for our users to connect with us using GetSatisfaction, from the User Love Bundle.
7) After our first deal we used a CrazyEgg Coupon from the Web Optimization Bundle to analyze button placements. This was super fun, and valuable.
8) We used UserTesting.com from the Web Optimization Bundle to get audio and video of a first time customer going through our site. This was really valuable to expose bottlenecks!
9) SEO is not fun, we got an SEOMoz.org account from the Amazing Wordpress Bundle which exposed some gaping holes in our SEO, and lets us keep tabs on how we’re doing on the SERPS (yeah I said SERPS, wanna fight about it).
10) Duh, web hosting. Thanks Linode coupon from the Badass Developer Bundle!
11) Last but not least, we hired a personal assistant from the Philippines, and to make sure she was browsing securely with our credit card numbers, we set her up with Panda Cloud Antivirus and Emsisoft Online Armor from the Windows Holiday Bundle!
Post Mortem:
We built CoinWhale over 2 months, dipping into the AppSumo toolbox quite a bit. We launched it in December 2010, and our first deal did over $3000 in sales!
We spent about $180 on appsumo deals, and made about $1800 in profits - giving us a good 1000% ROI.
That didn’t even include the free consultation we got with Hiten Shah, Noah Kagan & Dan Martell. Yeah, AppSumo also holds Free Action Classes with industry gurus to train you how to make more money with your business.
We know these numbers aren’t going to knock your socks off, but just do it already =) Thanks AppSumo!