How to Sell Software Online

Selling software online has never been simpler. If it were difficult, we’d have to call it hardware—and that’s a whole different article! So, whether your software is educational, a business application, subscription-based, or focused on gaming, this article will guide you through some important tips and key considerations for marketing your software and selling online.

The Best Practises of Selling Software Online

Before we dig into setting up an online store or using a marketplace to sell your software, here are a few business ideas that can boost your software sales across all platforms:

Offer a free trial

If you’re just getting started, a free trial can be a great tool for converting potential customers into confirmed customers. You want the value of your software to be apparent to anyone visiting your online store, and you also want to assure people that you aren’t marketing a scam. Give people a week to try out your product, and they’re much more likely to upgrade their trial into actual purchase. Once you’ve established a reputation and dedicated customer base, you can reevaluate whether the free trial is still the right tool for selling your software online.

Offer freemium

Alternatively, try out the freemium model — This business model includes granting free access to a basic version of your software to customers. Keep your premium features behind a paywall and tempt customers to upgrade to the full service. Once they’ve grown to love the basic model, the next logical step will be to expand the capabilities of how they use your software by upgrading their account. This model works particularly well when you’re selling subscriptions or sold as a service (SaaS) software.

Include a feature comparison table

A comparison table illustrates the differences between your software and its competition in the market, or between the free version of your software and the paid version. If you’re trying to establish software in an already populated section of the market, the comparison table can be a great way not only to introduce what your software does but to highlight what it does differently and better than your competitors. If your software includes features that a customer won’t find anywhere else, the comparison table is the perfect place to brag about them!

Solicit (and show off) reviews

Positive reviews of your software can be the tipping point between a customer navigating away from your site or clicking purchase. Try asking family and friends to test out your software and leave positive reviews and be sure to empower your customers to leave comments as well. To generate a lot of buzz around your product, it’s a great idea to reach out to publications that might be interested in reviewing your software either in print or online. Not only will you have quotes that you can display on your site, but you’ll be introducing your product to the publication’s audience, who may become customers.

Selling on Amazon

It is possible to sell software on Amazon, and it makes sense that you’d want to; Amazon has a huge customer base, established selling procedures, and built-in payment methods. Amazon also has restrictions on what can be sold in their marketplace, which makes selling certain kinds of software more difficult than others. If your software is or can be sold in physical form, you’re in luck! Amazon allows for the sale of full retail versions of physical software. To get started, all you’ll need to do is establish a seller’s account and create a listing for your software, which will include the price, a description, relevant specifications, and images.

Unfortunately, Amazon does not allow for the sale of any software that must be digitally downloaded, whether via activation codes, registration links, license keys, serial numbers, or other methods. Because Amazon has no way of verifying whether sellers and buyers have academic connections, they also prohibit the sale of most academic software—meaning software sold to students, faculty, and educational institutions expressly for use by those individuals and institutions. If you are interested in selling academic software on Amazon, you are allowed to sell software that requires post-purchase verification, provided that the license is transferable and the buyer is eligible for technical support and upgrades.

Selling on Your Own Store

You may have coded until your fingers are cramped when creating your software, but don’t let this scare you away from the idea of building your own online software store. Here at Ecwid, we want to make selling your software as easy as possible, while giving you a professional and powerful online storefront. By just copying and pasting a few lines of code, you can seamlessly integrate your store into your business website, blog, or even Facebook page. Get started selling on Ecwid with just a few simple steps:

1. Customize — Ecwid takes the work out of building your store but leaves creative control in your hands. You can customize the appearance, features, and any services connected to your site. Build the digital storefront of your dreams and match its look to your software. Whether you’re selling software to businesses or individuals, having an online store with a cohesive image can go a long way towards legitimizing your product and attracting customers.
2. Share — After building your store, you’ll be able to instantly sync and sell across social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Ecwid can even generate links for Tiktok, WhatsApp, and Youtube. No matter who your market consists of, Ecwid can help you reach them. And, if you do decide to sell on Amazon or other marketplaces, Ecwid can help you manage your listings and advertise. With the control offered by Ecwid, you’ll also be able to include excellent marketing tools, like the comparison table we mentioned above, videos demonstrating your software, or anything else you need to make the sale.
3. Sell — With Ecwid, you can choose from more than 50 payment options to accept credit card payments quickly and securely. If your software has international reach, we offer multi-currency support, 40 international payment options, real-time shipping integration, and support for 45 languages. You’ve put in the work to create great software, and we want to help you get it into the hands of as many customers as possible!

But don’t just take our word for it. We know there are plenty of great ecommerce sites out there to choose from, and we want you to make the best choice for selling your software. That’s why Ecwid is putting free trials on trial. Create a free account, design a store, and keep the account free for as long as you need it!