What's your experience with Lifetime Deals for your product ?

Question

Lifetime Deals can be a great way to get some cash in. 
But I wonder if it's worth the cost in the long run, when you want to build a scalable business ?

Vaibhav · Accepted Answer

I received the opportunity to promote the lifetime deal of my first Saas on AppSumo. I made a little over $500 and then it stopped.

For initial momentum, it is definitely helpful. But don't have a lot of hopes!

Konrad S. · Answer

As you say, you may get cash quickly, and also good reviews. And you can stop offering new such deals at any time. I can only see a problem if your target audience is too small, of the operating cost per user is too high. I have good experience with this for my B2C SaaS https://skyica.com/appfinder/, but the target audience is huge, and operating cost per user is very small.

Business Marketing with Nika · Answer

@toni_pm yes, there should be some limitation (maybe in numbers, like first 100 users will be  lifetime).

Business Marketing with Nika · Answer

I think it is a good thing when you want to have first customers that will give you feedback and have some "SOCIAL PROOF". And then, you can change to a subscription model. It depends on the long-term goals.

Toni · Answer

@realdesigntack Thanks for sharing ! why did it stop ? do you know ?

Toni · Answer

@konrad_sx Thanks for sharing. Indeed the cash and publicity can be quite interesting. 
To me it makes sense if you get a huge bump in publicity and signups - with an AppSumo partner deal for example. So that you can gather reviews as you say and ramp up. 
But if i see examples in B2B SaaS, it's also life time support for the customers with the deal, maintenance and operating costs you can't upsell etc.

Toni · Answer

@busmark_w_nika Totally agree on the benefits. Feedback and social proof are one of the upsides of lifetime deals. Lots of exposure (if you partner with AppSumo for instance) can also boost the business. 
But i wonder about the downsides in the long run : customer support, maintenance, no upsell...

Vaibhav · Answer

@toni_pm My guess is that they have a hoard of products with deals being added daily. So, they intentionally "tone down" the publicity of your deal with time.. (not sure if that makes sense).

Daria R. · Answer

It gives you a lot of reviews and marketing promotion through different channels. It also increases brand awareness and helps you to build a strong community around your product.

Answer

Launching a lifetime deal is an experience I want to have and probably will (try) in a few months. As a user, I can say I'm kind of addicted to buying lifetime deals. When it comes to a new product, I think it's a great way to create initial awareness. The challenge I see is third-party costs, such as variable costs for cloud and generative AI providers. At some point, the money you get from the lifetime deal customers will be over, so you need recurring revenue to cover their (recurring) costs. Striking the right balance between lifetime deal customers and recurring paying customers is crucial to this strategy. It's not just about finding the right ratio but also about timing it perfectly. The lifetime deal customer can quickly drain the money (and time). When you have these thirst party costs involved for products already running with a solid customer base, it's more predictable and safer (IMO) to plan that. I hope to share more insights from my own experience shortly. :-) Check this other thread: https://www.producthunt.com/disc... This experience was shared by @thefedoration: https://x.com/foliofed/status/15...

Gurkaran Singh · Answer

Lifetime Deals can feel like winning the tech lottery, but navigating their impact on long-term growth is like choosing between instant gratification and sustainable success in the startup world. Quite the balancing act, isn't it?

What's your experience with Lifetime Deals for your product ?

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