A problem all perfectionist product creators share is that the product is never done. And even if done, there are a million things they want to continually improve on.
I am not a perfectionist for the most part, but every time I launch a product, I get this deep down feeling that it isn’t quite up to my standards. Yes, it works great and yes, it delivers immense value for the price point I am selling it at. I just can’t help but notice all the little things I could have and perhaps should have done differently or better.
Someone reminded me recently “If Microsoft released their software only once perfect, you and the rest of the world would have never heard of them!”
There is a certain truth to that. Products do not have to be perfect right off the bat. You can always release updates later on that bring about the desired improvements.
This is especially true if the product is a software. Even if it is as close to perfect as you can get it (with your own testing and troubleshooting), someone else will find flaws in it. And that is not at all a bad thing.
Biggest Glitch to Biggest Wins
The most problematic software launch I ever did (aside from dozens of software glitches, I screwed up just about everything in the launching sequence as well), was also my biggest overnight rags to riches launch I have done to date.
Though I did practically everything wrong along the way, I did one thing right that made the big difference: I took feedback and bug reports to heart and fed it straight to my programmer the minute I got it. As a result, every few days or so (after the launch) there was an update available for the software.
It was a painful process but you know what? The end result left me with a nice chunk of cash in my wallet AND a highly sought after piece of software that customers brag about to this day.
I have gone on to do various other launches since. Some were software products, while others were information products. None of them were perfect, but that did not keep me from launching them, making money off of them, and building my list at the same time.
Again though, I took all feedback I could get and updated the products often the first few days.
Customers Love Being Involved
Sure there is going to be the odd unhappy customer but reality is, it does not matter how perfect your product is, you WILL have unhappy customers.
For the most part I found that customers I interacted with were almost proud to be part of the products’ “perfecting” process – which (I guess) gave them a sense of “ownership” as well.
It’s been over a year since I launched my first major software product and just the other day I went over it again and realized that “it truly turned out to be a solid product!”
So I went over it again and decided that I will update it one more time this year and will add a few more bells and whistles to it while I am at it. I want to take it from being a “great” product to being a “mind-blowingly awesome” product.
And the best part? When I relaunch it, I will double the price for it as well… and it will be worth every penny of the new price!
I will be doing the same thing with all the other products I have launched to date. For the software products, I will update all the coding to make sure they are all 100% up to date, and I will once again add a few features that they did not have before just to make them even more valuable.
For the ebooks and pdf guides, I will go through all of them and update them. Yes they are all still great and the information in them is still applicable today, but I have learned a lot since I first wrote them so it is only fair that I raise the bar on them too – after which I will of course raise the price for them as well.
What I am getting at is this: It takes time to build something phenomenal. This is something I have been learning more and more about in the last few weeks.
Wax on, Wax Off!
I see top marketers in the Internet Marketing niche whose products easily sell for $997 to $2497 each. These are oftentimes information products!
The question I ask myself is “who in the right mind would pay that much for a product?” but truth is, they have people buying their stuff – right, left, and center – every single day.
My next question is “how in the world can they pack enough value in to a product that people will pay so much money for and be happy with it?” and that is when it hit me: They have been selling these exact same products for years and yes, there often times was a point where they sold the product for no more than $37 when they originally launched it.
The difference in price between then and now is a direct result of ongoing polishing and tweaking. In fact, this is also how trustworthy brands are built.
The question we need to ask ourselves is: do we want to continue making low price-point products and sell them to the masses or do we want to create few – but mind-blowingly awesome products and make significantly more (up to 100 times more) every time we sell one copy?
I myself am trying to get away from creating new products every month. I’d rather focus that energy on perfecting what I have (that did well) than fall in to the trap so many marketers fall in to of having to create new products every single month just to pay the bills.
Some people prefer things that way, but in my opinion, we got to evolve. Our time, energy, as well as our products, need to increase in value the longer we are online. And as we all know, more value should equal more cash in our pockets.
Finding Your Ideal Customer
Who do we want to cater to? Those who never have money or those for whom money is not an issue?
There really is no “right” or “wrong” answer to these questions, but I think they are important questions we as product creators need to ask ourselves.
What are your thoughts? Do you prefer creating many low-price products or few high-priced products?
If you are not a product creator, which ones would you buy rather: a decent low priced one or a perfected, high-end, high priced one?
Truely a case in point. Although the most of us do have a wide knowledge of how the Internet works, it’s the specialists who get through in the end.
Well said!
I am trying to create a combination of products and services with a variety of price points. My logic is that I can get some income going with the small items, while I take more time to develop the larger items. Unfortunately, I have a limitless supply of ideas, with only a small amount of time to devote to the projects! Hopefully that will change in the near future.
That is a good strategy I think. Not all products will hit the spot and not all will do as well as expected, but if you have a few decent ones that did well, you can always work on taking them to the next level. At least that is going to be my “plan” for the near future.
Having limitless good ideas is something a lot of people get jealous of. I myself find that I am somewhat lacking “break through” ideas these days. It seems to come and go in phases with me.
Awesome feedback, thank you!
Konard, this is a great post, you have managed to describe the exact problems I have encountered when launching my ebook.
It was launched back in 2008 and I thought it was not a big deal therefore published it for free.
This turned to be a big mistake since it was ,and still is a good info product. true, I have a nice list of loyal subscribes but I could have made a lot more from this book.
I am now working on an add-on based on the original book – this time it will be offered for sale, for its right value.
I do not agree with one issue, the Microsoft example, small businesses and self marketers cannot afford releasing a bad product unless they are really lucky, we tend to forgive Microsoft because we have no choice, but will be less tolerant to other marketers – I think this is specially true within the IM market.
Thank you for your post, it gives me a little push toward finally releasing my new product! 🙂 – Yours, Ido Jansen
Thanks for sharing Ido 🙂
I truly appreciate your feedback!
In regards to the Microsoft example used, I think (I will double check to confirm) I said “not perfect”… by which I did not mean “bad”. I myself love Microsoft, so even though a lot of people say “they suck”, I’d find a reason to defend them. Not so much these days anymore with apple being what it is etc, but you get my point 🙂
Just thought I had to redeem myself lol
Konrad
Great post Konrad!
I have been testing different prices as well. Often my higher priced product sell better than the lower ones. Many people connect low price with lower quality with certain products I think. Maybe having a mixture is a good way to start creating a relationship with a buyer. They may be more likely to buy a low priced product from you first, than after seeing the quality opt for the more expensive ones!
Very well put!
I read of one guy who was trying to sell his report for $17 and it just did not want to sell. So he tried giving it away in an effort to gain at least some free subscribers with it. That too did not work so well. He got frustrated and slapped a $97 price tag on it, and all of a sudden he was starting to get sales.
How much of it is true, I don’t know. But I do know that a LOW price can make that first impression less impressing.
Good thoughts,
Konrad