Increase software downloads

The software industry has three major points to measure the success of the products:

• number of downloads
• number of licenses sold
  

We will address today only the first point: number of software downloads. What are the key factors that can affect these downloads?

Our webmarketing team released again a great article regarding how to increase the number of the downloads for a software product. The main factors are:

1. Let users know what they are downloading. Don’t surprise them!
2. Suggest the action: Download versus Try label
3. Don't ask for user details (or do it in an elegant manner)
   
4. How to handle a potential customer if interested
5. Get proactive feedback
6. How to manage the uninstall process

The entire article can be found on the Avangate website: The 66 Route to Selling Software Online

Enjoy!

Open source as an advantage

Nokia announced today they will be acquiring (for $410 million) the remaining 52% of Symbian they don’t own. Thus, the Symbian platform will be released under the Eclipse open source license.

The big question now is how Android will respond on this one?

In my opinion Nokia made a great move by releasing Symbian as open source: the mobile applications made for Nokia phones will explode on the market :)

License renewal links - how to

During a meeting today we received a request to include into IPN (Instant Payment Notification) the license renewal link. The answer is very simple: the information is already there and the renewal link can be build very easy.

How the link looks like
https://secure.avangate.com/renewal/?LICENSE=license_code&COUPON=renewal_discount

Note: the COUPON parameter is optional and it is used to give a discount for the renewal order; the active discounts can be retreived by accessing the "Renewal discounts" section inside Avangate Control Panel.

How to get the necessary information
Along with the IPN communication, Avangate is sending the license information, including the "license code" which is used in the renewal link. The variable is called "IPN_LICENSE_REF"

Note: Please make sure that this variable is activated to be included in the IPN; to verify it, go to Avangate Control Panel > Account Settings > IPN settings

Shorties for 9 months

After a long period, I decided to revive my notes.

Personal news
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* I got married :)
* I have a Twitter account

Avangate news
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Avangate has an office in Silicon Valley
* Avangate Control Panel has reached the 3rd version
* Download Insurance Service (DIS) has been launched in February
* Referrer report - now the website sources can be measured
* Auto apply discount - set the promotions to start for Christmas and go to holiday
* New order process available: checkout page with shopping cart functionalities
* A/B testing scenarios
* GBP, YEN, AUD and CAD available as billing currencies
* Sales Source Report - track the sales sources
* Backup CD in DVD box
* Product upgrade - upgrade options for customers
* Avangate CodeBox - manage & protect software licenses by using AntiFraud, Uniloc and License management modules
* more to come...