How we Helped a Software Developer Convert 52% of its Target Market in 2 weeks

The Client
AccountingPower was a company run by Matthew Jones, who was an MYOB Certified Consultant.

Matthew had developed a piece of software that could extract data from an MYOB file then analyse it to produce reports that weren’t possible with the standard MYOB application.

First we helped Matthew name his business, then derive the name of the software.  Our derivation process arrived at “PerfectReports”.

The Challenge

How to achieve quick growth for Perfect Reports sales on a budget of $3,000, taking into account the need for Matthew to remain working as a Certified Consultant while still finalising the programme.

With a limited budget it was apparent to us that other MYOB Certified Consultants should be Matthew’s main target market when launching PerfectReports.

They were the ones who would see the benefits most clearly and who could provide great leverage into the general market.  Each consultant had between 20 and 50 clients.  There were more than 400 of them.  This represented potential sales between 8,000 and 20,000 copies of the software.

We decided to produce a direct mail campaign and because Matthew had no time to follow up on the marketing effort, we needed to put as much as possible into the pack so that it did all the talking.

Even though we were keen to start selling the product, we realised that the other consultants would need an education into PerfectReports before they would resell it to their clientele.  So we didn’t push for a dollar sale as the outcome of the mail pack.

Instead, the ‘sale’ we sought was a sign-up to a trial of the product.  Interested consultants would receive a copy of the programme on disk, along with support notes.  The software would run for 4 weeks before requiring an unlock code.

By the time the trial period was up, Matthew would have more time to follow-up in person on the expected 60 respondents (anticipated 15% conversion rate).|

We designed new marketing collateral, derived the best possible headline after a user-perspective intro to the product and importantly, gave respondents several ways to sign up for the trial, to make it as easy as possible.  (It’s important not to limit the ways to respond too heavily, lest you make it too hard for some potential clients.)

We wrote the cover letter, and set up the mail merge before Matthew took care of printing the letter and arranging packing himself to save cost.

The Result

The mail pack generated a 52% response rate, more than 3 times what we had anticipated.  It gave Perfect Reports a great start in the market on a limited budget.

From these first steps, Matthew has gone on to create a thriving enterprise.