Diving into Commercial Plugin Development

Matt Gibbs

WordCamp Asheville 2016

Congrats!

You have an idea for a great new plugin, or you built it already

Now what?

Can it sell?

Scratching your own itch

If you're building the plugin to scratch your own itch, then others will likely benefit from a solution too

Is there competition?

Competing products indicate a viable market!

Having no competitors could mean that the problem you're trying to solve has too small a market

Low barrier to entry

If your idea solves a legitimate problem and you feel has the potential to sell, there's not much stopping you!

Developers are extremely fortunate. Unlike most products, no capital is required to create a plugin!

Choosing the business model

Freemium

The plugin is free, but extra features (add-ons, support, or a separate "pro" version) costs extra

WooCommerce

Easy Digital Downloads

WP Job Manager

Premium

Paid plugin, with pricing that can vary based on:

• # of active installs
• Extra features (e.g. "pro" add-ons)
• Support response time

Gravity Forms

WP Migrate DB Pro

AffiliateWP

FacetWP

Hosting

Marketplaces

CodeCanyon, MOJO Marketplace

• [+] Excellent exposure
• [+] No up-front costs (hosting, etc)
• [-] Less control over website and pricing
• [-] Expensive sale fees

Self-hosted

• [+] Full control over your hosting environment
• [+] Full control over pricing, earn 100% of sales
• [-] Up-front costs (hosting, WP plugins)
• [-] No free exposure

EDD - Software Licensing ($82)

EDD - Stripe Payment Gateway ($49)

EDD - PayPal Express ($49)

For a $100 plugin...

On CodeCanyon, you'll earn $36 to $70 per sale

depending on exclusivity & cumulative earnings

If self-hosting, you'll earn $96.80 per sale

assuming a payment processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30

Getting exposure

• Promoting plugin updates via Twitter
• Submitting articles to Post Status / WP Tavern
• Retargeting (Perfect Audience)
• Email newsletter!

Setting the price

The magic rule is...

"Every plugin has a different value point and is targeted towards different audiences."

Phil Derksen

There is no magic rule

It's OK to experiment with pricing!

Who is your target audience, and what is their time worth?

If you're targeting developers and your plugin saves them 8 hours, it's not unreasonable to charge $199 or more

Support

"So you released your product and people started buying it. Congrats, and welcome to your new job in tech support!"

Josh Pollock

Email support or forums?

In theory, forums allow users to search for existing answers and help one another...

Email FTW

Email is more scalable

Email is easier for customers

Email doesn't suffer from information rot

HelpScout, Zendesk, Groove, Snappy...

HelpScout

Setting up for success

Provide excellent support

Happy customers are one of your best marketing assets

The Help Scout blog has great tips on providing support and dealing with difficult customers

Documentation matters

Developers will your see documentation as a gauge of your plugin's overall quality

Be concise, provide plenty of usage examples

Keep documentation up-to-date

Add screencasts

Screencasts help potential customers to better understand your product

Can help reduce support load

Increases buyer confidence in your product

Thank you!

@mgibbs189

https://facetwp.com

References

http://joshpress.net/want-make-commercial-wordpress-plugin/

http://philderksen.com/setting-your-wordpress-plugin-prices/