Software White Labeling – It’s All About Data & Control
Software White Labeling – It’s All About Data & Control
(Aviv Cohen, ShieldApps CEO – 9/30/2013)
Being in contact with the industry’s leading software distributors, super affiliates and affiliate program managers, I often get asked; ‘what is it that makes you guys different? How is your service better than others? Why would successful affiliates/distributors even bother to test your products and go through the migration process to operationally switch all efforts towards your software under their branding?’
My answer is usually very granular, detailing our pro’s in each and every aspect of the software monetization industry’s scene, as well as some niche specialties we have developed along time that are unique and do not even have a common ground with others to be compared to.
However, this post is not about comparing us to others. It is about the importance of some elementary services and back-end capabilities that we provide, and so should others.
Regardless of your business model, specific vertical or marketing approach – some elements are none-negotiable when it comes down to online marketing, cost-efficiency monitoring, conversion funnel optimization and distribution expansion;
You need a solid, real time analytics overview to draw your conclusions from, and hands-on administration panel to allow the adoption of the concluded action items.
So, that said, what is it really that matters? What tools does one need to completely understand the installation funnels and bottlenecks, abandonment reasons, geographical user-behavior differences and GUI importance? What do we provide that will essentially make your ROI higher, cost efficiency better, and marketing efforts laser-focused?
We provide 2 main elements that are far beyond any other alternative in this industry at this point. We provide a state of the art interactive administration dashboard and detailed real time data statistics.
Statistics-wise; the ShieldApps servers monitor each and every installation and analyses its geographical location, installation language preference, and of course the time stamp per the installation successful finish. We monitor the very same path for uninstallations as well, in order to better understand the users’ funnels and behavior, abandonment paths etc’.
How is that of any use to our partners? Very simple; marketing budgets, being what they are, are usually split into geo-targeted campaigns as well as both performance based budgets vs. branding budgets. Those drive traffic to your landing pages, generate installations and in turn, become successful sales.
Comparing install vs uninstall vs sales conversion rates per country and specific dates – that’s when it becomes a more complex task… However, taking a quick look in our admin system, you can drill down to the city-level data and review your install, uninstall and activations (sales) rates. This for once, is a huge leap from the virtually impossible handling of your average analytics data provider, if at all… furthermore, to the more tech-savvy distributors we can also provide install-start vs install-finish stats, failed installation rates etc’.
Once you have got the numbers down, it’s all about control. Real Time Control!
The past couple of years have been hectically busy for us. We have spent dozens and hundreds of thousands of dollars analyzing dashboards and administration panels, trying to separate the needed from the unneeded, from the must-haves.
We have derived a set of conclusions, which we have applied to our admin-dashboard configuration as a toolset for our white-labeling partners. A combination of statistics derived levers that provide maximum control over your software’s performance.
Do you have to drill down to the highest optimization resolution? No.
Do we recommend it? Definitely yes!
‘So, what are those important tools exactly?!’ I’m asked of course.
The complete toolset is obviously fully available to our white-labeling partners. It includes among other things;
>> A fully configurable checkout link-set, split into geo-groups, to provide a more granular pricing table, and the ability to utilize various checkout carts and currencies.
>> A detailed log of each and every installation, detailing each and every usable statistic that might come in handy to an analyst or simply as a better management tool when needed.
>> Keys management tool – allowing an instant cancellation and/or reset of currently active licenses out there, as well as some useful client management resources.
>> Conversion tools
>> Tip of the day text message – fully configurable and real time updated to the application users.
>> Footer banner – a graphic display of content, linked per your choice of outbound destination.
>> Daily splash message – which pops in a specific hour per the user’s OS time, prompting the user with either a marketing or a technical message.
>> 1-800 support link or numbers that drive calls to your choice of call center, again, all controlled per language of installation.
>> And more…
What other must-haves can we recommend to the white label software hesitants out there?
24/7 response time. Fully customized outbound links. Multi currency/adjustable checkout links. Variable 1-800 support numbers.
Those should get you started. But what you REALY want, is a partner that listens, and cooperates, and still has not forgotten that it is his/her job to help you, help them.