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How to make a perfect online sales plan for software products? Need tips from experts.

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A practical, testable sales plan for software breaks the big question into four repeatable pieces: who the buyer is, what the product’s clear benefit is, how to price and package, and which channels will deliver paying customers. That approach builds on ’s emphasis on value, ’s point about testing price points, and ’s leader-product idea—but turns those ideas into concrete steps that work long after this thread was posted.

Begin with customer definition and rapid validation. Create 1–2 buyer personas (problem, current workaround, decision criteria), then run quick market checks: 10–20 interviews, a focused landing page with a sign-up or “join beta” call-to-action, and a small paid pilot or smoke test. These simple signals separate real demand from wishful thinking before investing in distribution.

Choose a pricing model that matches the value pattern. Options include freemium (good for viral/consumer tools), time-limited trials (good when time-to-value is short), subscription (ongoing value or updates), or tiered/perpetual licenses for enterprise deals. Package by outcome—Basic/Pro/Enterprise—with clear, incremental benefits and an anchoring price. Use A/B tests for price and packaging, track trial-to-paid conversion, and collect qualitative refusal reasons when prospects don’t convert.

Pick 2–3 acquisition channels and instrument the funnel: content/SEO for discovery, paid search for intent, marketplaces/affiliates for reach, and an email nurture for trials. Define activation (the “A” in AARRR) so onboarding focuses on time-to-value—first success in minutes rather than days. Track CAC, conversion rates, churn, LTV, and payback period; run 4–8 week experiments, iterate based on cohorts, and prioritize retention levers (onboarding, templates, responsive support). Combining low-cost exposure with disciplined pricing experiments produces predictable, scalable sales over time—exactly the balance hinted at by earlier replies in this thread.

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Member Avatar for pgmco

I would suggest offering the product at a good value. Get exposure online and it will sell.

Member Avatar for jondog123

As pgmco stated since the industry is pretty competitive it's always a good idea to price the software at a good value to increase the chances of more people making purchases and talking about it which leads to further sales. However, if you have a groundbreaking product then you should really spend some time thinking about price points, ect. It's somewhat a guessing game and until the software is released it's hard to tell what customers will value it at.

Member Avatar for Sariscos

If there was a perfect sales plan for any product in any industry, then it would violate the nature of economics. Essentially what you want to do is bring the most exposure to your product for the lowest cost.

In my experience with software, the most successful companies offer freeware as what's known as a "leader product." What you want to get out of this leader product is brand exposure, product exposure, and company exposure. If your product is really hitting it off with the public then you can seek to diversify your product line and charge for new products, while still keeping your original product freeware. You may also consider charging for your product once it's successful.

It all really depends on the nature of what you're offering and what kind of business plan you have. There's many ways to approach a sales plan. Finding one that works for you will take a lot of trial and error. Best of luck to you.

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