So, last week for my birthday I reduced the price of 3:16 to $3.16. Well, it was my 36th birthday, which is almost 3:16th...
The promo ends at the end of today and it's been interesting.Up till the 10th of December I'd sold 6 PDFs this month through OBS of 3:16 and nothing else. That's not too bad.
Then the sale hit and the numbers jumped.
I figured that Graham has done some of this price-dropping to tip maybes into yesses. He had success with this on Play Unsafe. I sort of wanted to spread the book out there and also get it on the radar again. I also wanted to get income from it. This was not about just giving it away (the illegal torrents do that just fine...) and I figured if I could see 40 discounted PDFs I'd be happy. That would mean my monthly income would be about what I was expecting.
I'll post the final numbers tomorrow if I can, and hopefully I can break them down by day. For the moment the OBS totals are 118 Three Sixteens and 2 Best Friends. Lifetime this puts Three Sixteen on 993 print and PDF copies.
So, my initial analysis is that it's been a success. Whether that's at the expense of ongoing sales i'll have to see. My a priori feeling is that these are mostl sales tha wouldn't have tipped otherwise.
2009
Submitted by Neil Gow on Wed, 17/12/2008 - 22:11.
I've been thinking about stuff like this for next year. I've timed things wonderfully for the next few years - 200th anniversary of this Battle and that Battle etc. This data is crucial though - thanks for sharing Gregor.
993? Well done that man.
Neil
Take the King's shilling at http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/
Putting my marketing head
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Wed, 17/12/2008 - 22:43.
Putting my marketing head on, I figure you're correct in your assumption about sales now vs. ongoing sales. At that price level, the vast majority of customers will be those in the 'slightly interested' or 'buy on a whim' categories. The really positive thing will be converting some of those casual buyers into advocates for the game, which will doubtless happen with a handful of people.
It's a great total to have reached, unprecedented for a CE-associated product (OK, so Cold City is well over 1000 copies, but it took us two years to get there!). 3:16 reflects well on all of us and we should all take pride in the fact that one of our own has done so well.
Cheers
Malc
Contested Ground Studios
Congrats, Gregor, really
Submitted by Per Fischer on Thu, 18/12/2008 - 00:15.
Congrats, Gregor, really well done!
I would listen to Malc when it comes to marketing - there's also another thing, marketing-wise: selling a product that your potential customer base will want to buy. I think 3:16 rings that bell 110%. And sugar on top. And I don't mean lowering yourself to some shitty level of "this wouldn't offend anyone on rpg.net", no, 3:16 doesn't cut any corners there, AT ALL. But hitting the spot does help your sales - I imagine that's why BW/BE/MG are solid successes as well.
I'm kind of tempted to buy seven copies of 3:16.
http://darkplaces.wordpress.com
Thanks!
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Thu, 18/12/2008 - 10:54.
OK, so I switched off the sale this morning (so it was end of 17 Dec US time) and we have reached exactly 1000 sales (620 in the third quarter and 380 so far this quarter).
The OBS numbers for Three Sixteen are:
Pre-Sale (1-10 Dec): 6
Sale (10-17 Dec): 119
Total This Month (Dec to date): 125
Total Lifetime on OBS: 322
I also had 2 Best Friends purchases occur during the sale window.
Breakdowns by day are:
10: 23 (RPGnet, Flames Rising, RPGnews)
11: 25
12: 16
13: 6 (weekend: Saturday)
14: 7 (weekend: Sunday)
15: 8
16: 24 (ENworld notified)
17: 10 (last reminders about the sale)
I note that my sales normally drop at the weekends, I don't know if anyone else has experienced that. So the fact that the sale numbers dropped at the weekend were to be expected.
I think with pdf sales,
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Thu, 18/12/2008 - 11:06.
I think with pdf sales, monday is the peak day - people are on the internet less at weekends (in theory), whereas on a monday morning they're busy browsing the internet whilst at work! At least, that's the theory - I always tried to coincide a release for a monday.
Neat
Submitted by Graham W on Sat, 27/12/2008 - 11:38.
Congratulations, that's great.
Here is the thread on Price targeting, at the Forge, which explains the economic argument behind offering a discount from time to time.
My (rather opportunistic) method was, every time a thread started about Play Unsafe, I'd post offering a discount while the thread was active. That did work quite well.
Graham