Tools

Years ago, taking payments for subscriptions was hard. To be able to take credit/debit cards you would have become a merchant. Later came PayPal which allowed for a button to be put on your website, this was a good solution and it worked. Back then, apps were sold as a one-off payment, the same way you would buy video games from a shop back in the 80s/90s.

Today, apps are sold with a regular subscription. This helps spread the cost of the app for the user, but more importantly, it helps developers. Developing an app takes months, even years. The subscriptions give the developer a regular income. This enables a better support for the app being subscribed to but also, income while developing add-ons and new apps.

Stripe made taking payments and managing subscriptions easy. I am sure there are other solutions, but Stripe works for me. They pay me monthly, but this can be more regular and the dashboard tells me exactly where I am. Being able to predict next months income is reassuring, my focus should be on creating useful and reliable apps, not worrying about how I am going to pay my rent!

Being a small developer, being able to offer discount codes helps with sales. They are a very good way of getting new users to try the app. I always have a 30-day free trial, but if the users know they are getting a 30%, 50% or even 70% discount when they subscribe, they are more eager to try the app. Remember, the discount is only for the first year.

Integrating Stripe into your app is as simple as opening a webpage from a link or button. Stripe then takes care of the payment. Once successful, you can tell Stripe to come back to your app, which page, and with parameters so you can update the database with payment details. Simple!

I cannot recommend Stripe enough, give it a go. I do not get a commission or bonus for recommending Stripe, it works, that’s why you should use it.

Creating an app is very time-consuming. You have to decide which features are required at launch and what can wait till later. As you develop the app you think of new features or ways that you could do an existing feature better. I used to use a spreadsheet and have columns for each stage, and then I discovered Trello. I used the free version for a short while, but when I realised that I could use it for all of my customers as well as all my projects, I subscribed.

Trello is a Kanban style project management system whereby you add tasks (cards) to lists. You can mark the task as complete and you can move the task to a different list. I like Trello because it can work how I want to work. I Have different stages for customers (Urgent, To Do, In Progress, Show Customer & Complete) and for myself (Next, Pre-Launch, Complete, Marketing). Each project varies, but that is why I like Trello as it works for me.

The video below shows the final stages before the launch of Candid CRM. There is a lot to do and quite a lot more once launched.

I recommend having a column for completed tasks. Clicking the tick is nice, but to see how much you have done, especially when you are having a bad day, is a real motivator.

Give Trello a go! https://trello.com I am not a referral partner and will not benefit from you trying Trello, other than it will help you in your business. Did I mention that you can share boards? I use this with customers, hence why I have a list for “In Progress”, so the customer knows what I am doing. “Show Customer” is a list that I go through with the customer when we next meet.