Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 Vol. 24, No. 24 BUSINESS INSIGHTS FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS & PUBLISHERS Next month we ll be releasing the latest versions of the Softletter Financial and SaaS reports. Softletter subscribers will be able to purchase them for the nominal fee of $100 for the pair. Make sure your subscription is current! This fourth helping of our latest summary results from our 2008 Software Marketing Survey will help you ring in your budgetary 2009. Happy New Year to all our subscribers! Publisher & Managing Editor Merrill R. Chapman rickchapman@softletter.com 860/663-0552 Research Editor Lilith R. Chapman lilith@softletter.com 860/663-0552 Editorial office Soft letter 34 Sugar Hill Rd. Killingworth, Conn. 06419 Voice: 860/663-0552 Subscription office Aegis Resources 34 Sugar Hill Rd. Killingworth, Conn. 06419 Voice:860/663-0552 Fax: 860/663-0553 info@softletter.com www.softletter.com Summary Results from the Softletter 2008 Marketing Survey, Part IV of V Numbers are averages unless otherwise indicated. Percentage totals may not equal 100% because of rounding. PPC (Pay Per Click) Campaigns (cont.) How do you manage your PPC campaigns? (Please pick all that apply) We manage our PPC campaigns internally We use an external agency to manage our PPC campaigns 73 87% 4 5% We do both 7 8% The number of respondents indicating they manage ther PPC campaigns themselves is striking. It appears software companies can protect marketing budgets by not paying specialists to carry out these campaigns. Please rank the overall effectiveness of your PPC marketing programs Very effective 16 20% Somewhat effective 42 52% Somewhat ineffective 19 24% Very ineffective 3 4% Over the next 12 months, please indicate your company s budgetary plans for its PPC marketing programs We are expanding our PPC marketing budget We are decreasing our PPC marketing budget Our PPC marketing budget will remain the same 48 60% 4 10% 8 30% continued on page two
What % of your overall marketing budget do your PPC marketing programs represent? <1% 14 18% 1% to 5% 18 22% 6% to 10% 11 14% 11% to 15% 9 11% 16% to 20% 5 6% 20%+ 23 29% How much did your company spend on PPC marketing programs over the last 12 months? Amount Average $34,409 Website SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Does your company periodically optimize your website for keyword searches on search engines? Yes 93 65% No 51 35% How many keywords or keyword phrases did you optimize your website for over the last 12 months? One to three 4 5% Four to six 18 22% Six to 10 24 29% 10 to 15 17 20% 16 to 25 9 11% 26 to 35 2 2 35+ 9 11% Do you use a third party SEO firm(s) to optimize your website for keyword searches? Yes 27 29% No 66 71% Please tell us the name of your SEO firm Answers included CJ Search, GlobalTech, WebTrends, HubSpot, and Avanxo. 27 29% 12-15-08 SOFT LETTER 2
Please rank the effectiveness of your SEO firm(s). (Effectiveness is almost always measured by your targeted keywords appearing in top 10 positions on the major search engines, particularly Google) Very effective 11 42% Somewhat effective 11 42% Somewhat ineffective 4 15% Very ineffective 0 0% Over the last 12 months, of the increased traffic to your website generated from your SEO optimization, what % do you estimate converted to actionable sales leads? (Please provide a number ABOVE the baseline leads you estimate you would generate on your website with no SEO optimization) <1% 23 25% 1% to 1.5% 17 19% 1.6% to 2% 15 16% 2.1% to 2.5% 7 8% 2.6% to 3% 7 8% 3.1% to 4% 5 5% 4.1% to 5% 5 5% 5.1% to 6% 2 2% 6%+ 10 11% Over the last 12 months, what % of the increased SEO leads converted to sales? <1% 32 35% 1% to 1.5% 17 19% 1.6% to 2% 11 12% 2.1% to 2.5% 8 9% 2.6% to 3% 7 8% 3.1% to 4% 4 4% 4.1% to 5% 1 1% 5.1% to 6% 3 3% 6%+ 8 9% Aggregated, 39% of respondents indicated that they saw an increase of 2.1%+ actionable sales leads from their SEO activities, with 33% seeing 2.1%+ of these leads in turn convert to sales. Considering the relative inexepensiveness of SEO, our survey indicates that a company that does not invest in this marketing exercise will often be leaving money on the table. (continued on page four) 3 SOFT LETTER 12-31-08
How often is your website optimized for keyword search engine rankings? Occasionally (less than once a month) 70 77% Often (at least once a month) 21 23% Please rank the effectiveness of your SEO marketing programs Very effective 20 22% Somewhat effective 42 46% Somewhat ineffective 20 22% Very ineffective 9 10% Over the next 12 months, please indicate your company s budgetary plans for its SEO marketing programs We are expanding our SEO marketing budget 45 49% We are decreasing our SEO marketing budget 2 2% Our SEO marketing budget will remain the same 44 48% What % of your overall marketing budget do your SEO marketing programs represent? <1% 39 43% 1% to 5% 26 29% 6% to 10% 15 16% 11% to 15% 3 3% 16% to 20% 3 3% 20%+ 5 5% How much did your company spend on SEO marketing over the last 12 months? If your SEO efforts were generated internally, please estimate the number of hours spent on website SEO activities and multiply this by $50.00. (No decimals, please) Amount Average $6,988 Social Bookmarking Does your company implement social bookmarking on your website? Yes 10 7% No 133 93% Over the last 12 months, by what % do you estimate traffic to your website increased because of your social bookmarking programs? <1% 4 50% 12-15-08 SOFT LETTER 4
1% to 1.5% 3 38% 1.6% to 2% 3 38% 2.1% to 2.5% 0 0% 2.6% to 3% 1 12% 3.1% to 4% 0 0% 4.1% to 5% 0 0% 5.1% to 6% 0 0% 6%+ 0 0% Please rank the effectiveness of your social book marking programs Very effective 1 12% Somewhat effective 1 12% Somewhat ineffective 5 62% Very ineffective 1 12% Over the next 12 months, please indicate your company s budgetary plans for its social book marking programs We are expanding our social book marketing budget 0 0% We are decreasing our social book marking budget 2 25% Our social book marking budget will remain the same 6 75% What % of your overall marketing budget do your social book marking programs represent? <1% 6 75% 1% to 5% 2 25% 6% to 10% 0 0% 11% to 15% 0 0% 16% to 20% 0 0% 20%+ 0 0% How much did your company spend on social book marking programs over the last 12 months? Amount Average $1,087 Tradeshows Does your company exhibit at tradeshows? Yes 96 69% No 44 31% continued on page six 5 SOFT LETTER 12-31-08
How many tradeshows per year does your company exhibit at? One 17 18% Two 16 17% Three 9 9% Four 11 11% More than four 43 45% Over the last twelve months, how many actionable sales leads do you estimate you generated from your tradeshow programs? Responding Average 500 Over the last 12 months, what % of your tradeshow leads converted to sales? <1% 14 15% 1% to 1.5% 11 12% 1.6% to 2% 8 8% 2.1% to 2.5% 7 7% 2.6% to 3% 4 4% 3.1% to 4% 6 6% 4.1% to 5% 11 12% 5.1% to 6% 7 7% 6%+ 20 21% Please rank the effectiveness of your tradeshow marketing programs Very effective 17 18% Somewhat effective 62 65% Somewhat ineffective 13 14% Very ineffective 3 3% Over the next 12 months, please indicate your company s budgetary plans for its tradeshow marketing programs We are expanding our tradeshow marketing budget 25 26% We are decreasing our tradeshow marking budget 21 22% Our tradeshow marketing budget will remain the same 49 52% What % of your overall marketing budget do your tradeshow marketing programs represent? <1% 5 5% 1% to 5% 12 13% 6% to 10% 24 25% 11% to 15% 9 9% 12-15-08 SOFT LETTER 6
16% to 20% 14 15% 20%+ 31 33% How much did your company spend on tradeshow marketing programs over the last 12 months? (Please include all travel, booth, sponsorship, personnel and pre- and post-show activities when estimating this figure. No decimals, please) Amount Average $69,336 Trialware Software Does your company provide trialware software? Yes 60 43% No 79 57% How do you limit use of your trialware software? By X number of uses 0 0% By X period of time 42 70% By limiting the functionality of the software 13 22% Other, please specify (Answers included by X individual days of usage, and limited to demo URL. ) How long do you allow a customer to use your software before it ceases functioning or enters a limited functionality mode? 5 8% Less than two weeks 0 0% Two weeks to one month 17 40% A month to 45 days 16 38% 45 to 60 days 3 7% 61 to 90 days 2 5% 90 days+ 2 5% Other, please specify (Answers included advertise 30 days but may allow 90 days with sales team involvement. ) 2 5% Do you require downloaders to provide their E-mail address? Yes 47 78% No 13 22% Do you conduct follow up E-mail campaigns to people/companies who have downloaded your software? 7 SOFT LETTER 12-31-08 Yes 41 87% No 6 13% continued on page eight
How many follow up E-mail pieces do you send to trialware downloaders? One 16 34% Two 14 30% Three 5 11% Four+ 12 26% On average, what % of the provided E-mail addresses are invalid? (No decimals, please) Average 47 15.3% Do you illustrate your trialware in a retail-type box on your website, even though the product does not ship in or cannot be purchased in retail packaging? Yes 16 27% No 44 73% Colleagues made off with your last issue? Go to www.softletter. com. Click Subscriber Login in the upper right of the home page. To view the current issue and to search archives of hundreds of articles by keyword, topic, or issue date, log in and enjoy! Soft letter is published 24 times per year; entire contents copyright 2008 by Soft letter. All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means, without permission of the publisher, is prohibited. ISSN: 0882-3499. Subscription rates: $399 worldwide. Subscription office: Aegis Resources 34 Sugar Hill Rd. Killingworth, Conn. 06419 Voice:860/663-0552 Fax: 860/663-0553 info@softletter.com By what % does the use of a virtual box boost your downloads of your trialware software? We do not track this 16 100%.25% to.50% 0 0%.51% to 1% 0 0% 1.1% to 1.5% 0 0% 1.6% to 2% 0 0% 2%+ 0 0% What % of your trialware downloads convert to sales? <1% 9 15% 1% to 1.5% 4 7% 1.6% to 2% 2 3% 2.1% to 2.5% 1 2% 2.6% to 3% 2 3% 3.1% to 4% 4 7% 4.1% to 5% 7 12% 5.1 % to 7% 11 18% 7.1% to 10% 1 2% 10%+ 19 32% The 32% number for 10%+ is a bit of a surprise, but a quick drilldown shows a strong correlation in conversion to sales with an aggressive approach to follow up E-mail campaigns. 12-15-08 SOFT LETTER 8