How do you
market a
web application
or software?
Gabriel Deschênes, PDG of TagMyDoc, has agreed to share with us the various steps in the marketing of his web application by providing us with valuable advice. This advice could inspire entrepreneurs who want to plan the development and marketing of their own web application or software.
The TagMyDoc project was launched in 2011 by Gabriel Deschênes and his colleagues from Cité collégiale in Ottawa.
“In 2011, we were already hearing talk of the Cloud, through Dropbox for example. I wanted to find a way to use this new technology to help workers in their daily tasks.”
Today, the TagMyDoc application is used by several hundred businesses and is the only alert system that allows workers and their collaborators to use the most recent version of their documents at all times.
However, like all projects, TagMyDoc started from nothing. Here are seven recommendations related to the marketing path of this application.
“You want to market a web application or software, but you haven’t shared your great idea with anyone? Don’t even think of it,” said Gabriel.
“You want to market a web application or software, but you haven’t shared your great idea with anyone? Don’t even think of it,” said Gabriel.
The first thing that you should do is identify people you trust and who have a variety of skills, then contact them to present your project.
“An application can always be improved, because it will always be missing functions or fluidity. However, you don’t want to fall into the trap of waiting for everything to be perfect before you make your application available,” said Gabriel.
The imperfections of an application can be forgiven if the application is free and, most of all, if you make it clear from the beginning that it is a beta version.
“We gathered suggestions and comments from our users for three years before we actively promoted a paying version,” Gabriel revealed.
When users download or subscribe to your application, it’s in your interests to actively invite them to send you comments and suggestions.
The challenge is to maintain a balance between outside opinions and your entrepreneurial vision. According to Gabriel, sometimes it’s important to stick with your vision, even if it means contradicting the opinion of certain users. The winning formula is a combination of exchanges between your vision, your team’s vision and that of your users.
“Our team is located in Quebec, but not long after we launched our beta version, 95% of users were from the United States. That’s because we obtained huge media coverage on technology blogs, such as The Next Web, PC World and Techvibes. », Gabriel explained.
If the application designed by your team meets a real need and uses the latest technology, don’t think for a second that you’re the only one working on it.
Contrary to what your ego might make you believe, this is actually good news rather than bad. It means that journalists and bloggers are already interested in subjects related to your project. As soon as your beta version is available, contact these bloggers and join the discussion. The Web is perfect for that!
“It was while I was wracking my brains trying to distinguish DropBox from TagMyDoc that I understood that the "Tag" was the most important aspect of our product," Gabriel explained.
Repositioning is an optional step, but there are strong chances that by gathering user comments, analyzing their use of your application and identifying their activity sector, you will be lead to rethink the position of your product.
As for Gabriel, he understood that the first version of TagMyDoc, which focused on sharing documents via a Web platform, should evolve to meet a more specific need of businesses: lost time and efficiency related to document classification and using wrong versions. The primary goal therefore became to facilitate collaborative work by limiting distractions related to managing and searching for documents.
“Before, we didn’t focus at all on the “alert” aspect of our application. Now, it’s the focal point of our positioning.”
“We created a paying version fairly early, towards the end of 2012, but we didn’t really invest in converting from the free version to the paying version. That all changed in 2014,” Gabriel added.
Giving an application for free is fine, but at some point, the time you invested has to pay off. How do you make your application paying without frustrating users who use it for free?
“We allowed those who already had TagMyDoc to keep it for free, but all new users had to pay for it after a 30-day free trial period. That model worked well.”
“Our team quickly understood that the more transparent we made the application, the easier we would make it for users to solve usage problems on their own, and the less time we would we spend on technical support,” said Gabriel.
The efforts invested by the TagMyDoc team in the production of explanatory videos and documentation are paying off: despite a large volume of clients, the team receives very few calls for technical problems.
The Acomba team hopes that Gabriel’s path and advice will inspire entrepreneurs to develop an application or software and wishes the best of success to the entire TagMyDoc team!
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