CoverLetterGPT Unlimited Access for $4.95 -- Good or Bad Pricing Strategy?
So the response to CoverLetterGPT.xyz so far has been way better than expected 🎉
Thanks for all your support, questions, and comments and helping get CoverLetterGPT featured on the IndieHackers newsletter
I just crossed 1000 users 🤯, so I decided to create a payment plan rather than accept tips only. It's $4.95 for lifetime unlimited access. I'm also giving away lifetime free access to people who have been recently laid off.
What do you all think of this strategy? Good, Bad? Too Much? Too Little?
I'd greatly appreciate any feedback! Thanks, all :)
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$4.95 for three months would be my take. A typical job search would last that long covered by a one-time payment. No real difference between 3-months and lifelong from a job-seekers perspective.
This is actually a great idea. Hadn’t thought about charging for the typical duration of a job search. Thanks 🙏
Glad I could help.
Please don't give out life-time free access. You have all rights and you should monetize for your efforts. In the same line, please don't have a paid plan for life-time access.
I feel it would be great to have $5 for 3 months since a job search typically last for few weeks to few months. If they get a job, it's done. If they are switching jobs in the future, they are gonna come back.
heard you loud and clear. switched to 3 months. Thanks 🎉
Hey Vince,
Aside from the question of if lifetime access even makes sense for your product and customers, it's worth considering the consequences of offering lifetime access.
You're on the hook for any support, for the life of the product, at no cost.
If you ever go to sell, having lifetime access customers will bite you in the butt, as nobody is going to want to take on maintain/manage/support those customers for free, as they will never see any compensation from them.
Changed!
Hey. These are all great points I never considered!
What would you suggest instead then. 3 months? 4 months?
Thanks so much 🙏
Just quick gut response says 3 months, seems like a reasonable amount of time for most people to get a job.
You could also add "just let me know at the end of the 3 months if you haven't found a job and I'll extend it".
Seems simple enough.
Yeah that's a good idea, as well.
I've just changed it to 3 months. Thanks again :)
Good luck!
How did you manage to develop such a tool?
I open-sourced the app's code. The GitHub repo is linked on the website footer.
I built it with https://wasp-lang.dev -- a super fast, no-boilerplate fullstack framework for React-Node-Express-Prisma. It's like Ruby-on-Rails for the PERN stack
Given that's a product I'd use occasionally, I don't think a subscription makes sense. One time payment of 5$ which helps me land a job? A bargain 👍
Alright, nice. Glad to know that makes sense. Thanks 🙏
Great idea! I think I will use it.
nice!
I would definitely not give a lifetime licence either. $5 is too low, you won't have any money for marketing. I would go with at least 10 or 15 dollars, one-time fee, with access fro 1-3 months. Don't undersell yourself.
what if I don't need marketing? this is a side project and I already have a steady stream of payments coming in.
with that said, I have listened to the good advice from people here and changed it to a 3 month license
Everything needs marketing :D
definitely. maybe ill change my opinion later, but I currently want to try marketing without paying for it
I love the idea of these types of GPT-based businesses but what makes it better than using ChatGPT? I was considering starting one in a different vertical but unsure how to market it as better than just buying the $20/month sub
You can control different parameters via the API that aren't available on chatGPT. I've open-sourced the code, so you can check it out yourself (link is in the footer of the website)
Aside from that I've had many people tell me that they were using chatGPT for this purpose, but that my tool has made it a lot easier. The fact that it saves jobs and allows to create multiple coverletters per job seems to resonate with people
Offering 1 free Cover Letter and charging for additional services may be more logical for a user, but overall this is an excellent tool! Congrats!
Thanks for the kind words 🤓
at the moment, I'm offering 3 free cover letters, as this allows them to play around with the settings and get a feel for the app.
Ah Vince.
Raise your damn prices :-)
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/youll-never-succeed-with-5-products-raise-your-damn-prices-552e384d91
Ok. If you stop writing articles with one sentence paragraphs, then i'll raise my prices.
Deal? ;)
Honestly, giving life-time access for free I've heard is a huge mistake. I think you'd be shooting yourself in the foot there.
Instead, why not give people 3-months access. That's about enough time to find a new job?
Yep. Many people suggested this so I already made the change. Thanks for your input
$4.95 for unlimited access to a cover letter service could be considered a good or bad pricing strategy depending on various factors such as the target market, the quality of the service provided, and the company's costs and revenue goals.
For example, if the company is targeting job seekers who are budget-conscious and have limited resources, a low price point could attract more customers and increase sales volume. On the other hand, if the company provides high-quality and personalized cover letter services, they may need to charge a higher price to cover their costs and generate profit.
Ultimately, the success of a pricing strategy depends on finding the right balance between customer demand and revenue goals. If the company can attract a large number of customers at $4.95 and still make a profit, then it could be a good pricing strategy. However, if the company is not able to cover its costs or attract enough customers, then it may need to reevaluate its pricing strategy.
https://chatgptdetector.co/how-to-make-money-with-chatgpt/
Love your insights on how considering a good or bad pricing strategy depends on various factors such as the target market. I also think that pricing can also depend on the future growth projection of the industry. The same goes for Chat GPT & Bard.
The cool addition going forward for you would be to also allow the applicant to have a mock 3-5 question interview based on the job description, the contents of their cover letter, company culture and history and the position itself. I believe that this would make the process complete (even though this is technically a different product).
Woh. Very cool Idea and definitely feasible. Thanks for the tip 🙏
Like it!
thanks :)
1 free Cover Letter and rest paid might make more sense to a user like me. But this is a great tool.
Thanks! Right now I have 3 free. Too much? If you could try it out and let me know I'd appreciate it 🙏
I think it makes sense. I thought for a moment that maybe 0.50 per letter could be better, but then I thought: this is 10 times less and by the time a user needs their tenth letter (or even much sooner) they might switch to a competitor.
On the other hand, 5 bucks isn't that much but a lifetime of something is an asset. So if you come up with another complimentary product where a subscription makes sense you can offer your existing lifetime license holders a reduced rate.
This is also a cool approach. Thanks for the feedback :)
I'm considering the same thing. I think customers would value just the one-time version. Other than that, maybe a freemium model could work?
Yeah it’s freemium at the moment
As said already, one-off payment would be great 👍
🙏