u/CarePsychological749

63 days ago, I launched my SaaS on AppSumo (a marketplace for SaaS lifetime deals). The campaign ended yesterday.

In this thread, I will share the good, the bad, and what I'd tell AppSumo to change.

Let's start with the numbers:

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📊 THE NUMBERS:

→ $517,500 in sales (around 40-50% is ours)

→ 3,640 paying customers

→ 119 reviews (4.6 rating)

→ 14,5% refund rate

============

✅ THE GOOD:

• Sendpilot went from unknown to being mentioned regularly in GTM conversations.
• We built a community of 525 Slack members and 6,000+ email addresses. Many of them will help grow Sendpilot.
• We will have capital to invest in marketing, SEO, and hiring.
• SEO, mentions, and lots of positive reviews on G2 and on AppSumo.
• A few well-known companies signed up. We can use their logos for social proof.
• Fast user feedback, which helped us achieve PMF and build a clear roadmap. We have clarity that we didn't have before.

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⛔ THE BAD:

• Refunds ended at 14.5%. The first month it was 2.5%. A campaign bug, support overload, and burnout pushed it up fast. We lost around $142,000 in sales because of this :/
• Support volume took over my day completely.
• 3 competing tools launched on AppSumo midway through the campaign. This also spiked refunds and demotivated us from promoting the AppSumo deal.
• We had to pay 3 salaries and infra costs out of our pocket since we don't get the payout until June. We knew this beforehand, but it held us back from promoting the deal.

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😢 THE REGRETS (what I'd do differently):

• Build a help center before launching. 90% of tickets asked the same questions.
• Hire a support rep before day one, not after.
• Prepare in-app upsells before going live.

============

🤝 THE APPSUMO EXPERIENCE:

Worth it. I'd recommend it. But it's not passive. You need a solid product and the willingness to grind.

Three things I'd suggest they change:

1. Reduce campaign length from 60 to 30 days. We made 60% of sales in the first 14. The last 46 days were slow and drained the team. Shorter campaigns keep energy high.
2. Don't launch competing tools during an active campaign. Midway through ours, similar tools went live on AppSumo. It hurts partner morale and splits the audience. Partners should feel protected during their window. Another reason to reduce campaign duration.
3. Build a partner app with purchase notifications. Dropshippers talk about the first sale notification as a special feeling. AppSumo partners deserve that too. It's a small thing that would make a real difference to motivation.

Our AppSumo campaign is officially over!

Here's the good, the bad, and what I'd tell AppSumo to change.

FYI: my product is Sendpilot AI.

============

📊 THE NUMBERS:

→ $517,500 in sales (around 40-50% is ours)

→ 3,640 paying customers

→ 119 reviews (4.6 rating)

→ 14,5% refund rate

============

✅ THE GOOD:

• Sendpilot went from unknown to being mentioned regularly in GTM conversations.
• We built a community of 525 Slack members and 6,000+ email addresses. Many of them will help grow Sendpilot.
• We will have capital to invest in marketing, SEO, and hiring.
• SEO, mentions, and lots of positive reviews on G2 and on AppSumo.
• A few well-known companies signed up. We can use their logo's for social proof.

============

⛔ THE BAD:

• Refunds ended at 14.5%. The first month it was 2.5%. A 3-day campaign bug, support overload, and burnout pushed it up fast. We lost around $142,000 in sales because of this :/
• Support volume took over my day completely. I missed DMs and opportunities I'll never get back.

============

😢 THE REGRETS (what I'd do differently):

• Build a help center before launching. 90% of tickets asked the same questions.
• Hire a support rep before day one, not after.
• Prepare in-app upsells before going live.

============

🤝 THE APPSUMO EXPERIENCE:

Worth it. I'd recommend it. But it's not passive. You need a solid product and the willingness to grind.

Three things I'd suggest they change:

1. Reduce campaign length from 60 to 30 days. We made 60% of sales in the first 14. The last 46 days were slow and drained the team. Shorter campaigns keep energy high.
2. Don't launch competing tools during an active campaign. Midway through ours, similar tools went live on AppSumo. It hurts partner morale and splits the audience. Partners should feel protected during their window. Another reason to reduce campaign duration.
3. Build a partner app with purchase notifications. Dropshippers talk about the first sale notification as a special feeling. AppSumo partners deserve that too. It's a small thing that would make a real difference to motivation.

============

To our 3,640 customers: thank you.

To those who missed the lifetime deal: I hope you regret it 😉