Bumpasauras [review]

I had not heard of this plugin up until a day or two ago. I came across it because I saw Pat posting about it a lot in the affiliate groups and in the MunchEye Facebook group. I had known Pat a bit since he did launch management for two of my Aussie friends who also launch WordPress products (the Stringers), so I decided to hit him up for a review copy and check it out.

Now after looking at it I have to say: every once in a while I come across an exceptional product, one that’s not only based on a sound concept but also is polished with excellent execution. Bumpasaurus is neither. It a ridiculous concept (that Pat himself does not even use) coupled with sloppy execution. In fact its main value is as a learning tool showing us all how not to create a product.

First let me explain the concept of this plugin. It’s designed for people doing product launches and bills itself as a ‘new twist’ on the proven technique of dime sales. The idea is that instead of just putting a purchase button on your site you set up a ‘sequence’ of purchase buttons so that your price increases on a ‘per visitor’ basis. For example I can offer you personally a product with this at say $10. But then if you dont buy it and happen to come back to the sales page instead of seeing a $10 price you will see a $15 price, then if you dont buy and come back a third time you might see a $20 price and so on as much as I like.

I’m going to put aside the fact that this plugin like so many others has no support at all built into it. No tutorials, quick start or even a way to contact customers service and instead jump right into the concept.

It makes no sense at all. First of all how are these people going to get back to my site at all? This cant help with that. But lets assume that somehow people who visit my sales page do manage to find their way back to it. Why in the world would I want to show them a higher price then what I did before? This totally goes against basic sales strategy.  Think about it, lets say you go to a electronics store looking to buy a new TV. You see a nice 60 inch that would just look great in your living room. The sales person tells you its $1000 for today only. You like the TV but you decide to pass on it, the price is just a bit high for you right now. Three days later you go back to the same store and the same sales rep runs up to you and says ‘Hey great news, that TV is $1500 now, for today only!” .. tell me are you going to jump to grab it now? Probably not.

Basic sales strategy is to offer people a discount if they don’t make the initial purchase, not to raise the price and offer them the same thing again at a higher cost. Its silly to think that would work. This also shows that  Pat does not fully understand the concept of a ‘dime sale’. Dime sales are designed to create urgency. “If you dont buy this now the price will go up”. Sure Bumpasauras can create the same urgency but it does not do it any better than a normal dime sale does and since dime sales are something that are built into every affiliate network there is no need to buy a plugin to do it for you.

But what if your using PayPal and not using an affiliate network? Well then I guess it might be slightly useful to create urgency and be honest about it (if the price does not really go up your lying). But even then your kind of being a jerk. Since the price only went up for 1 person and not for everyone. You see Bumpasauras uses a cookie to raise the price for just the one return visitor not for everyone (like a real dime sale). So basically that one guy will see the higher price while everyone else sees the lower price. In essence the price didn’t really go up. Your just charging that one guy more. That is your ‘rewarding’ him for coming back to your site by charging only him more.

Now this plugin might have some use if you do the exact opposite of what they designed it for. If you set the price of your product at say $10 an then if they came back offered them a 1 time discount deal for slightly less (like $8) and then if they pass on that from then on the price goes back to the $10 amount. That would make a lot more sense. As I said this is the exact opposite of what the creators of this plugin designed it to do.

But even then there are problems with the plugin. You see it cant actually ‘raise’ or ‘lower’ the price. What you have to do is add a new product for each price point. For example if your using JVZoo or W+ for your affiliate platform, you would have to set up a new product, with a new funnel for each front end price point. Also affiliates would have to get approved for each front end product. Sounds like a lot of work for the vendor to me and I can guarantee you that the affiliates are not going to like having to get approved for a bunch of FE products. Also which one do they mail out for to ensure they are properly cooked? What if they miss on of them, mail out a promo for your product, but your seeing a buy button for a higher priced / product because you where on the sales page earlier? They could loose their commission. Its just a lot of nonsense, work and hasle with almost no benefit at all.

As for the plugin itself. It is functional but it is also featureless. Also it is of course only usable if you actually use WordPress for your sales page.

The sales copy for this plugin is much better than the actual product. It makes some big claims about how you can “Give Your Buyers An Almost Uncontrollable Urge To Click Your Buy Button”. Umm yea right. Interestingly enough Pat does not use this plugin on his sales page for this product. I guess he does not want his buyers to have that uncontrollable urge to buy eh. I asked him why he does not use it himself. He side stepped the question.

So what do I think about this plugin over all? Well obviously I dont suggest that people buy it. I have to believe that they made this quickly without any real thought because there is no way someone with IM experience can honestly think this is a good idea. I really think they spent more time on the sales copy and video then they did on the plugin.

What we can do though is use this as a learning experience.When you create a product it must be based on a sound concept. You have to really think it through. Then you need to test your concept to make sure its a good one. The best sales copy in the world is not going to mean much if your product is based around a sketchy concept with no proof.

The creators of this product made several mistakes:

1) Poor concept

2) No research of concept prior to sale

3) Poor execution (of the poor concept)

4) Tried to compensate with overly hyped up sales copy.

5) Priced way to high

6) Limited target market to sell to

.. and they a reaping the fruit of these mistakes.

They are getting very little traffic to their sales page, and the traffic they are getting is converting horribly.

When thinking of a product idea always remember it must:

1) Solve an actual problem that people have

2) Be well made and flexible

3) Have a large potential audience

These are three key things a good product needs to touch on. Bumpasauras misses each one of them.

I have said it many times that product launching is a very good thing to do and Im glad that Pat is moving back from just managing other peoples launches to creating his own products under his own name. But this is a WordPress plugin that the world could just do without.

an Give Your Buyers An Almost Uncontrollable Urge To Click Your Buy Bu

A quick note about the reviews I do on this site. The product vendors give me access to their products for free in order for me to do my review. However I make no promises to them regarding the results of my tests or what I will write in my review. Should you click a link that takes you to a sales page for a paid product for sale this link will be an affiliate link and I will be paid a percentage of the sales price should you decide to invest in it.

About the Author

Brett Rutecky

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Brett Rutecky is a full time online marketer, web developer, and entrepreneur. He has developed scores of Facebook apps, dozens of custom web sites and hundreds of scripts.

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