How to Sell Software Online: 21 Sales Tactics and Your Exit Options
Updated on November 9, 2026
There are two ways to sell software online: sell licenses or subscriptions to customers, or sell the software business itself to a new owner. This guide gives you 21 proven ways to win more customers, then shows how to value, prepare and sell your software business through Empire Flippers, which has sold 2,684 online businesses worth $600M+.
Running software as a service (SaaS) is a lot of work. There are many moving parts that you need to juggle as a CEO. Hopefully you’ve built the right team around you, but when you are just starting out your team might be stretched thin, taking on multiple roles.
The problem is that it’s really easy to get “stuck in the weeds” of running SaaS, and let bringing in new customers fall by the wayside. If you don’t have new business coming in on a regular basis, then before you know it, you’ll be out of revenue, and your SaaS will be dead in the water.
So how do you make sure you can keep everything running smoothly, while still bringing in new business?
Below are 21 ways to sell a SaaS product or other software more effectively and get more customers. If you are ready to sell the business itself, go straight to the section How to Sell Your Software Business.
Two Ways to Sell Software Online
Selling software online can mean two different things. Pick the path that matches your goal.
- Sell the product: you sell licenses, downloads or SaaS subscriptions to customers and keep ownership. Your goal is more customers, less churn and higher prices. The 21 tactics below cover this path.
- Sell the business: you sell the software itself, with its code, customers, revenue and accounts, to a new owner for a lump sum. This works for SaaS, apps and other software businesses with at least 12 months of profit.
Many founders do both. They grow sales first, then sell. Online businesses typically sell for 1.7x to 5x or more of 12 months of net profit, so every extra $1,000 of monthly profit can add $20,000 or more to your sale price.
21 Ways to Sell More Software and Get More Customers
These tactics apply to any software sold by subscription or license. Most come from SaaS businesses that grew their monthly profit before an exit.
1. Understand the Value of Your Product
You should be able to convince your prospect of the true value of your product. What are the benefits to your prospect, and how will your product help them achieve their goals?
This is where it’s important to understand your SaaS sales strategy and unique selling proposition (USP) and back it up with evidence of results to prove a positive return on investment (ROI) on your SaaS product. If you are having trouble articulating any of this to a prospect with confidence, you may need to go back and spend some time working it out.
2. Hire a Sales Team
If you don’t already have one, and you are making more than $20k a month, you need a dedicated sales person; if you are making more than that, a sales team and VP of sales might be in the cards. Having a sales team will free up your time from trying to sell your software and allow you to focus on other, equally important business development activities.
Don’t be cheap when hiring your sales team; a good sales rep will pay for themselves and more. But that doesn’t mean you should hire just anybody. Be selective; someone who would make a good virtual assistant (VA) doesn’t necessarily have the skills necessary to close a sale. If you outsource your sales to the wrong people, you risk doing more harm to your business than good.
3. Keep Your Trials Short
At first glance, you might think giving potential customers a long trial period for your product will increase the chances that they pay for your product. The truth is, a trial period longer than 14 days is likely hurting your chances of getting your prospective customers to commit.
People don’t use free trials for the full amount of time. A shorter trial creates a sense of urgency, and users are more likely to test as many product features as possible. The other upside to the shorter trial period is that it keeps the product fresh in their mind, so when it comes time to pay, they are more likely to go for it.
If you still have a low conversion rate after shortening your trial, try some of these strategies to nurse lost trial leads into activation.
4. Make Your Email Campaigns More Personal
People’s inboxes are slammed with emails every day, so it’s important that you are able to stand out and offer value, especially if they are prospects trialing your product for the first time.
Try making your communications with your customers more personal. Use real names in your email addresses rather than “Sales@yoursaas.com” or “admin@yoursaas.com.” It may seem like a small detail, but it’s the little things that can make a big difference when connecting with your customers.
5. Be Clever with Email Tracking
You can send emails based on your trial user or customer’s activity. Emails should go out in a number of situations, such as upon sign-up, if they visit the account cancellation page, or if their trial is coming to an end.
This way you can follow up with your prospect/customer and give them the nudge they need to pay for your product. It also shows that you care about how they are using your software and that you are actively looking at ways to improve their user experience.
6. Don’t Be Afraid to Use the Phone
Bring up email autoresponders and automations to any online business owner, and they’ll talk your ear off about how great they are for selling their products. But mention getting on the phone, and you can watch the blood drain from their faces with the horror of speaking to another person one-on-one.
Not all your prospects will want to get on the phone, but speaking to people directly can have a massive impact on converting a prospect into a paying customer. The phone is a great way to quickly qualify or disqualify someone, or for you to respond to any objections on the spot.
7. Use Short, Value-Focused SaaS Sales Demos
Product demos are often used to promote SaaS products; however, they are not always used well. A demo shows the value of your product to a prospect, but many people use demos as a training session on how to use it, which is a no-no (that’s for your onboarding process).
Focus on showing a prospect how your product is going to help them be more successful. Keep the demo short; if you can’t get the value of your product across in less than 15 minutes, then you are doing something wrong. You either don’t know your product, your prospect, or the value you are providing.
In some cases, the SaaS sales rep finishes the demo by saying thank you and never asking for the sale while the lead is hot.
Your demo is a sales tool, so at the end of the demo make it clear what the next steps are for them to pay for your software. The best time to ask for the sale is when your prospect has your product front-of-mind.
8. Follow Up With SaaS Sales Leads
The money is in the follow-up. You want to get either a clear yes or no. A maybe isn’t a no until it’s a no. So make sure you or your team follow up until your prospect gives you an answer one way or another.
Use a customer/client relationship management system (better known as a CRM) to manage this, or you can set up an automation in your autoresponder to do this. Set some rules so if they don’t respond to or open the emails, you get notified to follow up manually either by email or phone.
9. Nail Your SaaS Onboarding Process
You need to make sure that when your customers pay for your product, they are using it. How many times have you signed up for the gym, only to stop going after a month or two? What happens next? You cancel your membership after six months because you aren’t using it and are just wasting your money.
This is why it’s important to have an onboarding process as part of your sales cycle. Onboarding is how you make sure your customers are getting the most out of it so they don’t change their mind and cancel.
The complexity of your product will determine how involved you or your team need to be when onboarding. Fail this, however, and your customers will churn faster than a baby goes through diapers.
10. Increase Your Prices
While beating out your competitors on price may seem like a good way to get a head start in your industry, selling your product too cheaply may backfire, making many prospects question if you can actually deliver on your promises.
It costs the same amount of effort to acquire one $10 customer as it does one $50 customer, so why wouldn’t you want to bring in 100 $50 customers instead of 100 $10 customers?
Be confident in what your product can deliver and price your product according to the value you believe it provides. The value of what you can deliver to your customer should be what makes your product competitive, not its price point. If you never hear anyone say your software is too expensive, you’re probably not charging enough.
Higher prices also raise profit, and profit is what sets your sale price when you sell your SaaS business.
11. Understand Churn and How It Impacts Your Business
Churn is a metric that indicates how many customers have cancelled their subscription to your SaaS. It’s important you understand your churn rates and the impact they have on your business, as negative churn left unchecked can mean death for a SaaS.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Understanding churn will help you grow your business and generate higher profits. Learn what counts as healthy churn in our guide to average churn rates for SaaS.
12. Sell Prepaid Annual Plans
One way to reduce your churn and to get customers to commit long-term is to sell prepaid annual pricing plans. While monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is better when it’s coming in regularly, all it takes is a couple of failed payments and suddenly you’ve lost a customer.
Try offering your prospects discounted rates if they buy a prepaid annual plan, and show them what the discount looks like from month to month. Just be aware that annual pricing means you get all the money up front, so if you spend it all immediately, you’ll be waiting a whole year for the next lot of revenue to come in, rather than the next month, which affects your monthly cash flow.
13. Avoid Giving Discounts
Offering a discount is a common practice to get buyers over the line, however in SaaS these discounts cause a much higher loss in revenue as they compound over time. Think about it; if your customer would’ve been paying $100 a month and you gave them a 10 percent discount, in a year you’ve forgone $120 of revenue. Doesn’t sound too bad right?
But if your average lifetime value (LTV) is five years, that’s $600. Now imagine if you gave that same discount to 2,000 of your customers. Suddenly you are missing out on $1.2 million in revenue over five years! That’s some serious moolah.
It also makes it tough to explain to loyal customer ”A” why new customer “B” managed to get a great deal while they got stiffed on the price. Avoid offering discounts outside of prepaid or annual plans, if you can.
Sometimes a discount makes sense when the upside is big enough. For example, if you have customers or prospects that are very large businesses, locking them into a longer-term contract at a discount can make a lot of sense for guaranteed revenue. Kind of like a long-term property lease.
14. Don’t Sell for the Sake of Selling
It’s tempting to just get as many people as possible signed up for your app; however, the wrong customer is only going to churn as soon as they realise that your product is not for them, costing you money and time spent trying to get them onboarded.
These unqualified customers end up being a real headache, and they’ll have a ton of complaints and take up a lot of your support team’s time. Focus on the long term and make sure you are selling to your ideal customer who is going to get a ton of value from using your product.
You can’t be the ideal tool for every customer, which is why it’s important to understand your ideal customer and focus on spending your energy on finding them, not on filling some arbitrary sales quota.
15. Know Your Ideal Customer’s Software Stack
You and your sales team must have an understanding beyond just your own software. Not only do you need to know your own product front to back, but also how it complements other products and how it can fit in or even integrate with your ideal customer’s existing software stack.
By the same token, make sure you clearly understand what differentiates you from your competition and what your USP is.
16. Build Solid Long-Term Relationships With Your Customers
When your entire business lives online, sometimes it’s hard to build any kind of relationship with your customers. That’s why it’s imperative you and your team have great written and spoken communication skills.
You or your sales team should be able to reassure prospects that your business will be around for the long term and is not a fly-by-night operation. When a customer decides to use your software, they should see it as a long-term investment in their own business.
When you have a high level of rapport with your customer base, it makes it easier to increase your revenue through upsells or add-ons, or even bring in new business through referrals and testimonials.
17. Upsell or Upgrade Your Existing SaaS Customers
It costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep one. You’ve already spent time and money acquiring your existing customers, so it makes sense to try to increase their LTV by getting them to spend more money with you. So if you can upgrade your existing “warm” customer base, then you will not only save time, but also money on customer acquisition costs.
You can make this even easier by utilizing automated surveys if you have a large customer base, or personal calls or email outreach if you have a relatively small one. This way you can get a feel for what their needs are, and help identify if they may be on the wrong plan or if there is an add-on you offer that could help them out. Always find ways to improve their experience, and if you can make money in the process that’s perfectly OK.
18. Consider Visiting Customers If Necessary
While it may not be feasible to visit all of your customers, a personal visit can reap many rewards for the SaaS that goes the extra mile.
When you can see a customer successfully using your software to achieve their goals, it can help wash away any lingering doubts you may have had about the value of your product. You also get to see first-hand how your customers are using your products, which can reveal use cases you had not anticipated.
Sometimes people are so busy they don’t have time to report all the bugs and problems or any suggestions for improvements. An in-person visit gives your customers the opportunity to get real and talk to you about issues they may have been having.
19. Turn Outages Into Opportunities
There is nothing worse than when a piece of software core to your business goes down inexplicably, and all you hear from the support team is crickets.
When you experience the inevitable system outage that happens to everyone, use it to show your professionalism and transparency and that your team can be relied upon. Sure, you’ll get some people complaining, but you will have way more praise than criticism if you keep open lines of communication during a crisis.
20. Talk to Newly Churned Customers
When customers churn (cancel their subscription), many SaaS businesses either don’t have a process in place to handle it or choose to ignore it. It can be tough to take criticism, but one of the best things to do is reach out to newly churned customers to find out why they left.
Most people use automated emails to handle this, but many previous customers don’t bother responding to these emails, or if they do, they’re vague about their reasons why. Calling a churned customer can be a great opportunity to get some honest (and sometimes brutal) feedback about your product that could help prevent or reduce churn in the future.
You may even be able to win the customer back.
21. Know When to Fire Your SaaS Customers
When you are first starting out, your first few customers can be the most important. They’ve provided you with validation and proof that your business is legit.
However, as your business grows and changes its direction, sometimes an old customer is no longer the right fit for your business. Sometimes they become a distraction or a drain on your resources.
Knowing when to let go of a customer that is no longer a good fit can be painful in the short term. But by clearly defining your ideal customer and eliminating customers who don’t suit your customer profile, you can redirect your limited resources to better serve the people who will support the direction and growth of your business.
How to Sell Your Software Business
Selling the business means a new owner takes over the code, customers, revenue and accounts. It suits founders who want to exit, start a new product or take profit from years of work. The steps below follow the process Empire Flippers uses on every software sale.
Best Places to Sell a Software Business
- Private sale: you pay no commission, but you find and vet buyers, negotiate and run the transfer yourself. Your brand is exposed unless you hide it until buyers are verified.
- Self-serve listing site: you post the listing yourself and handle buyer questions, offers and the handover.
- Curated marketplace or broker: a team vets the business, markets it to verified buyers, negotiates the deal and runs the migration.
Empire Flippers is a curated marketplace with thousands of buyers who get weekly emails when new businesses are listed. Your URL stays hidden, and only buyers who verify their identity and proof of funds can unlock the listing. See how to sell your SaaS business, or for mobile and web apps, how to sell an app.
How Software Valuations Work
Most online software businesses are priced on profit, not revenue: 12 months of net profit × a multiple, typically 1.7 to 5+.
Smaller businesses are valued on seller discretionary earnings (SDE), which adds back the owner’s salary and discretionary costs. Larger businesses are valued on EBITDA. The multiple rises with business age, growth, recurring revenue, traffic diversity and email list size, and falls when one customer or the owner carries the business. Read how SaaS valuations work, or get an instant estimate with our free valuation tool.
Prepare Your Code, Assets and Documentation
To list with Empire Flippers, a business needs at least 12 months of earnings and at least $24,000 in net profit per year. Buyers pay more for a business they can verify and run without you. Before you list, prepare:
- A monthly profit and loss statement with revenue, expenses and net profit, and revenue split into MRR and ARR
- Churn rate, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV) across the full operating history
- Read-only Google Analytics or Clicky access for verified buyers
- Documented code and standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Employee and contractor agreements, plus freelancer contact details
- A payment processor that transfers cleanly. Move away from PayPal before you sell if you can
- A list of every asset in the sale: domain, code repositories, hosting, software licenses, email lists and intellectual property
Keep business finances in their own accounts, apart from your own money. For the full checklist, see how to prepare your online business for sale.
Due Diligence and Buyer Proof
Every Empire Flippers listing is vetted for ownership, revenue, traffic and plagiarism before it goes live. Buyers must verify their identity and show proof of funds before they see sensitive details. Once you accept an offer, due diligence typically takes 14 days. The buyer checks your numbers, code and accounts, and neither side makes major changes to the business during that time. For listings over $100K, buyers can also book a call with you, and on deals above $300K their Business Advisor joins the call.
Deal Structures, Contracts and Transfer
Every Empire Flippers marketplace deal is an asset purchase. The buyer acquires the listed assets and takes on only the liabilities named in the asset purchase agreement. On larger deals, part of the price can be paid later through an earnout, and Empire Flippers holds the domain until the balance is paid. Compare the options in our deal structure guide.
After payment, the Empire Flippers migrations team transfers the domain, hosting, code, content and monetization accounts to the buyer at no extra cost. The transfer and payment to you take about three to eight weeks on average, and sellers typically give at least 30 days of email support after the handover. Ask a tax advisor how the sale will be taxed where you live.
What It Costs to Sell
There is no listing fee. You pay a success fee only if the business sells:
- Sale price up to $70,000: flat $10,000
- First $700,000 of the sale price: 15%
- Portion from $700,000 to $5M: 8%
- Portion above $5M: 2.5%
For example, a $1M sale pays $129,000 in commission. Run your own numbers with the commission calculator.
How to Speed Up a Sale
Businesses listed on Empire Flippers sell in an average of 129 days, and businesses under $100K tend to sell faster. To shorten your timeline:
- Have your P&L, analytics access and code documentation ready before you submit
- Price within your valuation range, not above it
- Answer buyer questions quickly, and record a seller interview if your listing is over $300K
- Consider an earnout on larger deals if it brings a stronger offer
- Cut owner dependency with SOPs so a buyer can run the business from day one
Listings run with a 2-month exclusivity period, one of the shortest in the industry. Have more questions? Read the seller FAQ.
Sell your Business Free Valuation
How to Sell Software Online: Frequently Asked Questions
How can I sell my software online?
You can sell software online in two ways: sell licenses or subscriptions to customers, or sell the whole software business to a new owner. To sell to customers, set up checkout and delivery, then use free trials, short demos, email follow-up and phone calls to convert leads. To sell the business, value it on 12 months of net profit and list it with a broker or a curated marketplace such as Empire Flippers.
How do you sell a SaaS product?
Sell a SaaS product by showing its value in short demos, keeping free trials to 14 days or less, and following up with every lead until you get a clear yes or no. Emails sent from a named person, phone calls and a strong onboarding process all raise conversion. Once revenue passes about $20,000 a month, consider hiring a dedicated salesperson.
How do you increase SaaS sales?
Increase SaaS sales by selling more to existing customers as well as finding new ones. Upsell and upgrade current users, offer prepaid annual plans, avoid habitual discounts and price on the value you deliver. Track churn and talk to customers who cancel, because keeping a customer costs less than winning a new one.
Can I sell my software business online?
Yes. Empire Flippers lists SaaS, app and other software businesses that have at least 12 months of earnings and at least $24,000 in net profit per year. Your URL stays hidden, buyers verify their identity and funds before they see details, and the migrations team handles the transfer. Start on the sell your business page.
How much is my software business worth?
Most online software businesses are priced at 12 months of net profit times a multiple, typically 1.7 to 5+. The multiple depends on business age, growth, recurring revenue, customer concentration and how involved the owner is. Get an instant estimate with the free valuation tool.
What documents do software buyers ask for?
Buyers ask for a monthly profit and loss statement, read-only analytics access and proof of revenue. For software they also expect MRR and ARR, churn, customer acquisition cost and lifetime value figures, documented code, SOPs and contractor agreements. Having these ready before you list shortens due diligence.
Can I sell software with one major customer?
Yes, but it usually lowers the price. Customer concentration is one of the factors that sets the value of a software business, because losing that one customer would cut revenue sharply. For client-based service businesses, Empire Flippers requires that more than 50% of income comes from multiple clients.
Should I sell software as an asset sale or share sale?
Every deal on the Empire Flippers marketplace is an asset sale. The buyer acquires the listed assets, such as the code, domain, customer accounts and intellectual property, and takes on only the liabilities named in the asset purchase agreement. Ask a tax advisor how an asset sale is taxed in your country.
How long does a software sale usually take?
Businesses listed on Empire Flippers sell in an average of 129 days, and businesses under $100K tend to sell faster. After you accept an offer, due diligence typically takes 14 days. The transfer and payment to the seller then take about three to eight weeks on average.
How much does it cost to sell a software business?
Empire Flippers charges no listing fee, only a success fee when the business sells. The fee is a flat $10,000 for sales up to $70,000, 15% on the first $700,000, 8% on the portion from $700,000 to $5M and 2.5% on the portion above $5M. Use the commission calculator to see your number.
Where is the best place to sell a software business?
The best place depends on deal size and how much work you want to do yourself. A private sale saves the commission but leaves vetting, negotiation and the transfer to you. A curated marketplace such as Empire Flippers vets the business, markets it to thousands of buyers, negotiates the deal and runs the migration. For larger companies, read how to sell a tech company.
Next Step: Find Out What Your Software Business Is Worth
Use the 21 tactics above to grow customers and monthly profit. When you are ready to exit, that profit sets your price. Empire Flippers has sold 2,684 online businesses worth $600M+, with no listing fee and a migrations team that handles the transfer for you.
Get an instant estimate with our free valuation tool, or sell your business and our team will review your listing. Want to buy instead? Browse SaaS businesses for sale or app businesses for sale.
Photo credit: VadimVasenin