Should You Try That Business Intelligence Software?

I remember a few years ago, emailing an e-commerce mentor…

“I hear everyone talking about using JungleScout for Amazon product research, but it’s $60. Do you think it’s worth it?”

His response was simply “Probably”, but I want to take a time machine to shout to my past self, ”Of Course It’s Worth A Try! Do It!”

In short: I bought the software, immediately used it daily, sped up product research 100 times, and revolutionized my entire business, including my core strategy. (Thank you JungleScout!)

I was lukewarm about spending money on a tool that…

1. I can’t sell (like inventory)
2. Doesn’t directly drive sales (like advertising)
3. Requires time to learn to use it (I’m already busy)

… but I’ve found that in every case, signing up for business software has always been the right decision, even if they don’t have a trial period and I need to pay to test the tool.

1. Usually, I immediately catch something that saves me either 100 hours or $1,000. (Often, this value isn’t visible until after I’ve taken a small leap of faith.)
2. The financial risk of SaSS is disproportionally low. $50/month that you can cancel at any time vs. the $5,000 you sent to China last week for inventory. Truly, we’re discussing 100X and 1,000X scales-of-magnitude differences.
3. Even if you find the software useless, your eyes are open to what tools other business owners are using and how they are thinking.

My Personal Track Record: ‘Worth It’ In Every Case

I didn’t want to spend $60 on JungleScout, but it sped up my Amazon product research by 1,000%.

I didn’t want to spend $40/month on Feedback Genius for follow-up emails, but now all my products receive new reviews, consistently.

I didn’t want to spend $30/month on SellerBoard to track per-product expenses, but I immediately saw (and turned off) a forgotten Buy-1-Get-15%-Off promotion that was costing me $1,000/month.

I was nervous about $97/month for Helium10, but I immediately found 500 top keywords that all my competitors were ranking for, cutting wasteful PPC spend by ~$1,000/month.

I signed up $83/month Viral Launch, but didn’t find much use for it and canceled my subscription. Still, using one of their SaSS tools for inspiration, I built a similar in-house tool that is valuable to me today, and I’m not paying them any subscription fee.

I can cancel any of these SaSS tools at any time (like Viral Launch) but with the measurable ROI I found after taking a small leap of faith, I don’t want to.