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Software as a service

For construction software: which shows, guides and demos lead to a signed subscription.

Construction software is bought by contractors, estimators and builders after demos, trade shows and a long look at whether it fits how jobs are run. Tally records the whole path from the first visit to the paid plan, including the QR code someone scanned at a booth.

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01How they sell

  • SubscriptionPer-user or per-company plans for estimating, takeoff, scheduling or project management, with annual terms for larger contractors.
  • One-offOnboarding, training days or a licence for a desktop estimating program, sold once.

02Payments it reads

  • StripePlans billed through Stripe Checkout or invoices after a demo; renewals and refunds are read.

What Tally can't read

  • Progress billing, pay applications and payments between contractors and owners inside your product aren't read.
  • Annual licences paid by cheque or bank transfer outside Stripe aren't counted.
  • Hardware such as tablets or site sensors sold through a distributor isn't read.

03Where buyers come from

  • Trade showsBooth visitors scan a QR code or look you up that evening; a UTM on the code keeps the show's credit, and Readable Direct catches those who type.
  • Estimating guidesSearches for how to estimate a job or a takeoff template bring estimators still doing the work by hand.
  • Contractor associationsAssociations and local chapters recommend tools to members through newsletters and events.
  • Construction YouTubeBuilders and estimators film their process, and their viewers arrive comparing it with their own.
  • Supplier referralsLumber yards and distributors suggest software to the contractors they supply.

04What Tally answers

  1. Do estimating guides lead to demo bookings?

    Count the demo form as a goal with data-fast-goal, and the goals view gives completions and converting visitors; a funnel from guide to pricing to demo shows where estimators drop off.

    Goals and funnels

  2. How long from first visit to a signed subscription?

    Path to purchase gives the median time and visits to purchase with a histogram of the spread; a demo and a trial on a live job lengthen it, and the histogram shows by how much.

    Path to purchase

  3. Did the trade show bring anyone?

    Booth QR codes with a UTM show as their own campaign, and visitors who type your name that evening land in Readable Direct as typed or bookmarked, so the days after a show can be read for both.

    Readable Direct

  4. Do estimators actually watch the takeoff demo?

    Engaged time counts only while the tab is in view and someone moved in the last 30 seconds, so a video page left playing in the background isn't taken for interest; compare buyers with everyone else on that page.

    What they read

  5. Why are some subscriptions unlinked?

    Coverage lists each reason, such as an invoice sent after a demo to someone the site never identified, with the fix: call identify on the demo form so the invoice links by email.

    Coverage

05Numbers worth watching

Goal conversion
The share of visitors who book a demo, by guide and by source, the step sales depends on.
Median time to buy
The median time from first visit to payment, which tells you how long a show's effect takes to arrive.
Visits before buying
How many times a contractor came back before buying, a measure of how much convincing the site does.
Coverage
The share of revenue linked to a visit, which drops when demo-led invoices go to people never identified.

06An example

Example

Path to purchase

Last 30 days · 105 of 124 new sales, the ones linked to a visitor

Median time to buy

3days

from their first visit

Median visits

3visits

the one they paid in included

Bought on the first visit

12%

13 of 105

Pages before buying

11

median pages viewed

Where buyers came from, and who closed the sale

105 new sales: where each buyer first came from, and the source credited with the sale.

50% of new sales were credited to the source that first brought the buyer in. Hover or focus a flow for its numbers.

  1. Googlecredited toGoogle26
  2. x.comcredited tox.com10
  3. Other (3 sources)credited toOther (3 sources)10
  4. Directcredited toOther (3 sources)9
  5. ChatGPTcredited toChatGPT9
  6. Other (3 sources)credited toNewsletter9
  7. Redditcredited toReddit8
  8. Googlecredited toNewsletter6

6 smaller flows in the table below.

Show the flows as a table
105 new sales: where each buyer first came from, and the source credited with the sale.
Brought them inCredited with the saleNew salesShare
GoogleGoogle2625%
x.comx.com1010%
Other (3 sources)Other (3 sources)1010%
DirectOther (3 sources)99%
ChatGPTChatGPT99%
Other (3 sources)Newsletter99%
RedditReddit88%
GoogleNewsletter66%
DirectGoogle55%
x.comGoogle55%
RedditGoogle33%
DirectReddit22%
ChatGPTGoogle22%
Other (3 sources)ChatGPT1<1%

Time from first visit to purchase

  1. 13Same visit: 13 sales (12%), bought in their first visit
  2. 13Same day: 13 sales (12%), a later visit, under 24 hours after the first
  3. 301–3 days: 30 sales (29%), 1 to 3 days after the first visit
  4. 194–7 days: 19 sales (18%), 4 to 7 days after the first visit
  5. 151–2 weeks: 15 sales (14%), 8 to 14 days after the first visit
  6. 102–4 weeks: 10 sales (10%), 15 to 28 days after the first visit
  7. 51–3 months: 5 sales (5%), 29 to 90 days after the first visit
  8. 03+ months: 0 sales (0%), 91 days or more after the first visit

Pages buyers saw before paying

Share of the 105 buyers who viewed each page before paying

  1. /pricing96%, 101 of 105 buyers
  2. /71%, 75 of 105 buyers
  3. /signup63%, 67 of 105 buyers
  4. /docs38%, 40 of 105 buyers
  5. /blog/stripe-fees26%, 28 of 105 buyers
  6. /compare21%, 23 of 105 buyers
  7. /changelog8%, 9 of 105 buyers
  8. /blog/launch-week5%, 6 of 105 buyers

Only new sales count here. Renewals and upgrades belong to the visit that won the subscription, so counting them would count that journey again.

Fig. 1Path to purchase on the example site. For construction software, read the right side of the histogram: buyers who took months, through a show and a demo, are counted there.

07Setting up

  1. Any HTML siteAdd the tag to the marketing site, the guides and the demo booking page.
  2. StripeInvoices sent after a demo link by email: call tally('identify', { email }) when the demo form is submitted.
  3. Print one UTM-tagged QR code per trade show, so each show becomes its own campaign.

08Questions

  • We sell through demos, not self-serve. Is Tally still useful?

    Yes, when the payment goes through Stripe: identify the visitor on the demo form and the invoice links by email, its receipt showing every visit before the demo.

  • Our customers' project payments run through the software. Are they read?

    No. Money moving between contractors, subcontractors and owners is theirs. Only what contractors pay you for the software is read.

  • Can we see whether a contractor came back after the demo?

    Their journey in the visitor list shows every visit, before and after the demo, with pages and engaged time, once they're identified or have paid.

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