For photo editing software: which reviews and comparisons bring photographers who buy.

01How they sell

• One-offA perpetual licence, which photographers leaving subscription editors look for, with paid upgrades for new versions.
• SubscriptionAn optional plan with every update and cloud features, offered beside the licence for those who prefer it.
• FreemiumA full trial for a set number of days, long enough to edit a real shoot before deciding.

02Payments it reads

• PaddleMerchant of record for licences sold worldwide; transactions, upgrades and refunds as adjustments are read.
• StripeLicences and plans through Checkout, with upgrade pricing for past customers; refunds and chargebacks are read.
• Lemon SqueezyUsed by smaller tools such as RAW converters and batch editors; orders and refunds are read.

03Where buyers come from

• Comparison searchesSearches for an alternative to a subscription editor bring photographers ready to switch; comparison pages carry their revenue.
• Photography YouTubeEditing walkthroughs on a real shoot send viewers who download the trial to try the same edit on their own photos.
• Camera forumsThreads on photography forums about RAW support for a new camera send owners of that body to your camera-support page.
• Past customersUpgrade announcements to past buyers bring a wave of paid upgrades; tagged email links give each send a row.

04What Tally answers

1. Do our new-camera support pages bring buyers?

   The page breakdown gives every page the revenue of the visitors who landed on it, so a page announcing support for a new camera can be judged by sales.

   Sources with revenue

2. Where do people drop between the comparison page, the trial and checkout?

   Make the trial download a goal and put the comparison page, the download and the buy page in a funnel; the goals view shows how many reach each step.

   Goals and funnels

3. Do upgrade customers come from the same sources as new ones?

   Lifetime value counts each customer under their first source with every payment since, so sources whose buyers come back for upgrades show a higher repeat rate.

   Lifetime value

4. When do upgrade emails turn into sales?

   Set peak hours to sales over the days after a send, and the hours buyers acted on it stand out; it names the top three only with enough sales.

   Peak hours

5. Which review sold that wave of licences?

   Each sale's receipt shows the visits behind it and the credited one, so licences sold after a review can be counted rather than inferred from the date.

   Receipts

05Numbers worth watching

Repeat rate

The share of customers who paid again, mostly for version upgrades, by first source.

Conversion

Paying visitors over visitors per source, which shows whether comparison readers or video viewers buy more readily.

Revenue by source

The money behind each review, forum and email send, which ranks them by sales rather than downloads.

06An example

07Setting up

1. Any HTML siteAdd the tag to the head of every page, including camera-support pages, the trial download and checkout.
2. PaddlePass tally_visitor_id in customData when the buy or upgrade button opens Paddle checkout.
3. Give the links in each upgrade email a UTM campaign named after the version, so every announcement's upgrades have a row.

08Questions

• Can Tally tell new buyers from upgrading customers?

  Through lifetime value: a customer who pays again counts toward their first source's repeat rate, so upgrades from past buyers show apart from first purchases.

• We also sell through Apple's store. What's covered?

  Only the direct sales on your own site. Copies sold through Apple are paid out by Apple and don't reach Tally.

• Is a licence and a later upgrade one customer?

  Yes, when both are bought under the same customer. The upgrade is its own sale, and lifetime value adds both to the first source.