I watched some business videos on YouTube, and learned a really good tip. Mc Donalds is a role model for business ideas. One phrase made Mc Donalds so much richer: Would you like fries with that? Imagine how many extra millions they made by adding fries to every order.

We all want to sell games right? How many people have sold 1,000,000? Imagine if you had of tacked on another sale. Another $2 sale would have netted you another $2,000,000 dollars, just for asking one simple question.

When you sell your game online consider offering a bonus to every sale. An in-game perk, a mini-game, a mod, a folder with all pre-game sketches. It really doesn't matter. Just remember to put a checkbox beside it, and let the customer decide.

Hope this helps.

If anyone else has business advice, I'd love to hear it.

PS: There should be a business tips forum in the business section.

"Would you like a pre-order bonus, DLC season pass, and discount microtransaction currency with that?"

I think that's how micro transaction works right now. It's highly profitable, yes. Well, regardless of how indie gamedev community hating micro transactions and all, there are always players who'll pay for it big if they really like the game.

Would you like fries with that?

This should be illegal IMHO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upselling

(It is pretty standard entry level business knowledge. Maybe new to indie devs who've never sold anything before.)

Upsells like this in the software world tend to be things like "Install BonziBuddy for FREE!!!one" and have, as such, rightfully earned scorn from the typical consumer.

Bundle deals are considerably less annoying IMO, as long as the purchaser actually wants everything in the bundle.

I guess what I'm getting at is that bilking customers out of extra money may seem like Business Genius but it does have significant downsides. People aren't nearly as naive as the cynic in me wants to believe.

Are you kidding, I think it's great. It's not bilking customers out of money, it's an extra offer. Is there something wrong with that? It's pretty sound logic. You don't have to take the extra if you don't want it. Nice of them to throw it in. Of course, I'm a money hound when it comes to making cash...

I'd throw in an pair of clean socks if I thought people would buy it ;)

What do you guys think of this one? Affiliate Marketing. Have an affiliate link for your store, and let people with large ezines sell your product. Keep tabs, and give them a dollar off every sale they make. Great for indies looking to spread the word fast. Americans can make use of PayPal mass pay. Canadians would have to do it in a more managed way, as we don't have mass pay, that is unless your rich enough to have banking apis.

"Its an extra offer" is a very awkward spot to stand on when customers look at your offer and say "Well why on earth wasn't that in the game I already paid for when I bought it in the first place?"

"Would you like fries with that?" works when you are selling burgers and fries. "Would you like a bun with your burger?" doesn't fly nearly as well when the customer expected that something like a bun would be included.

Well, it would certainly have to be something that wasn't included. Some will take it, some won't. It could be an addon package.. or just a bunch of cool art. I'm not to worried about what customers think about what I sell, as long as they like it. That's why I wouldn't be afriad to do up some extra special side art, that's only in the package. If they don't add it, so what, if 10,000 do that's an extra 10-20k in my pocket. Who cares about nay sayers when it nets that much. :P Either get the extra super cool art, or don't, lol.