30 White Label Software Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing It
So you're considering adding some white label solutions to your service offerings? Good choice! White label software works for agencies, newspapers, yellow page companies, and other marketing and media companies to expand their service and product offerings. You can expand your reputation as the local marketing expert, become a one-stop-shop for local businesses, and scale up your business without scaling your workload.
Success with white label software comes from three factors:
- Knowing your market
- A strong sales team
- Finding the right white label partner
Assuming you have the first two, all you need is the right white label partner. These questions will help you in that process.
Related Reading: 9 White-Label Solutions to Skyrocket Your Revenue in 2018
Good Product vs. the Right Product
Finding a good product isn’t enough. You need to find the right white label software and products that will match your business and clients' needs. In the process of choosing a white label partner, you may want to look at these factors:
- What is the business value for your clients — why would they buy it from you?
- Does the product fit well with your existing products?
- Can you create live demos with the product to enhance sales efforts?
- Does the software integrate with other products via APIs, single sign on, etc.?
- Is it user-friendly?
- Is it a cloud-based solution that you can set up on your own domain?
- Can you modify its branding easily to match your own?
- Is it easy to scale and implement for hundreds of clients?
- How will your clients access it?
- How secure is your and your clients data?
- How frequently is the product updated or bugs fixed?
- How frequently are new features added to the software?
Related reading: The Ultimate Guide to White Label
Track Record of the Vendor
If you’re considering a promising white label startup, you have to excuse them for not having a track record; but a vendor that claims to have been in business for a few years should have a good history. Common questions include:
- How long has the business existed?
- What have they accomplished in this time?
- How many customers do they have?
- What is the size of their operation and how viable are they in the future?
- What is their business strategy? (Are they purely white label or do they also sell directly to your market under their own brand?)
- If they sell to your market, how do they avoid conflict of interest?
Reputation of the Vendor
One major point you need to be aware of before partnering with a white label software or product provider is their reputation. You don't want to go into business with a bad company and attach your business name to a bad reputation! You need a partner that is honest, transparent, and up front. The services that you provide through your white label software or service provider are attached to your brand, and your clients will blame you if things go south!
- Can they provide references?
- Have you heard about the vendor from a third party source?
- Is the vendor considered an expert in the relevant field?
Service and Support
In order to succeed with white label software and services, you need to be able to get proper service and support from your white label provider. Look for a clear and organized method for on-boarding and training so your business so you can start selling soon, with the appropriate training and marketing materials as well. How fast they have been responding to you thus far is a good indication of how organized and fast the company is.
- Does the vendor offer free product training?
- How quickly can they help you start selling their software?
- What kind of initiatives and materials do they have to help you sell more?
- Does their website/blog increase your knowledge about your market?
- How quickly do they respond to your inquiries?
- How does the billing work?
And finally,
Contract
Obviously, before entering a relationship with a white label provider, you want to feel confident about the contract you have. Do they have a detailed contract process and are they clear about the terms and conditions? Don’t be afraid to ask these questions before signing on the dotted line.
- What is the minimum lock-in period?
- Do you get any trial period before you commit?
- Does their pricing model work for you or does it require too much investment up front?
I’m sure each organization has different priorities that would invalidate some of these points or add a few more. Either way, this is a good general guide for evaluating potential white label partners.
Good luck with your efforts, and if your clients need kickass digital marketing solutions that vary from reputation management to website hosting (of course they do!) give us a shout and ask us these questions yourself!
