The Rise and Fall of Clixlo AI SAAS - What Not To Do 😱

Clixlo​ is a SAAS reselling business that white-labled GoHighLevel CRM that offered a life-time deal which is closing down due to financial difficulties.

What was the life-time deal?

Clixlo's lifetime deal was a one-time payment option ($97 one-time fee) that provided users with access to its comprehensive marketing platform without requiring recurring monthly fees. This deal allowed early adopters to enjoy all of Clixlo's features, including landing page creation, CRM capabilities, automated email and SMS campaigns, call tracking, and reporting, for a single payment.

The lifetime deal was introduced to attract a large number of users quickly and to generate upfront cash flow, especially during the early stages of the platform. However, like many lifetime deals, it ultimately posed challenges for the company's long-term sustainability, contributing to the decision to close down the platform.

In short, while LTDs can provide an early cash boost, the risks outweigh the rewards if long-term growth, stability, and value are your priorities. Opting for a monthly subscription ensures sustainable cash flow, product incentives, and alignment with customers’ ongoing needs, which are essential for any SaaS company to thrive in the long term.

More about life-time deals:

Lifetime deals (LTDs) have become an attractive offering for SaaS startups, especially during early stages when they're seeking quick cash flow or market entry. However, offering LTDs instead of a monthly subscription model can carry significant downsides for the long-term health of a SaaS business.

1. Undermines Long-Term Revenue Growth: Lifetime deals might seem like an easy way to get a burst of cash, but they are short-sighted from a growth perspective. SaaS relies on recurring revenue, which provides predictable cash flow, and fosters steady, sustainable growth. By offering lifetime deals, companies limit their revenue potential and miss out on opportunities for ongoing customer monetization that is vital for continued product development and innovation.

2. Limits Product Improvement Incentives: SaaS businesses thrive by continuously iterating on their products and delivering increasing value to customers. Monthly subscriptions motivate businesses to consistently improve the product and customer experience to keep users engaged. On the other hand, LTD customers have already paid up front, and without ongoing payments, there's less financial incentive to prioritize or serve them beyond their initial investment.

3. Creates Support Challenges: Lifetime users are forever attached to the product, but with a one-time payment. This means companies must provide support and maintenance without the assurance of ongoing funds. The cost of support can quickly exceed the initial payment, making lifetime users a financial liability rather than a profitable asset over time. Monthly subscriptions, by contrast, create a structure where the cost of support is naturally aligned with the ongoing revenue generated from each user.

4. Detracts from Target Audience Segmentation: SaaS companies often refine their customer segmentation and pricing based on understanding different user personas. Lifetime deals attract price-sensitive customers looking for a bargain, who may not provide valuable feedback or contribute to a loyal customer base. This may skew the direction of product development, making it hard for SaaS providers to establish a core group of users that can reliably contribute to the product's growth.

5. Unsustainable Revenue Model: If a SaaS company relies heavily on lifetime deals, it is essentially using up its future revenue in the present. While LTDs provide a short-term boost, they offer no residual revenue stream, making it difficult for a company to plan or scale effectively. This makes it harder to attract investment as well—investors prefer SaaS businesses that have stable, predictable, recurring revenues that show long-term growth potential.

6. Lowers Perceived Value: Finally, offering lifetime deals too early or frequently can create a perception that the product isn’t valuable enough for recurring payments. It may also lead to pricing conflicts and dissatisfaction among customers who joined via different plans. Monthly subscriptions convey the message that the product is constantly evolving and worth an ongoing investment.

What they did wrong?

Clixlo should have offered a life-time deal that had very limited features so they can upsell users into a monthly subscription such as $197-$497 a month so they could keep cash flow going. Instead, they offered all the features on the life-time plan and had no subscription offers.

As stated on their website "rising costs in support, operations, and advertising have made it impossible for us to continue."

Now users of Clixlo have to be transferred over to GoHighLevel or under another agency SAAS for a minimum of $97 a month. Now Clixlo users feel burned and they are posting bad reviews online.

A potential lawsuit may happen but life time deals include a terms of service users agree on before using.

Monthly subscriptions are the best!

This is why you should have monthly subscriptions for your agency or white-labeled SAAS instead of one-time payments or lifetime deals.

It is okay to have a life-time deal during the launch phase, but the goal should always be subscriptions.

Netflix would have been bankrupted a long time ago if you could get access to their content for a one-time fee.

So if you are selling SAAS make sure to focus on the subscription based model to grow the revenue and cashflow.

If you are a Clixlo user moving over to GoHighLevel then I recommend using ​Extendly​ to support you and your clients such as snapshots, onboarding, and Zoom support! You can even start your own SAAS business using GHL.

If you want unlimited monthly done for you GHL tasks then check out ​SumoGrowth​.

Stay tuned! More AI news with Agency and SAAS automation tips are coming weekly!

Cheers!

Darius @ SumoGrowth