How SoftOrbits’ hybrid distribution strategy helped it reach an audience of 300,000
SoftOrbits is an image data processing software development company created by Eugene Ustinenkov in 2006. Over the last 19 years, a small team of enthusiasts has grown into a large-scale business that serves over 300,000 users and boasts over a million yearly downloads.
This level of success doesn’t come easily in a highly competitive image editing industry, and it requires a lot of correct decisions and business choices to achieve. The team behind SoftOrbits is convinced that the most recent of these choices — the launch of 10 web versions of the company’s most popular utilities — is one of the most impactful ones.
“SoftOrbits was always heavily focused on accessibility and convenience. Launching online versions of our tools was a massive leap in that direction. Removing hardware requirements and ensuring 24/7 global access is a massive boost to usability, especially for amateur photographers who might not want to spend a lot of time editing their photos back at home and get results as soon as they can,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits and AlarmFront.
As Eugene explains, providing access to web versions of the SoftOrbits toolkit was part of the team’s new hybrid distribution approach, and it immediately paid off.
“We are happy that our users can now rely on any version they find the most comfortable, and the fact that we can provide that choice is also important to us because choice is part of what makes software convenient. It is amazing how choosing a hybrid distribution approach benefited both our downloads and our active user base. I think it speaks volumes about how differentiating your solutions and offering new ways to use them can be beneficial for everyone,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits, Candidate of Technical Sciences.
Considering how the team’s latest release resulted in a massive success, right now the team is focused on delivering even more of their tools in an online form, covering the gaps and ensuring that every tool is available for use in any way the user deems most convenient.
“We are currently focused on improving mobile compatibility to ensure the solutions feel smooth and highly responsive at all times. We are also highly invested in expanding the tools’ functionality for both versions, especially when it comes to new AI features. We believe that this is a step in the right direction as long as you know what you’re doing and do not try to replace solid and reliable software engineering with AI hype,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits, with more than 10 years of software development expertise.
The team has previously implemented AI features in 10 of its utilities, and some of these tools are now also available as web-based versions. The team plans to increase its reliance on some AI features, prioritizing functionalities that help users deal with boring, repetitive tasks rather than focusing on the generative capabilities of the technology.
“We see how audiences respond to AI, and there are lots of negative reactions because it is often seen or even advertised as a replacement for human creativity. We emphasize that AI is a great tool that can help people focus on the creative parts of their work by removing all the tedious aspects of it. That approach has resulted in great user reviews for us, so we believe it to be the right call,” says Eugene Ustinenkov.
Right now SoftOrbits is still in the process of fully transitioning towards its new model, and the team behind it considers the journey to be both demanding and rewarding.
Hannes Jansen (courtesy photo)“The hybrid model made a difference. We no longer build with a particular audience in mind — we build tools that can be used by anyone and anywhere, and that massive shift in perspective is something that we will need to adjust to as a team to make sure we serve our users the best way we can and address their unique needs and requirements at all times,” says Hannes Jansen, writer and editor at SoftOrbits.