Background

uiPress began as a solo project by founder Mark Ashton, created during the pandemic as a unique admin theme for WordPress to stay engaged. It has since evolved into a comprehensive site editor for WordPress admin and grown into a thriving full-time business.

The Challenge

uiPress faced significant hurdles in their digital commerce journey, specifically when it came to operating their digital business globally. They understood the importance of filing global sales tax correctly, but had yet to find the right solution. Here’s a quick overview of the main challenges that UiPress were facing as they grew their business:

• Problems with international tax compliance
• Hurdles in switching to a recurring revenue model
• High costs and fees associated with selling globally

International tax compliance

Selling internationally, uiPress encountered challenges in managing tax compliance across the many nations and jurisdictions where customers are located, resulting in both technical hurdles, financial uncertainties and the possibility of looming & unpredictable global compliance risk.

Generating recurring revenue

Initially focused on one-time payment lifetime plans, uiPress discovered complexities in creating and managing monthly and yearly subscriptions using their existing bespoke infrastructure and tooling. The jump from one-time payments to SaaS subscriptions was more challenging than it may have seemed on the surface.

High accountant fees & other sales complexities

Issues such as sales tax management, invoicing, chargebacks, and related concerns were stifling growth and efficiency within the business. Businesses face a tipping point where the complexity of recording and reporting thousands of line items becomes unwieldy. Hiring an accountant to ensure compliance may seem like a daunting (and expensive task) and the only viable solution.

The solution

Lemon Squeezy was the solution of choice for uiPress and it allowed them to tackle their trio of challenges head-on. Not only did this make life easier for founder Mark Ashton, but the switch to Lemon Squeezy also proved to be the catalyst for UiPress's transformation and success.

Sales tax management

As we have done for thousands of other happy customers, Lemon Squeezy came to the aid of our merchant partner uiPress as a Merchant of Record. We took over responsibility for all sales tax complications within hours, unlocking the potential for seamlessly scalable international sales. Learn how a Merchant of Record could save your company from tax complications.

Rolling out recurring payments

The user-centric design of Lemon Squeezy's recurring payments mechanism facilitated a swift uptick in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR).

License key management & integration

Our well-documented API allowed for a more streamlined workflow and an enhanced customer experience with respect to license keys. While many seller on Lemon Squeezy are selling one-off purchases, another very common use case is the licensing for subscription software.

Integrated marketing tools

The consolidation of email marketing and affiliate features into a single platform made business growth more straightforward and efficient. Customers who purchase digital subscriptions on the platform are automatically synced with an audience for email marketing and communication.

The Results

Lemon Squeezy simplified the entire journey of selling digital products for uiPress and fostered an environment where they could focus on their core strengths. Ultimately leading to remarkable results with a boost in efficiency and lower fees overall. Complexities tied to international tax compliance also became a thing of the past.

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• A huge 600% boost to monthly recurring revenue
• Cost savings of 50% by switching to Lemon Squeezy
• Complete elimination of tax and accounting hassles
• Streamlined operations and workflows

600% Increase in MRR

An astounding upsurge in recurring revenue illustrated how well Lemon Squeezy can help merchants make the jump to scalable, global recurring subscription revenue.

50% decrease in sales fees

Lemon Squeezy’s fee structure was superior to the status quo solution that uiPress was using and allowed for transactional sales fees to be cut in half. The platform not only reduced fees by 50% but also lowered overall operating costs and bid farewell to hefty accountant bills.

Elimination of tax and accounting hassles

The frustrations and complications associated with sales tax, invoices, and chargebacks were completely eliminated. Because Lemon Squeezy assumes all legal and financial risk for sales tax compliance, merchants like uiPress can drastically reduce their need to invest in expensive advice from tax accountants and legal counsel.

“Since switching to Lemon Squeezy, we've been liberated from the usual vexations of selling online such as sales tax, invoices, and chargebacks. It's empowered us to shift our concentration to our product and business expansion.”

Lemon Squeezy vs other solutions

uiPress evaluated alternatives like Selz, Gumroad, Stripe, and Freemius but found each to be lacking in some essential features. Lemon Squeezy, identified during the discovery phase, rapidly emerged as the unambiguous best-fit solution, meeting all the specific needs that uiPress had to scale up their payments infrastructure.

Suggestions for improvement

As part of our ongoing relationship with all of our merchant partners, we’re always looking to hear what features or possible gaps in functionality are most important. An area ripe for enhancement, in Mark’s opinion, is dynamic file downloads, and refining and accelerating the update process for diverse products and variations.

Lemon Squeezy products used

uiPress put a wide range of Lemon Squeezy features to good use in order to reach their impressive 600% rise in MRR, but our Subscription Management feature was instrumental in allowing them to offer subscription billing — without any additional tax headaches.

Conclusion

For uiPress, embracing Lemon Squeezy has proven to be a transformative and lucrative choice. The platform's specialization in digital products and subscriptions, its sophisticated license key system, and competitive pricing make it the best fit.

As uiPress moves forward on its growth trajectory, Lemon Squeezy is poised to remain an integral part of its future success in the WordPress space.