If I understand correctly, you have a free plugin that does not connect to FunnelKit. You wish to offer an upsell that will provide such a connection?
I think what most devs do is to offer two completely independent plugins, the free version and a “pro” version. Even if the source code between the two is largely identical, the pro version has some unique features that are not available in the free version. Upon purchase of the pro version, users would uninstall their free version and install the pro version which you’ve made available to them.
Other non-FOSS software will sometimes build in the functionality but it’d be locked out until the user pays for the premium features. It’s not feasible in FOSS to do this securely except in the case of software as service where service access can be independently enforced outside of the distributed package.
You may promote your upsell in the admin area, but do so tastefully or you’ll invoke the negative review wrath of many annoyed users. Only promote on your plugin’s own admin screens. Do not hijack other admin screens for promotion.
The promo banner should either be unobtrusive and/or dismissable. A dismissed banner may reappear after a reasonable period of time as a reminder, but don’t do so ad nauseum. After a few ignored reminders, it’s pointless to keep poking the bear.
This represents my own take on upsells. It may or may not align with requirements for plugins available in the WordPress repository. For those requirements, review the guidelines. In particular #11 Plugins should not hijack the admin dashboard.
I’m currently developing a payment gateway plugin, and as shown in the image, I would like my plugin to have “Upsell allowed” so that I can later connect it to funnelKit. Based on what you told me, is it better to create two separate plugins, one for standard payments and one for upsells?
Img: https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2023/25/4/1687458213-capture.png
That’s what I would do. I’m sure there are arguments pro and con either way. My main reason is there’s no secure way I know of in open source software to lock out the premium portion of the code. I’d prefer someone first make a payment before I hand over the related premium code.
Ok, I see. So, what is the process to make my plugin compatible with one-click upsells? I can’t find any code-level documentation, especially for making it compatible with FunnelKit
I don’t have much experience with premium plugins. I’m not sure what is commonly done. Left to my own devices, what I’d likely do is host a digital download store that’s promoted from my free plugin. It wouldn’t be a one click upsell though. Customers would need to download the package after payment and install it themselves.
I’ve been suggesting a separate stand-alone package, but it could also exist as a premium extension which only has the FunnelKit integration. The base plugin could make use of the extension when it exists, otherwise it does without. What I wouldn’t do is include the functional FunnelKit code in the base package and only have it locked out until an appropriate paid-for key was entered. If nothing else, I think this would run afoul of WP repository guidelines (no obfuscated source code), if you’re planning on having the free plugin here in the WP repository.
If you want one click upgrades, you need to include code in the base plugin that essentially automates the manual buy-download-install process. The automation code would interact with your server that manages payments and downloads. Because of the payment process, it’s not a literal one click process. As close as it can get though.
