Got a Graveyard of AppSumo Lifetime Deals? Put AI to Work on Them

I’ve got to admit it: I am, and have been for some time, addicted to buying lifetime software deals on AppSumo.

Some of them have been brilliant.

I’m dictating this article into Letterly, for example. It’s basically a one-trick pony, but it does that one trick extremely well. I use it all the time.

Then there are tools like NinjaPipe, my CRM, which I found incredibly difficult to use at first because it appears to have been designed to include every function known to man. Unfortunately, usability sometimes feels like it arrived rather later in the meeting.

And then there’s the great middle ground.

Tools like WriterZen, KW Hero and all the various writing and SEO tools I’ve bought over the years. Some promised the world. Some were actually pretty good.

NeuronWriter, for example, does a really nice job of analysing the pages already ranking for a subject and finding words, phrases and topics that could make your own article more relevant and comprehensive.

The problem isn’t necessarily the software.

The problem is having the time and patience to learn it.

The AppSumo graveyard

Anyone running their own business will know this one.

You buy a clever bit of software.

You log in.

You have a fiddle.

There are 47 menus, 16 dashboards and a button labelled something incomprehensible like Semantic Content Entity Opportunity Analysis.

Twenty minutes later you think, “Sod this,” close the browser and go back to doing some actual work.

And that’s basically where the software stays.

I recently looked through my AppSumo account and I’m now onto about three pages of lifetime deals.

Quite a few of them hardly get touched.

Meanwhile, every month their allocated credits, searches, reports or whatever else I paid for quietly reset.

Which is a bit daft when you think about it.

But there’s now another way of looking at these tools.

You don’t necessarily have to learn them anymore

This is where tools such as Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work become interesting.

Instead of you learning exactly how every bit of software works, an AI agent can potentially operate some of it on your behalf.

You describe the outcome you want.

It works out the buttons that need pressing.

Imagine you bought a really good keyword research tool two years ago.

You know it’s useful.

You know it gives decent results.

But every time you open it, it does your head in.

Rather than leaving it gathering digital dust, you could give the task to an AI agent.

Something like:

Once a month, research current keyword opportunities around landscape photography. Find subjects with useful search demand that I could realistically write about, then give me a short report showing the best opportunities.

The AI can use the software, collect the results and turn them into something actually useful.

Instead of having 200 keyword searches sitting unused every month, those searches suddenly become a resource.

You might get a report saying:

• these subjects appear worth targeting;
• these questions are coming up repeatedly;
• these articles could be updated;
• these would make useful new blog posts;
• these terms should probably be included in the article.

Hey presto.

You’ve turned software you weren’t using into a little research department.

And then you can chain the tools together

This is where it gets more interesting.

Maybe your keyword tool finds an opportunity.

You could then give those keywords to ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to help develop the article.

Or perhaps you run the draft through NeuronWriter afterwards to see what topics or terminology competing pages cover that yours doesn’t.

So you start getting something like:

Keyword tool → AI research → article idea → draft → SEO analysis → finished article

Previously, you’d have needed to understand every tool in that chain.

Now your job can increasingly become describing what you want the finished result to be.

That’s a completely different way of using software.

Sometimes the browser isn’t even necessary

AI agents can operate websites through a browser, rather like you would.

But there’s another option.

Some software provides an API, or supports MCP, which can allow AI systems to interact with tools more directly.

Think of an API as a proper service entrance into the software.

Instead of an AI opening a browser, finding the Customers button, searching for Dave Smith and clicking Edit, it can potentially ask the software directly:

“Find Dave Smith.”

“Update his company.”

“Add this note.”

“Show me every customer I haven’t spoken to for six months.”

MCP — Model Context Protocol — can provide a standardised way for AI systems to access those sorts of tools and functions.

I’ve done something similar with my CRM.

And when it works, it is far more interesting than simply having AI write another bit of text for you.

It can actually do things.

So go and look at the software you already own

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably got a small warehouse full of lifetime deals sitting around doing bugger all.

Don’t immediately go and buy another one.

Have a look at what you’ve already got.

Pick one.

Then give Claude or ChatGPT:

• the AppSumo deal you originally bought;
• your usage limits;
• the software’s website;
• its help documentation;
• details of any API or MCP support you can find;
• and, most importantly, what you actually want to achieve.

Then have a conversation about it.

Don’t ask:

“What features does this software have?”

Ask:

“Knowing what this software can do, what useful jobs could you do for my business with it every week or every month?”

That is a much more interesting question.

Then try one.

If it works, refine it.

If you find yourself repeating the same useful task regularly, automate or schedule as much of it as the tools allow.

Suddenly that lifetime deal you bought in 2022 and barely touched might actually start earning its keep.

And you might finally get some value out of those three bloody pages of AppSumo purchases.

So there you go.