How much is your product really worth ?
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Nowhere in the world are their thieves and robbers as there are in Madras, posing as auto-rickshaw drivers and cheating innocent Trivandrum-based-programmers of their valuable money :-) Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org Nish is a BIG fan of Goran Ivanisevic
>>Nowhere in the world are their thieves and robbers as >>there are in Madras Drop me a mail before you start the next time.. i will make sure you wont have to go thru the rough patch with richshaw people.... I was at kerala (kollam) sometime back and realised how the rickshaw fares differ when compared with chennai cheers Kannan
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Derek Lakin wrote: How many people can fully evaluate a product in 14 days around a full worklife? And what about documentation? It's not likely to be printed and is it always complete? What time period would you suggest, I'm looking at 60 days for my application now, because I want folk to get use to it being on there system adn will miss it not being available etc. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
60 days sounds like a reasonable period to me. What's the application? Derek Lakin. I wish I was what I thought I was when I wished I was what I am. Salamander Software Ltd.
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For Frank, Sam, myself and others this is an important issue, with our shareware etc. If we charge too much users will find us too expensive. If we charge too little users will think we are peddling junk! I have heard an author claim in another forum, that when his product changed from freeware to shareware downloads increased dramatically for a time period. So the age old rules of supply and demand, do not hold true at all, and percieved value is entertained as a dynamic of market forces. I bet you also have seen a 9.95$ product compete against a 69.95$ product, for example and the 69.95$ product wins the sale because of it's percieved value. This I guess does not only hold true for the software market but all markets must now be subject to this, but at least for me it is more observable in the software market. So MS is probably fiscally correct in not entering the cut-price OS and software markets, and continue to charge extraordinary value for it's products. The more MS charges for XP the better users will believe the value of upgrading is. Any comments ? Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
I think you need to target your product to a specific audience and price accordingly. For example, if you target teens you need to keep in mind that they (typically) don't have a lot of money for whatever reason. Although your product or service may be of interest to teens, pricing it out of their reach will deter them from continuing to consider your product because they cannot afford it. Part of targeting your application involves the application's features. For example, applications targeted at home users usually sport an interface that puts 80% of the application's functionality within a few clicks. Applications that target advanced users may not even have an interface - since advanced users are more interested in a product's depth of functionality and are willing to spend time learning how to use the application to their best advantage. Home users are typically not as patient. VMTU has great potential for a lot of people since dialup connections in places other than North America are usually very slow (line noise, infrastructure problems, etc). The problem is that the range of potential users is broad since everyone could benefit from using it. I think you should appeal to the middle of the range and include features that present a graphical report of how VMTU has improved the user's experience. Store usage data in a simple text file, making it easy for advanced users to import the data into other applications for further analysis. You could even go so far as to allow users to submit the usage data to your site where you can offer further analysis. This could lead you into using the data to promote the product to users in countries that would benefit the most from it - and you could back it up with real data. All of this would increase the perceived value of the product allowing you to price accordingly. It could also work to open the door to a subscription-based service thereby providing you with on-going revenue instead of one-time sales. You could also add value to your marketing efforts by describing the benefits of downloading the minimum package, since this works to establish your credibility with potential customers even before they download the product. If you like the usage information idea described above, you could require users that evaluate your product to agree to send you usage information thereby providing benefits to the end users (by allowing them to evaluate the product for free) and to you (by getting free usage statistics which you can subsequently use to market the
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>>Nowhere in the world are their thieves and robbers as >>there are in Madras Drop me a mail before you start the next time.. i will make sure you wont have to go thru the rough patch with richshaw people.... I was at kerala (kollam) sometime back and realised how the rickshaw fares differ when compared with chennai cheers Kannan
Thanks Kannan :-) No offence intended, okay? I thought the chennai girls were cool, specially the ones I saw at spencer plaza :omg: :omg: :omg: oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Buy the auto-guys were well.....I wont say anythin more Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
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60 days sounds like a reasonable period to me. What's the application? Derek Lakin. I wish I was what I thought I was when I wished I was what I am. Salamander Software Ltd.
Derek Lakin wrote: What's the application? It's a Transmission Unit Algorthim, for ISP server connections whilst there is nothing similar to it on the market, a lot of folk confuse it with MTU registry tweakers etc. It does that also if auser wishes. I think I need to repackage it Derek so it is not confused with other products etc. If you want check it out at http://www.vmtu.com, All most all of my feedback has been positive to date, apart from Linux zealots and MAC thingy users :-) . Any suggestions from you are appreciated! Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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My phylosophy (spelling?) has been simple. Charge less, and more people will pay for the product. Why charge $150 for a product and get one registration when you can charge $15 and get 25 or more people to register. Colin Davies wrote: I bet you also have seen a 9.95$ product compete against a 69.95$ product, for example and the 69.95$ product wins the sale because of it's percieved value. Yup...and one of the apps that comes to mind is Multimedia Builder from Mediachance.com. His products are cheaply priced...yet they compete with major league companies like Macromedia. Truth is, no matter how much YOU think your work (app) is worth...it isnt worth crap unless someone out there finds it usefull and buys it. :) Frank
Frank Deo wrote: Why charge $150 for a product and get one registration when you can charge $15 and get 25 or more people to register. This is tricky but I think I'd rather sell one at $150 than 25 at $15. The reason being I have the cost of supporting one person, and not 25. Now of course this depends a lot on the product in question and how much support is required. My point realy is that providing good support is an expensive propositon which needs to be factored into the price you charge. Of course you could certainly come out ahead with the the 25 customers, if only a small number required support. But conversly any profit on $15 dissapears with probably just one support request. It is certainly interesting that others have commented that increasing the price has resulted in higher profits, whereas with lowering the price you end up worse off. Frank Deo wrote: Truth is, no matter how much YOU think your work (app) is worth...it isnt worth crap unless someone out there finds it usefull and buys it. Spot on. You also need keep these customers contented and coming back for more. Neville Franks, Author of ED for Windows. Version 4.01 just released, with a C++ Class View that actually works. www.getsoft.com
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Derek Lakin wrote: What's the application? It's a Transmission Unit Algorthim, for ISP server connections whilst there is nothing similar to it on the market, a lot of folk confuse it with MTU registry tweakers etc. It does that also if auser wishes. I think I need to repackage it Derek so it is not confused with other products etc. If you want check it out at http://www.vmtu.com, All most all of my feedback has been positive to date, apart from Linux zealots and MAC thingy users :-) . Any suggestions from you are appreciated! Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
Now I come to think of it I did download VMTU at one point. I'll have to install it and keep an eye on performance for you. I don't have much time for 'play' at the moment, though :( Colin Davies wrote: Any suggestions from you are appreciated! If you're talking about selling a software product, I would say make the following look good and professional:
- Installation package
- Splash screen
- Icon
- User interface (sorry, can't remember if there is one :-O )
- Help system
- Web site
The product will almost certainly sell itself after that :) If you're talking about suggestions for the product itself. How about some way of actually checking the performance improvement? You could show the current throughput characteristics in a dialog. You could provide a web-based testing facility that times a measured download. The user can try it with and without VMTU. If you need any design services I'm sure we can come to some arrangement ;) Derek Lakin. I wish I was what I thought I was when I wished I was what I am. Salamander Software Ltd.