The Pockster Blog
About Pockster Mobile Software and the state of Pocket Devices in general
March 28, 2008
The Beauty of Try Before You Buy
As a mobile software developer, the challenge is to build software that will work and work well on a client's device. We tinker away in our collective virtual shops, building applications that will delight, enlighten, and empower our target audience. We build according to our best educated guess of the capabilities out there, eyeing the latest and greatest but trying to keep true to what is in the field and available to the market.
But that is often not enough. And often the problem is not the device capabilities. Sure, there are exceptions, and any of us that have spent any time with mobile devices have devices that we simply like, and so we extend their lifetime beyond what might be practical according to today's short lived norms. But most of us understand that, and more often than not these devices will have the updates, and this kind of owner understands what is required in order to run a piece of software. No, this is not typically the problem.
Now consider the scenario of the proud new owner who bought a new older device. Cell phone companies will dump older stock at a substantial discount, and then we hear from the owner who says all too often, "I just bought this". But this is not such a problem, since people who tend to shop around and save money tend to be logical thinkers, if not always the most cutting edge computer buyers. Once you explain the requirements and get them to understand that it will more than likely work with a little effort they tend to be a solid customer. This is especially true if you can show them a value in the software.
So, what is the golden nugget that makes try then buy so attractive to a developer? The answer is twofold. The first, the mechanical, is simple enough to explain - PDAs, and cell phones in general, tend to be personal devices. People tend to go out of their way to make them uniquely theirs, and once that process starts it will often run its course to completion, in which a lot of cases it is a maxed out phone. Without a great deal of storage and program memory to start with it is not difficult to imagine the scenarios where a carefully crafted program will not co-exist with other unexpected but wholly owner desired running software already installed on the device. The last thing Pockster, or any other development house, would ever want to do is to take away key device functionality that the owner desires. But it can be hard to plan for the unknown.
The second part of the try and buy golden nugget lies in customer satisfaction. In a perfect world a consumer would proceed with a purchase only after getting a solid feel for the value of a product. If this value expectation is met, the product provider stands a good chance at having a happier, and possibly repeating, customer.
Now this is where the try before you buy comes in so nicely. The owner of the device can download and install the program, test it for both functionality and compatibility. If they like what they see they can purchase a license code and enter it in the program, updating it to the full version without requiring another install. Hence the best of both worlds - easy customer action for trying out the software and upgrading it to the full version, and the developer gets customers who have a better idea of what they want.
Of course, along with any purchase is support, and we try to make sure the customer who has just forked over their cold hard cash gets help in case of any issues, plus we try to offer a few extras showing our appreciation (such as a free gamepak). We feel that try and buy gives the customer an advantage over other software that is bought blind, and the customer has a really good ideal of what they are getting before money is spent. This is why we try to encourage downloading and trying before purchasing our software. We stand behind our products, and if they cannot stand up to a test run by the consumer then we have more work to do.
However, no matter how much we try to remind our excellent potential customers out there about taking advantage of the try and buy/reg code mechanics in place, we will still get the occasional, "I just bought your software, it does not work on my device and I am angry." To that end we start the support process, unraveling the reasons behind the failure, and hopefully gain a good customer along the way. It is a chuckle, but more times than not it proves once again that the try and buy mechanics do work. This is impotant not so much from our end (we love the invaluable feedback) but for the customer who gets a clear ideal of expectations before putting out money. And that is something that any person who knows the value of a dollar should understand.
kind regards,
Pockster Mobile Software
Comment on this blog in our forum
March 20, 2008
So how much is that gadget in the window? Now THAT is the question.
When selling mobile device software, it seems that you have to hit a certain target value that the end consumer is willing to spend. With a product such as Pockster Newspaper Games, which is a suite of four games, things get a bit more complicated. The point of offering a suite of games is to allow the end user to have the games at their disposal with a common interface, common game state storage, and less installation hassle and storage requirements than would be needed in four individual programs.
This concept is what led to the name, Pockster Newspaper Games, since we are targeting toward the people who have these interests in mind and would like to have the entire suite. The danger of offering a suite versus individual choices is that you may alienate potential buyers with a slightly higher price for the entire suite, but we do feel that the advantages for our target audience outweighs the potential loss.
Of course, with a crowded marketplace for such common games you have to offer more than just face value, and that is really a place where we feel our approach with Pockster Newspaper Games shines. That is, we offer additional gamepaks for our product at no additional cost (yes, free). It does require the registered version of our software to be installed in order to use it, but that should be expected if we are to maintain a workable business model.
So, how do you price a suite of games, especially with the understanding that it will be higher than a stand alone game? Well, in my humble opinion, you have to be fair and price it on the basis of the games contained, plus you need to give a discount for the games being bought together. In this case the four games (Crossword, Wordsearch, Crypto, and Sudoku) would have a very fair market value of $7 each, giving a total of $28. Giving a generous discount for buying the suite, we came to the price of $19.99 for the suite. We need to price the suite according to the games contained within, since new gamepaks require new games for each of the four game types - there are no corners to cut.
That is how we came to the price of Pockster Newspaper Games ($19.99), plus free gamepaks as they are released, along with free upgrades and support. Is this a fair price for a suite of games considering the given market? We definitely think so, although you will always find others who have a different opinion. I wish we could please everyone, but if we are to empower our customers with new products we need to place a fair price on the product up front and hope it finds its market.
Of course, it would be nice if we could wait until the market arrow lands, then draw a target around it (bullseye!). That has no real value for any of the parties involved, but it does look nice on reflection.
kind regards,
Pockster Mobile Software
Comment on this blog in our forum