From: Robert Woodhead <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 22:50:02 -0400
If they can find (or are given) a crack *most* individuals will use
it. If they cannot find a crack or serial number for software they
like, and do not want to pay the asking price, they will look for and
evaluate similar software which is cheaper.
Which is an argument in favor of my long-stated opinion that for a
good fraction of software (in particular, those that don't have huge
per-user support burdens), letting the user decide on the price he
wants to pay is well worth considering.
Let's say you think your software is worth $100. You don't get $50
from the guys who think it's worth $50. And you don't get $200 from
the guys whose job you just saved.
I tried doing just that for one of my programs (my most popular in
fact) for about two years. It is difficult to determine the exact
results of course, due to sales fluctuations from other sources, but
my gut feeling is that the increase in sales that I saw was offset by
the lower average price. This was a $20, and the average price paid
was around $15. I had one or two people pay $50, and a lot who paid
$10 (the minimum I allowed). I did not state what the minimum allowed
price was until someone tried to place an order for a price below
$10, so as to not influence prices. I kept a log of what people tried
to pay. I got a lot of people entering $0, $1, $0.01, etc. Plus a lot
entering $10,000, etc. Obviously people having fun, or trying to see
what limits, if any, I set.
I did the experiment based on one of your articles on "tipping". My
analysis of the results are that the tipping model doesn't work well
for software, vs a waitress at a restaurant, because it is more
difficult for the customer to see you as an individual, which IMHO is
critical. You need the customer to experience a mental "guilt trip"
if they don't pay you a "fair" price.
--
---
Chris Smolinski
Black Cat Systems
http://www.blackcatsystems.com
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