4 ms·

* I greatly appreciate that the 30-day trial doesn't require a credit card. Bravo! Finally someone gets that right. * Why do you start at 3 brands? I'm gues

* I greatly appreciate that the 30-day trial doesn't require a credit card. Bravo! Finally someone gets that right. * Why do you start at 3 brands? I'm guessing that there are enough users that would like to monitor a single brand maybe for $12-$14/mo? * The plan pricing isn't good. The Big Shot plan costs $100 for 10 brands/users while the Blogger plan costs $19 for 3 brands/users. Why shouldn't I just get 4 Blogger plans? Clearly the convenience of not having to deal with multiple accounts and who can access what where, but it just doesn't look like you're getting the value you should be getting. As 37s said about their pricing "Each tier is roughly double the previous tier, but we deliver more than double the benefits." (http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1287-ask-37signals-how-did-you-come-up-with-pricing-for-your-products http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1287-ask-37signals-how-di...). Overall, it looks like a great way for companies to track their brands online and see how things are going. I'd say you could easily create a sustainable business model out of that.

ryanwaggoner 18y ago
Your points are excellent ones, and we'll definitely consider adjusting our pricing model and perhaps adding a solo plan that allows a single user to track a single brand. Thanks again for your feedback. It's always nice to hear that someone "gets" what you're trying to do :)
sgk284 18y ago
"I greatly appreciate that the 30-day trial doesn't require a credit card. Bravo! Finally someone gets that right." I'm torn between this. On the one hand, it's less friction for the user to sign up... but then you wind up bugging the user later on. I feel like it's better to just get all of the "administrative non-sense" out of the way at the start. Also, if they're willing to give you their credit card (even if you aren't charging it right away), I suspect the data would show that they're more willing to pay for it later. I've got no data to back that statement though. Does anyone have any experience with this to share?
- mdasen 18y ago
  I personally hate being asked for a credit card for a trial because I know the company is hoping that I won't cancel in time and that they get to charge me. If your product is good, I'll be on board. If it isn't, I don't want to go through administrative hassle (especially since many sites make it difficult to cancel - sometimes even requiring phone calls).
- maryrosecook 18y ago
  The motivation behind requiring a credit card for free trials is that many people forget, or can't be bothered, to cancel before they start getting charged.
- ryanwaggoner 18y ago
  I understand what you're saying, but I think most people feel (correctly) like companies who ask for the credit card info up-front are banking on people just being too lazy or forgetful to cancel. While that might result in some decent short-term cashflow, we don't feel that it's a smart move long-term, as that's not really the kind of relationship we want to have with our customers.
- timf 18y ago
  One reason I think it should be required is to do vetting up front. That is, say you are offering something ISP/colo-like through your SaaS, something along the lines of a web proxy service. Not good to have people on free trials doing illegal things and having no way to identify them. I understand credit cards are not great vetting but it's better than nothing in these situations. I wish there were a way around this (which is mostly why I'm posting this comment, perhaps someone can relieve me of any ignorance). "Fax me a copy of your license" is out of the question ... the only thing I've come up with is to have a pretty crippled free demo that at least gets you a chance to see half of it in action.
  - sgk284 18y ago
    There is a large company I used to work for that we all use everyday and most of their services are free, but before I left they were discussing using credit cards as a means to defend against abuse in a free service. (The specific service being discussed hasn't been released yet) While it would cut back greatly on abuse, it'd probably significantly reduce adoption. I was always against the move... but in the start up I'm working on now, I feel it'd be more convenient for both sides to just take care of the credit card stuff up front. The big difference, to me at least, is that what I'm working on is a paid service.

ryanwaggoner 18y ago

Your points are excellent ones, and we'll definitely consider adjusting our pricing model and perhaps adding a solo plan that allows a single user to track a single brand. Thanks again for your feedback. It's always nice to hear that someone "gets" what you're trying to do :)

sgk284 18y ago

"I greatly appreciate that the 30-day trial doesn't require a credit card. Bravo! Finally someone gets that right." I'm torn between this. On the one hand, it's less friction for the user to sign up... but then you wind up bugging the user later on. I feel like it's better to just get all of the "administrative non-sense" out of the way at the start. Also, if they're willing to give you their credit card (even if you aren't charging it right away), I suspect the data would show that they're more willing to pay for it later. I've got no data to back that statement though. Does anyone have any experience with this to share?

mdasen 18y ago
I personally hate being asked for a credit card for a trial because I know the company is hoping that I won't cancel in time and that they get to charge me. If your product is good, I'll be on board. If it isn't, I don't want to go through administrative hassle (especially since many sites make it difficult to cancel - sometimes even requiring phone calls).
maryrosecook 18y ago
The motivation behind requiring a credit card for free trials is that many people forget, or can't be bothered, to cancel before they start getting charged.
ryanwaggoner 18y ago
I understand what you're saying, but I think most people feel (correctly) like companies who ask for the credit card info up-front are banking on people just being too lazy or forgetful to cancel. While that might result in some decent short-term cashflow, we don't feel that it's a smart move long-term, as that's not really the kind of relationship we want to have with our customers.
timf 18y ago
One reason I think it should be required is to do vetting up front. That is, say you are offering something ISP/colo-like through your SaaS, something along the lines of a web proxy service. Not good to have people on free trials doing illegal things and having no way to identify them. I understand credit cards are not great vetting but it's better than nothing in these situations. I wish there were a way around this (which is mostly why I'm posting this comment, perhaps someone can relieve me of any ignorance). "Fax me a copy of your license" is out of the question ... the only thing I've come up with is to have a pretty crippled free demo that at least gets you a chance to see half of it in action.
- sgk284 18y ago
  There is a large company I used to work for that we all use everyday and most of their services are free, but before I left they were discussing using credit cards as a means to defend against abuse in a free service. (The specific service being discussed hasn't been released yet) While it would cut back greatly on abuse, it'd probably significantly reduce adoption. I was always against the move... but in the start up I'm working on now, I feel it'd be more convenient for both sides to just take care of the credit card stuff up front. The big difference, to me at least, is that what I'm working on is a paid service.