I was reading up over at Blogging Pro; Gravator 2.0 Adding Paid Premium and it occurred to me what David said was true. Almost every online service that was or great now is charging for every nickel and dime. In other words, even a simple avatar plugin is now starting to charge a minimum amount to its service.
Like David said, USD10 per year might not be much to pay for the service but it’s small little amounts that accumulate and soon you’ll discover spending more in the long run.
It looks like account variations are becoming the norm and to get full service, you’re going to be expected to pay a small premium. The free account might be useful and not very minimal, but it’s the account upgrades later that delivers the killer.
The assumption or business strategy is if you’re delivering a high quality service, free account users wouldn’t mind upgrading to a paid account either starter or premium. This business modal may be effective but I hope newly launched online services will not get carried away by it. For instance, cashing in on your customers because you’ve recently discovered your service is one of the most popular.
I believe we have to be responsible for our customers as well as our business. An online service needs monetary support but it shouldn’t rush its way to the end of the rainbow. If this happens by the time you reach there, you might find the sun falling and the rainbow disappearing later. Business isn’t just about money now (though it’ll be great selling out for a couple of millions) but it’s about building customer relationships.
Ever since I started my blog, I’ve always been a loyal customer of my website hosting provider; Easynet-Interactive. I’m a loyal customer because of the great customer service and the quality of the service. Though I’m paying more than what I can find, I know I’m paying for the high quality value.
This isn’t an online service like Basecamp but the business strategy is almost the same. When I’m happy with their service and if I require more space, I wouldn’t mind upgrading to a better premium account although it will still cost me more than the competitor. Why? It’s because I’ve found the value I’ve been looking for and accept it out of appreciation.
Therefore, it’s important for an online service to first deliver the value and evaluate the customer value before adding any starter or premium paid accounts.
What online services are you paying for at the moment?
[tags]Blogging Pro, Online services, Website hosting, Basecamp, 37Signals, Premium account, Easynet-Interactive[/tags]
I only pay for Flickr, that’s all.
The rest I’m happy with the free accounts.