Ask IH: Monetise based on users or usage?
Hey IH! I have been thinking about monetising based on usage instead of users for something I'm building (it's a Slack app). Charging based on users seems to be the norm. To keep thing simple this model charges based on bundles of users, e.g. up to 10 users, 20, 50, etc. This simplifies it for both the developer and the buyer who may be hiring/firing often.
From a technical perspective though it might be quite a bit of work to determine actual user numbers though, for example who is active/deactivated and this has to be checked regularly on a scheduled job.
Alternatively you know how much your users are using your product and it can be sold as bundles of items, e.g. in the case of a todo app the pricing tiers could be based on bundles of 100 tasks, 200, 500, etc, and might be fairer?
What do you think and in your experience what goes down better with customers?
I think the best setup is always when the cost to the customer is proportional to the value they get. This is often usage, but can also be users, or a combination of the two. Sometimes it can be even more specific to the value generation result (e.g. rev-share or affiliate models).
In my experience, charging based on value creates strong incentives on your side that the product works well - therefore setting up healthy alignment between your product goals and your business goals.
This comment was deleted 7 years ago