As I often do, I go to meet ups on a regular basis in the field of app development. This week was no different. However, this one was sponsored by UserTesting.com. At the end of the meet up, a salesman plugged his wares on the benefits of User Testing.com. The developers were all ears, being sold on getting a “true user experience” of their hard written app. Now that the salesman had all of the rooms attention, a simple question was asked: “How much does it cost?” “$50 per user” was the answer and then people started to leave.
What is wrong with charging $50 per user? Isn’t feedback of your app an important element? Well yes, all app developers will agree that the user experience is essential. So why did the salesman lose the room when he mentioned a cost because these app developers because for an indie app developer, its not within their tiny budget, especially when those are selling their app for free or at 99 cents. Its seen as too high a price tag.
Also, most of these app developers are not marketers. They’re not sure where and how to spend the little money they do have on improving their app, past their first thought of making a better developed app. $50 is not a cost effective spend for many indie app developers. If you want to capture the heart of an indie developer, then create a product that that is more affordable. I’m asking all the indie app developers, how much would you pay for knowing your apps users experience?