A few weeks ago we got the idea to survey our Beta users about pricing. We wanted to hear from users what price range and model we should be considering.
The amount and quality of the feedback we received was really great. This has been a tough question to answer and we've had lots of internal discussions about pricing and business models.
Here are some of the insights we gleaned from the survey results…
77% of people said they would sign-up for a year if it meant they good a good discount. I wasn't expecting this because I figured people would lean towards the 'no contract' month-to-month kind of relationship. We'll probably start with flat monthly pricing and then introduce a longer term deal in the near future.
85% said they'd never give up their credit card at the beginning of a trial – only once they've decided to sign-up for a paid account. This wasn't too much of a surprise but we wanted to test it anyway, seeing that there are a couple popular services out there that require the card up-front but let you cancel risk-free for 30 days.
Only 71% like pie. I thought it would be higher.
37% disagreed with the statement: "The more price plans the better (gives me more choice)."
76% said they'd only sign up for a paid product once they had completed a free trial.
65% said a time limited but fully functional trial is better than a feature limited free version.
83% said they'd pay $9/month for a single user account.
Nearly 60% said they'd pay $19/month for a single user account.
Only 20% said they'd pay $29/month for a single user account.
9% would tattoo SWIX across their back for $20 and 20% said they'd consider it. We're making some phone calls.
Nearly 85% said they'd likely become a SWIX customer once the product is commercially released. This is really awesome.
72% have recommended SWIX to a friend. Very cool!
"If the SWIX product were to disappear tomorrow, how upset would you be?"
58% would be a little disappointed.
22% would be very disappointed.
8% would hurl themselves off a tall building.
… don't worry, we're not going anywhere 
.
Thank-you so much to everyone that took the time to give us this insight. There were some amazing free form comments that people left as well. It was especially great to hear people's thoughts in their own words. I won't publish them directly because we didn't really set any expectations on publishing or privacy, but they were super helpful.
We'll be choosing a lucky winner for the iPod Touch (or Gift Card for that value) this week!
Based on all of this feedback, we think we've come up with a winning price plan and we'll be out with it very soon! We're just putting the finishing touches on our e-commerce set-up.
