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Benefits to Shareware
By S. Housley
Shareware has been fighting the stigma
of being misunderstood for decades. While corporate software giants can no
longer ignore the marketing potential of a trial version, small software
startups are struggling with new listings and bandwidth costs. Businesses and
individual consumers need to take a closer look at the benefits of taking
advantage of shareware marketing. The concept of a trial version is not a new
one. Consumer expectations, and the need for immediate satisfaction have
spurned the industry to realize the need for instant software.
The
availability of file downloads in the Internet era, is spurning a
revolution of purchasers who never leaving their homes or offices. As a
result, the Internet has taken the proliferation of shareware to a new
level.
Why the Success?
Why developers have succeeded using shareware
marketing
under poor global economic conditions is fairly
obvious.
Shareware allows consumers to evaluate an application prior to
making a purchase decision. There are no risks to the consumer, if the trial
version does not satisfy a purchasers needs, they do not spend the money
registering. Evaluating the software prior to purchasing also increases
consumer satisfaction as they gain a complete understanding of
the software they are ordering and there is little room for surprises.
Trying the software before buying is no longer a novelty it is a consumer
expectation.
Traditionally, because the barrier to entry is fairly
low,
companies participating in shareware marketing are usually
small and
willing to provide personalized service uncommon in large companies.
Customers often speak directly with developers requesting feature
enhancements, thus improving
the software for all. Software support forums
with users helping other users have become commonplace. These
allow developers to focus on future upgrades, while repetitive user issues
can be quickly dealt with. Software developers, who market via the shareware
method, have revolutionized
traditional support models.
Many of the
shareware directories provide ratings and user
assessments. Often the user
reviews provide insight to important feature sets. Allowing consumers an
opportunity to assess and compare multiple products prior to making
a decision.
Let us not forget the delivery advantage the shareware
model
has over the traditional retail counterpart. Shareware allows for
instant gratification, there is no need to wait for a shipment because
consumers can download and use the software immediately.
What does
this all mean? Marketing via the shareware method is far less
expensive than traditional advertising, the increased customer demands,
personalized service and instant satisfaction all provide an added consumer
benefits. With Shareware, software developers, have a great method for
consumers to evaluate and purchase their software. Consumers can easily
determine if the software is suitable. Ultimately, by allowing
the
software to sell itself, consumers often obtain top quality
software
that is priced far less than traditional retail applications.
About
the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company
specializing in
alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging
software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
, and http://www.small-business-software.net
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