albiniski - Latest Comments in WSJ: The Economics of Giving it Away

Re: WSJ: The Economics of Giving it Away

Graeme Thickins — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:24:09 -0000

yep, I agree, Matt -- determining *how much* of a pain point a customer has is important... to try to ascertain what they will actually be willing to pay for

that's why customer research is so important -- nothing beats getting out there and talking to customers... but the beautiful thing about the Internet is that it offers many ways to do that even when you can't get face-to-face with enough of them to do adequate research

sorry I missed you today at our Social Media Breakfast! so much going on, and so many people that want to talk! let me know if you're up for coffee sometime soon... I want to hear about what cool things you are up to

cheers,

Graeme

Re: WSJ: The Economics of Giving it Away

Matt — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:32:36 -0000

Hi Graeme,

I don't think the freemium is all there is, but I would argue that it might be one of the best entry strategies (read: short term). Vimeo differentiates on quality (among other soft benefits), and they give the user a taste of that HD experience once per month, or unlimited to the paid account. I know a handful of people that have opted to pay Vimeo, even with YouTube high quality now available, simply because they were able to try the service, see the superiority, and bring cash out of their pocket. Is that long term? Not likely.

I do disagree about pain points being over simplified. It sounds simple, and I use it interchangeably with "what problem are you trying to solve," but if you're not addressing that, you're creating novelty, not a sustainable business.

If the customer isn't willing to part with money for the pain remedy solution, maybe it's not a) enough of a pain or b) good enough a solution.

Re: WSJ: The Economics of Giving it Away

Graeme Thickins — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:48:41 -0000

Chris Anderson has a charming way of stating the most excruciatingly obvious stuff, doesn't he? Remember, this is him writing here -- not the Wall Street Journal. He is simply a guest author.

His point, as I see it, is that the focus now has to be on the business model. (Agree: big huge duh.) Too bad he doesn't cite some examples of newer Internet business models that are, in fact, working (rare as they may be). But is "freemium" all there is?

It seems Anderson is putting out a call that more creativity is needed here. It's amazing how many 'Net entrepreneurs don't focus more on the hard question of "what will people pay for." Identifying customer pain points is great, but I think overly simplified.

The next question has to be: Will doing away with such pain mean said customer will unload some cash?

cheers,

Graeme