Never Sell Software On Cost Alone

If you are setting up a software development company and intending to sell shareware, make sure your products have a market. More than that, make sure that your products will have value in that market. You can't rely on a strategy of simply being low-cost. In general, most people realise that if they want to buy a product that they will use again and again - perhaps for years - cost isn’t really a deciding factor.

Your product development and sales strategy must be based on writing a non-trivial, valuable program. These days, lots of software is cheap and there are lots of big companies allowing people to use software either for free or for a trial period. The distinction between shareware and fully-fledged commerical software is becoming increasingly blurred. Your software must have features that people are prepared to pay for.


If you sell shareware you have to fill a niche and still offer a quality offering. One niche might be an “easy-to-use” version of a more complicated package. Note the key phrase here is “easy-to-use”, not trivial or cheap. People will pay to have complication taken away from them if the software offering still does an effective job.

How many times in the past have you bought things because they were cheap, e.g. a cheap power tool. The odds are that sooner rather than later you regretted the purchase. The product either turns out not to be up to the job or breaks easily. Most people soon learn to spend a bit more money and get a product they know they can live with and continue to use for more than a couple of days.

Another way of adding value to your software products is by offering good pre and post-sales support. Often, a small software development company can offer better support than a larger company. Large companies can be unresponsive to support calls or can’t hold a meaningful discussion with a potential customer. With small companies there are few barriers between the company owner and the customer. Both sides can benefit from this - the customer can make his case and get a decision quickly and the company owner has a chance to build a relationship with the customer. Building a relationship with a customer may lead to future sales, for example if you release a major upgrade of your software.

When setting a price for a software product always bear in mind that you should be operating as a business. Businesses need to make a profit. Don’t charge so little that you are literally working for peanuts. If a business’s products are too cheap, some customers may believe that the since the company does not value their own products why should they.

By: SueL

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Sue Lawrence runs SliQTools, a small business developing easy to use Invoice Software for use by small businesses. SliQTool's main product is SliQ Invoicing and Quoting. SliQ Invoicing and Quoting allows invoices/ billing, quotes/ estimates, credit notes and customer statements to be created and managed and include multiple invoice templates.

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