A suggesting for a new paradigm of marketing and developing the software.
1. How about selling various levels of core programs by functions and selling resources separately?
2. How about widgetizing each function and let the customers to choose which widgets to buy?
3. How about going on web-based and charging reasonable subscription fees to customers based on daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly subscription according to levels of functions and resources.
These will give customers choices to buy which core programs and resources to buy according to their ministerial needs and finance and let Logos continue to develop the core program without hassling about marketing.
Comments
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Bokman,
especially your idea of subscription-based charging would suit Logos well, since they then would have a regular stream of income that could correspond to the running cost of servers, rent, salaries etc.
The initial offering of the Faithlife Study Bible was (in my private opinion, no inside info) a first test to gauge customer reaction to such a model.
However, most users expressed extreme aversion to even the thought that they may eventually be charged on subscription base two years down the road. The unisono outcry was "we want to pay once and be done with it forever" - and current postings show that "be done with it" includes the idea of something like a lifetime warranty for ongoing maintenance, reasonable improvements, bug fixes etc.
I don't see this down the road.
Have joy in the Lord!
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What is the plan with Faithlife? It seems like a really great idea, a lot of awesome, really awesome features, but I don't see the hook or anything to build momentum.
I suggested it to my church group and didn't get any interest. That was without any mention of the subscription service. That leaves me with nothing I can do to spread it. As it is the church or group has to buy into it and then sell it to members.
To me-with my limited perspective-it would seem to make sense if it was a 1) tiered platform and 2)included "friends" who could link to your personal page (hmm, maybe call it Personal Pulpit).
With a tiered platform you could allow free access to basic services like a personal page with friends, maybe the ability to Observe a group and view prayer list, reading lists. For the Study Bible they might have access to the resources, but no ability to make notes, highlights, etc. All of the advanced productivity and collaboration features could be put on a paid plan. The free services could be paid in part by christian based advertising.
Having friends would make it easier to build momentum. And once you have people in on the free services, you have a hook to entice them to the paid plan. Now, instead of having to build support from the top down, we can also do it from the bottom up by getting enough people in it that it makes sense for the church to get in on it. And at the same time make it more universal, including more links outside of church lines, ie. I can be connected to my family or friends in another church on a "safer facebook" alternative.
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Randy,
actually I don't really see your point, but that may be because I don't understand what you mean with a "tiered" platform.
Faithlife.com is absolutely free, people can go there and observe a group (or follow, or join) without buying anything and without being plastered with "christian based advertising" save a small box offering the Bible Study Magazine or so. And Faithlife links over to biblia.com, which for unregistered users has some 40+ bibles.
The point may be that people there don't see what's going on and may think they're alone in an empty storehouse.
Have joy in the Lord!
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I must have misunderstood. I was thinking from posts I had read that there was $20 or $30 subscription. I thought it applied to Faithlife.com and the Study Bible. Is that just for the Study Bible, then? And Faithlife.com will remain free? I guess that would make Faithlife.com the hook to get people to subscribe to the Study Bible. That makes sense. I apologize for my misunderstanding.
I would still argue the point with regards to needing a way to build momentum, to get more people involved. Perhaps I'm missing something here also? It just seems that adding personal pages and connections would open the service up to more people. I'm just looking for a way to get people in my small circle involved. Just about everyone uses Facebook, but I haven't been able to sell Faithlife. I think it's an amazing tool for group study, but I just can't figure out, on my end, how to get people involved.
Apologies also to Bokman Han, I didn't mean to hijack the thread. I think the idea of a limited subscription service to Logos is a good one.
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Randy W. Sims (Shayne) said:
I think the idea of a limited subscription service to Logos is a good one.
However, many Logos users/customers—including me—think it is a very bad idea. In the past several weeks, Logos servers have been down. Only a small problem when you own the resources and have them stored on your computer. Big problem when you have a Sunday morning deadline and cannot access your subscription. Do not see how a subscription service could work without constant internet service. You would need to download, and Logos would need access to remove resources once the subscription expired. Or else, we would need a web-based appellation, which is an even bigger bummer.
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Randy W. Sims (Shayne) said:
I was thinking from posts I had read that there was $20 or $30 subscription. I thought it applied to Faithlife.com and the Study Bible. Is that just for the Study Bible, then?
Yes it's only for the Study Bible - and it will start March 2014 at the soonest. Thus anybody can use it currently for free. The website was and is free and doesn't require FSB at all.
Randy W. Sims (Shayne) said:It just seems that adding personal pages and connections would open the service up to more people. I'm just looking for a way to get people in my small circle involved. Just about everyone uses Facebook, but I haven't been able to sell Faithlife. I think it's an amazing tool for group study, but I just can't figure out, on my end, how to get people involved.
Your ideas on further developing Faithlife are good - I think, in respect to Bokman we might carry this on in the Faithlife forum.
Have joy in the Lord!
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