Thinking about Marketing mEd CPs.

I may have brought this up once already, but I feel inspired to restate it succinctly.

Not being sure what an mEd course costs to produce, I'm just going to use some round numbers to illustrate a point. Supposing the cost is $5000, let's look at two scenarios that make for a successful CP process:

A) 50 customers bid $100 each...it goes into production.
500 customers bid $10 each...it goes into production.

Based on the current structural design of CP, the first scenario (or something like it) is almost universally the one that plays out. The second possibility virtually NEVER has an opportunity to play out.

True enough, some may admit, but so what? The costs have been covered...what does it matter?
Good question.

It matters for this reason:

In scenario A, once the mEd course has gone live and downloaded, there are 50 people who have the course and ONLY 50 who might be inclined/motivated to purchase some of the ADDITIONAL RESOURCES that the course mentions and links to.

In scenario B, there are 450 MORE customers who meet that same description. Cha-CHING!!!

So forget the poor sods who are actually so poor that they can't afford the $100 cost but would happily jump on the $10 price...and the noble thought of giving them an opportunity to participate in getting these courses. That thoughtful and considerate gesture may well be an insufficient motivation to deliberately create opportunity for their participation...

...but MO' MONEY sure ought to motivate their inclusion! Now, I know some will suggest that a person who is too poor to buy in at $100 is not likely to spend much more than the $10 it takes to get the mEd course. I disagree. If you spent $10 rather than $100 to get the same course, you could still spend $40 additional and still pay only half of scenario A. That's how folks with limited funds think.

The upshot? Scenario B generates more revenue AND more people get to enjoy participation in mEd CPs.

Find more posts tagged with

Mobile Education

Comments

Bob Pritchett

That's one of the reasons Community Pricing doesn't end the moment it goes over the line -- we give it at least a couple days to get bid down.

We have seen some titles get lots of traction, and be bid down pretty far, but the problem is, it's easier to get attention / action from 50 people than 500... about 1/10 the work. :-) ...

Personally, I'd love to see scenario B play out more often, though....

Simon’s Brother

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/903245#Comment_903245

Scenario B fails to happen more often because the lowest bid offered to customers is never lowered that far, which is a big part of David's reason for raising this issue a number of times in slightly different ways. And until we see FL actively do something in regards to this issue of the lowest bid amount that is actually offered to customers, saying you'd like to see it happen are just words. Reminds me of James charge that well meaning words that are not backed up by action are meaningless.

Benefits of a growing customer base for mobile Ed include but are not limited to greater uptake of platinum and higher base packages and/or greater uptake of add-on sales of additional resources.

Thank you for considering how FL can take this from mere words and turn it into an action that gives an opportunity for this to succeed.

That's one of the reasons Community Pricing doesn't end the moment it goes over the line -- we give it at least a couple days to get bid down.

We have seen some titles get lots of traction, and be bid down pretty far, but the problem is, it's easier to get attention / action from 50 people than 500... about 1/10 the work. :-) ...

Personally, I'd love to see scenario B play out more often, though....

SteveHD

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/903251#Comment_903251

$5,000 to produce, market and support any of the M.Ed courses no matter how long they are?

TCBlack

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/903252#Comment_903252

$5,000 to produce, market and support any of the M.Ed courses no matter how long they are?

That's just an artificial number to prove a point. AFAIK nobody but Faithlife knows the actual cost, which I'd wager is higher than that.

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/903245#Comment_903245

Here's a suggestion: since it has been stated on the forums that other mEd courses are planned for CP offerings, why not ditch the price frame and just set an old school price goal "thermometer". Remember, this is a test to see what kind of interest can be generated for CP mEds. Just set the price for the mEd at $10 and let people bid into it until the goal price is reached. Here's the kicker: if you set this CP on the front page next to the Free Book of the Month, something which lots of people show up for each month, I bet the month won't pass before it successfully closes. Who in their right mind wouldn't want a $10 mEd? It might even close lower. Personally, I'd like to see the current Deuteronomy CP picked as the guinea pig, just to prove a point. It's pretty close to crossing somewhere in the $100 range. Why not set a $10 price on it and make it one of next month's big promos? I bet it would close at $10 before it crosses the line in the current CP. Frankly, since I'm missing out on the Hebrews CP, I'd really like to have a shot at the Deut. CP, but $100 is too rich for me.

It would only take a couple of such "tests" to capture the attention of a sufficient cross-section of the customer base to make dirt cheap mEd CPs a reality. If Logos was able to crank out 2-4 such CPs each month in the $5-10 range, I bet LOTS of folks would budget for at least half of them and make a habit of looking for them each month.