Many of the resellers we’ve spoken to agree that goMobi is a perfect complement to existing webhosting packages. Over the past couple of weeks, we had some fairly in depth discussions with interested resellers around how they might package and price the goMobi service. I wanted to share some of these learnings with you in this post.
If you look around, you’ll find the retail pricing for goMobi in the range of $5 to $9 per month with some service providers offering a slight discount when paid for a year in advance. Using an average price of $7, with a cost of $2.50, OpenSRS resellers can expect to earn around $50 in profit per account. That doesn’t take into account any fees you might charge your client for setup.
Some of the main consideration points our Resellers had about goMobi:
- Will we offer the service on a monthly basis, or one year paid in full at sign-up?
- Should we offer a discount for 1 year paid in advance?
- Will we offer initial setup of the mobile site? Will we charge for it?
- Does it make sense to bundle goMobi with an existing service, or sell if as a standalone product?
The answers our resellers came up with largely depended on the kind of business they run. If they’re an agency focused on web design, they might build the service differently than a webhost or Internet Service Provider. Each business has their own way of doing things, and we can’t pretend to have all the answers for you. But we do have some insight and high level ideas based on conversations and feedback from service providers in a similar position to you.
Payment frequency
We bill you on a monthly basis for the goMobi service, but how you bill your clients for service is up to you. If you’re a webhost and already billing a client monthly for service, it might make sense to bill goMobi on a monthly basis as a line item on your client’s invoice. If goMobi will be part of a larger site design, say a complete corporate re-design that includes professional services, then charging upfront for 1 year probably makes sense and will have a negligible effect on the overall price.
Offering initial setup
The goMobi service is extremely simple to setup, but some customers appreciate having their mobile site setup for them based on their existing corporate site. If you’re an agency already designing the client’s main site, then setting up the mobile version is probably a no brainer. Charging a fee for setting up the mobile site is a relatively easy option that can help increase revenue. Remember, if the client would prefer to set the service up themselves, this is always an option, but we’ve heard from several resellers that clients are asking them to take this work on, despite the easy setup tools.
Discount for term commitment
We’re seeing this from most service providers. A reasonable monthly fee per month, with a discount if the client pays in advance for a year. All of the service providers we surveyed offered a yearly discounted rate and a couple didn’t even offer a monthly option.
Free trial
It’s an easy foot in the door and an opportunity for the puppy dog close. Not much to say about this one, except that it seems to work with clients unsure about the benefits until they actually see their mobile site in service. And once they have it… they’re hooked!
Bundling
You know the old saying: “You can’t compare apples to oranges”. One of the best ways to sell a service is to make it difficult for interested prospects to compare your service offering to that of your competitors. One of the ways to do this is by bundling. If you’re an webhosting company, bundling goMobi into your packages adds a differentiator to your existing package. A client comparing your service package will be forced to consider the merits of the entire package when looking at your competitor.
Learn more
We have an upcoming webinar hosted by James and Le Quan that will focus on these ideas and others. If you’re interested in participating on January 27th, you can sign up for free here.
What do you think? Do you have a unique perspective or experience to share? The ideas above are by no means an exhaustive list and as we learn more, we’ll be sure to pass them along. At the same time, if you’ve had success selling goMobi, I’d love to hear your story!