Article: Shareware marketing
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Shareware marketing
A shareware is a version of software with fewer functions. The shareware is free and represents only a demonstration of the complete version. Shareware marketing makes the software available to users without charge for the purpose of testing it before completing the purchase.
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Definition of shareware marketing
Shareware Marketing refers to the method of distribution rather than any feature of the software itself. Like freeware and public domain software, shareware is freely transferable to other users but its distinctive characteristic is that it is distributed on a “try before you buy” basis. The shareware concept dates back to 1982 when two independent software developers in the United States, Jim Knopf and Andrew Fluegelman, began collaborating on developing shareware as a new means of software marketing. [1]
Shareware marketing is divided in two major parts: the first part is common with other types of software marketing, it’s the starting step and consists in promoting the new product and advertise it over a software marketing campaign. The second step is more specific to shareware marketing and aims to create the need for users to purchase the complete version of the shareware.
Types of shareware marketing
Firms marketing their software as a shareware have to design two different products, one that will be the try-out version of the other. They therefore not only have to sell the software, but must distribute the try-out version and then sell to customers who decide to buy the full software.
Relevance of shareware marketing to software business
A shareware is a simplified version of software a company wants to sell. Thus, when the shareware is in possession of the costumer the company is still in the software marketing process. The choice of which functionalities should be closed and which features should be opened is very important for its marketing strategy.
Opening too much features in the shareware can affect the consumer behavior and the user can be satisfied by using only the shareware. In opposition, opening not enough functions or a wrong selection of the opened and closed features can create a misunderstanding from the potential future client and generate dissatisfaction of the software product.
By putting a reduced version of its product in the market the company must assure a suitable marketing strategy. An example of strategy is, especially with Internet, to propose the new version available of the software each time the shareware is lunched.
The business benefits for the customer are numerous: trying a product or a service before buying it is rare and “the try before you buy” marketing is very profitable as when you don't know exactly what you're looking for, Try for free. Getting more personal services and order from home with convenient delivery options still possible as Shareware companies are usually smaller companies, consisting less than 50 people [2] that personally fill orders, answer your emails and provide support for any problems, this offer often a direct contact with the programmer or designer of the software. Thus, Shareware Marketing System can be attractive for software business by a rise in the software set-up costs. Indeed, more and more goods must be customized, fit to the specific needs of different types of customers, and it is the customers who must ask for, or make, the changes themselves - which result in additional buying costs.
Also, as the shareware are widely available on the Internet the cost paid by the customer may be a fraction of what you'd pay at retail software prices. The music industry [3] and Podcasts in mobile devices [4] are for example industries where a growing portion of users tend to use a lot of shareware product on Internet .
Example of shareware marketing
Interesting examples of Shareware marketing can be found on the Internet. Shareware Internet websites are having a tremendous grow in the number of their back links from other websites and are getting, thus, a higher visibility and brand awareness through the Web. The most famous shareware website on Internet is CNET Download.com with a total of 604,000 back links in May 2006. For purpose of comparison, there were 876,000 back links to amazon.com in May 2006. [5]
The most famous sharewares are WinZip and WinRar for archiving and compressing files. They are freely available for an evaluation period. After this period, the user may pay in getting the official copy, this is not mandatory and it is not enforced, however, users get a reminder each time to buy it. Therefore, the user decides if will or not pay for the official version and has the alternative to continue using the WinZip or WinRar evaluation version.
Another example is pdfFactory, where the user can download and use an evaluation version for a trial period. Afterwards, a fee payment is necessary for using the official version, otherwise all PDF files, which the user makes with the trial version embed, on each copy, a watermarking of the trial version[6].
Theoretical approaches
While the shareware market has been estimated as a $300 million industry [7], it has not been the subject of many economic studies because its model is not well understood.
Currently interesting research questions
Links to related articles
See also
References
- ↑ The Origin of Shareware By Jim Knopf
- ↑ Association of shareware Professionals
- ↑ Mihir Parikh, The Music Industry in the Digital World: Waves of Changes, Institute for Technology and Enterprise, 1999.
- ↑ M.Ketterl, R.Mertens, K.Morisse, Alternative content distribution channels for mobile devices, 2006.
- ↑ Alexia Gaudeul, Software Marketing on the Internet: the Use of Samples and Repositories, 2008.
- ↑ A.Koulouris, S.Kapidakis, F.Makedon, Applying Library Policies for Digital Content Access to the Commercial Sector, 2005.
- ↑ Alexandre Gaudeul, Shareware competition: Selling an experience, September 17th 2004.