With the impending launch of Sprout Invoices we’ve been overwhelmed with all the minutia of releasing a premium product for WordPress users. A week ago we were able to release a beta to a few testers, this week we’re fixing bugs and errors, and working on completing sproutapps.co. I personally thought this final stretch would be the easiest to complete, it has not.
Surprisingly the problem is not what we expected, site design and building the main point-of-contact pages have been relatively easy, they’re actually in review. The wall we are hitting is making the entire purchasing process and support experience awesome. We believe these details cannot be overlooked and essential for our pre-launch early this month.
We want to reward our members after they’ve decided our products are right for them. Array, a theme shop building beautiful WordPress themes, is a great example of this goal. After purchasing: we too want the installation of our Apps to be extremely easy; we too want members to have a helpful and friendly support experience every time, this includes direct support and finding solutions within the knowledgeable; most importantly, we want members to proudly support the future of Sprout Apps and the products they love to use.
Part of this is figuring out pricing Sprout Invoices. The premium WordPress landscape seems to have a few constants in pricing: a free version, tiered licensing based on installs and yearly licensing. We not only need to do things differently, we want to:
Free Version
A free version is planned for release later this year. Possibly risking membership isn’t as important as giving back to the community that has truly supported us for the last 6+ years.
Tiered Licensing
Since we’re building apps for a business we don’t expect anyone to need more than a single license.
Licensing
We wanted to create a monthly recurring rate for Sprout Invoices for a few reasons. The main being we think people can better relate to a monthly recurring charge. Sprout Invoices having a similar pricing model will be easier to match up against the invoicing services. Checkout the Sprout Invoices pricing draft below.
Our pricing may help our members “proudly support the future of Sprout Apps and the products they love to use” but pricing is not a cause to get behind. We’re currently working out a method to fund a great charity we love; more information about this unique cause in the near future.
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