Figuring out how much to charge for your app is a balancing act.
On one hand you want to make your product as accessible as possible. Going with a free or $0.99 price tag you’ll effectively ensure exposure to a broader audience and increase your volume of sales. More people will be inclined to try out your product, and you’ll in turn harvest more feedback & reviews.
On the other hand, you’re also looking for a viable stream of income to cover development costs. As a developer you are after all, running a business (a fact that many consumers seem to forget). If you’re catering to a particular segment of a market, volume sales might be a risky bet as your target audience might not be large or obtainable enough to give you a full return on your investment. This problem becomes even more accentuated if you’re creating an application with an amount of complexity or finish that required months of development, or if you’re creating a product that requires maintenance and a stream of updates. Any of these factors can drive you to price your app higher, justifying a longer development cycle or heavy maintenance in a limited market.
Fierce competition on the app store drives down prices which in turn arms the average consumer with a sense economic entitlement that labels a 3$ piece of software as ‘expensive’.
So when you’re pricing your app you need to think about all of the above. What is your success criteria? How many units do you want to ship? What are your target audience like? Are you catering to a small group of people who are willing to pay for your product or are you aiming at a broader audience with their dollars practically glued to the insides of their pockets? Also consider alternative ways of financing as sponsorships or ‘Freemium’ models.
Only a few people get rich from their apps on the app store, but at least make sure you get a return on the effort you’re putting in. Pricing your app shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be part of the development process as it’s going to steer how much time you allow yourself to spend on it.
