Hi everyone,
When thinking of pricing models (or even business models), subscriptions sometimes make sense. Back in 2014 when Birchbox was huge, I thought that convincing customers they needed your product regularly was genius. But for customers who don't buy into the allure, offering pay-per-use as a payment option is also smart so that businesses ensure that they capture more of their target market.
In current news, Careem has introduced a subscription model on its Super App. The Careem Plus subscription loyalty program will cost AED 39 per month. Benefits will include 10% instant cashback on all Careem rides, 5% on all Hala ides using RTA taxis, free food delivery from selective restaurants, unlimited access to Careem Bike services (at launch), and priority care support. The feature will launch in Dubai, then it will gradually move to other parts of the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and Jordan have been identified as next-in-line contenders).
I'm sure some pretty smart ex-consultants at Careem did the math to figure out that this subscription model works. But as someone who prefers to have her own car to drive around town and cook her own food to avoid excess oils, I can't help but wonder: who's Careem's biggest customer and how much $$$ do they spend on the app monthly?
In our latest episode, we sit down with Toghrul Samad who's the founder and CEO of Buglance, a crowdsourced testing platform that utilizes the power of the people to revolutionize the software testing industry. Toghrul is a serial entrepreneur, problem solver, and Chief Executive with 15 years of experience in promoting e-commerce websites, mobile apps, and games.
Together we discuss:
The reasons why software bugs go unnoticed
How to leverage the power of the masses for software bug testing
How to ensure employees are equipped to communicate with employees
Founder leadership styles
Not all software bugs can be found in-house
It's not possible to find all bugs in-house because not all devices can be tested, literally! To paint a picture, there are more than 20,000 unique devices on Android alone. As a result, when tested internally, bugs that affect devices unavailable in-house aren't discovered.
Another reason is human behavior. When testing in-house, there are specific scenarios that are followed in tests. But, users are unpredictable and try completely different things all the time.
In small companies, developers test their own software in-house, which results in bias and a lot of bugs being unfound. In bigger companies, developers release new versions of their applications regularly and have a very limited amount of time to test them.
Software developers can help to catch bugs. Buglance is a crowdsourced testing platform that tests and finds bugs in apps and online websites. They have two models: (1) Buglance for clients and (2) Buglance for the testing community (aka bug hunters!). The world of bug hunting requires just a mobile phone, laptop, or any other electronic device to run the app.
Businesses can embrace custom pricing for customers as an acquisition strategy
Pricing can vary based on the degree of services you provide customers (based on the scale of their problems, for example). One way to assess pricing is through discovery calls. This is a stage in the sales process where businesses ask customers about their problems in detail. It can help provide insights on their business, pain points, and frustrations. By recognizing clients' pain points, businesses can focus on giving specific solutions for the problem(s) identified.
The sales process is easier if the salesperson has technical skills if the problems are technical in nature. However, if the salespersons are not technically trained, consider developing sales scripts and standardized FAQ sheets, and train them well.
Founders can be directly involved with their business, indirectly observing progress or a bit of both
Every founder has their own leadership style to manage their business. One leadership style is through being constantly involved and hands-on, whilst another style is empowering employees to lead their respective functions.
Usually, managers believe that they can solve problems in their department by themselves. This is why they don't report their problems to anyone — but the risk is that the issues could balloon to a level where other senior management are bound to find out. So, it's best to share details about existing problems when they're small — the quicker a problem is identified, the quicker a solution can be formed.
Until next time,
Shereen