I just received this email from Involver, the company that makes great apps for Facebook Fan Pages. They are changing their pricing model yet again. 

 

Look, I'm not trying to be the Involver "Nazi," but this constant adjustment of pricing is ridiculous. Settle on a pricing matrix and stick with it! 

I wouldn't get so worked up, except for the fact that, when the company first launched, they offered pricing that was very amenable to small businesses. If memory serves me correctly, the monthly cost was $59 and that was for more than four apps, which is what you get with the current offer.

The iteration prior to this latest adjustment was two-fold: free for use of up to two apps from a select group of nine, or "contact us for pricing," which, to me, spelled expensive. And it was too, about $500 per month, way outside the budget of most any small business.

The other reason I'm worked up is that I love their apps. I've said it before, they are easy to install and work great. I use the Twitter and YouTube apps on almost all the Facebook fan pages I develop. 

There is now this offer: $99 per month which, as I said, gets you use of only four apps. But there's more to this than meets the eye. It's $99 if you pay for an entire year. Otherwise, the price is higher. If you pay by the month, it's $149, still outside the price range most small businesses would be willing to afford.

 

Maybe I'm spitting into the wind, but once again I make a plea to Involver to price their product in such a way as to be affordable for small business. $49 per month for four apps, what do you say? And make that the monthly fee, not based on a one-time annual payment. There can be a $99 per month level, but you have to offer more than four apps for the price.

Otherwise, you risk losing market share to FanAppz, who, if they're smart, will put you right in their radar. And there are other competitors such as Tabsite, who recently announced they, too, offer the ability to pull in Twitter and YouTube feeds, something that has been a staple of the Involver basic model. 

Bottom line, with the current pricing model, Involver is not going to appeal to small business, in spite of their apparent desire to do so. It's okay if, in their heart, that's not truly the case. I just wish they would because they make a great product. And that really is the core of my angst.