Storefront Listings are the detailed
catalog pages of a marketplace used to sell and deliver your software or SaaS
products. Listings provide the marketing information to sell your listing,
pricing and promotions, and provisioning integration to deliver your product to
your customer to allow them to start using your software solution. Listing
setup also includes configuration of the recurring billing of your Web app for
subscription-based pricing models.
What is a
listing?
A listing is a catalog page for your
software product. But it is also more then that. Beyond the parts that are seen
by the customer, the marketing and pricing information, there are also
procedures that allow for your product to be delivered on demand and provide
for on-going subscription billing and license management. On demand delivery,
also called provisioning, is the installation of your product real-time that
could be as simple as account creation on your web site, a software download with
key delivery to hosting setup of complete Virtual Environments.
Components of
a Listing
There are a four general areas of a
listing that need to be defined. These include:
Marketing
Pages: These are the customer-visible pages on your product. they
include the purchase page, features, demos, FAQ, support, forums, blogs and
custom articles that are all used to convey the value proposition of your
product
Pricing
& Contracts: Pricing determines how your product
is priced. Is it a one-time retail price, or is it subscription-based? Are
there setup charges or per user pricing models? Are free trials included?
Defining pricing in a listing defines the on-going pricing rules. Also, as part
of pricing setup, are the IP terms that the customer agrees to at checkout.
Provisioning:
The provisioning process is the installation process for your software
solution. For Web services approach, this is the setup of the customers account
on your web site. For Application Access Keys, this is the delivery of the key
and download information. For Virtual Environments, this is the installation
and hosting setup for the VE.
Getting
Started: The Completion of the customer purchase is the delivery of
the Getting started information. Getting Started is delivered as a web page and
an email. The getting started tells the user about how to start using the
solution they just purchase. This information includes the username and password,
app URL, download URL, Access key or other information about how to get
starting using the app
Listing Types
(Web App Delivery Types):
There are a number of types of listings
supported. The key types include:
Web
Services (with Integrated Billing):
For applications and services hosted on
an external Web site. Use Web Services if you have product provisioning but you
want the Marketplace to handle the billing. The Marketplace handles the shopping
cart and billing, then pass the purchase information (customer account
information) to a URL you specify via a Web Services via XML or JSON.
Virtual
Environment:
For distributing a hosted application
to a Virtual Server environment. This option is if your application is
developed with one of the virtual server environments developed with an Etelos
VE development kit (Available
VEs). The marketplace handles shopping cart, billing, provisioning and
hosting.
Application
Access Key (Software Download):
For distributing an access keys that
unlocks a download file. the Marketplace handles the shopping cart, billing and
provisioning of the access keys and download file. The user uses their key to
enable a application that can be downloaded from the marketplace from a
specific URL defined during provisioning.
User
Experience for Listing
How does a customer in the marketplace
experience purchasing your product? The following gives you a general idea how
a customer may experience purchasing your product
Marketplace
The
customer visits the marketplace and views information about various products.
Catalog
The
marketplace has cataloged your product. They can find it by browsing
categories or using search. Part of the
setup process is defining the keywords used to find the product.
Listing
Page
On
your listing page, the customer views the details about your product. You define the listing pages and content
the customer sees defining the keywords used to find the product.
Add
to Cart
Customer
picks the purchase terms that meet their needs and adds the items to the
cart. You define the purchase terms.
Agree
to Terms
When
the user continues with checkout (after logging into their existing account
or creating a new account), they must agree to terms. Terms include the
subscription terms of the marketplace, but they also include the terms of use
of your product. You must define the IP
terms as part of setup.
Payment
Review
bill and provide CC information for payments. Promo codes can also be
entered.
Provisioning
This
is the step of installing the app. For the user, a progress bar is presented.
Behind the scenes the product is being setup. For web apps, it is about
account setup via the Etelos Web Services Post. For VE, the VE instance is
started and created. You must complete
the necessary steps for your product so that provisioning can be carried out
in a Marketplace.
Getting
Started
Once
the provisioning is completed, the customer gets a getting started page
displaying information about how to use the product. This usually includes
the username and password as well as the starting URL. This page may also
kick-off additional provisioning events. Getting Started is also delivered as
an email
Use
App
The
customer starts to use the apps. The user clicks on the URL provided in the
Getting Stared page
Customer
Account (myaccount)
Each
customer in the markerplace has an account. This account provides tools for
the user to manage their subscriptions, billing, support, domains and profile
data.
MyAccount
(Customer Marketplace Account):
An important part of the customer
experience is the customer’s account in the marketplace. This account provides
tools for the user to manage their subscriptions, billing, support, domains and
profile data.
Subscriptions: List of active subscriptions, Provides
access to the getting started page as well as meter/usage data (as provided by
the app). Interface to cancel subscriptions. VE management tools (Start, stop,
pause)
Support: Submit support requests,
forums access, access to product marketplace app support pages.
Billing: History of billings and
credits. Also, pending billing.
Domains: Domain Purchase and
management. Assign domains to apps, email setup, sub-domains, etc.
CC and Profile: View and update profile
and CC file data.
Development
Roadmap
To develop a listing, you would follow
these general steps:
1. Pick
the listing type
What type of
app needs to be provisioned? There are three basic types. Each has its own
needs. The types include:
Web
services
Application
Access Key
Virtual
Environment
2. Build
the Listing Page (marketing pages)
Build out the listing pages. These are
the marketing pages that sell your app. These pages include general overviews,
features, FAQs, demos and promotion pages. Also included is a support page that
helps direct customers to your support
3. Development
of the Selected “Listing Type”
Based upon the
type of listing type selected, you have several:
Web services: This requires a web services
interface to your existing Web App. This usually involved a Web Service Post
from the Marketplace to your app that results in the creation of a user
account. Other events include subscription cancelations, canceled credit cards,
etc.
Application Access Key: Application access keys are
associated with downloaded files. The access key is used to unlock the app.
Keys are uploaded to the Marketplace and are inventoried. Each key is assigned
when a customer purchases. You
must also provide the file to be downloaded.
Virtual Environment: VEs are hosted Virtual Machines.
To setup a VE, you must start with one of the Etelos Developer Kits (Available VEs) and configure your VE with your app
and any other associated programs (web servers, DBs, etc.). Once complete, you
build a deployable VE that is then attached to a listing to be deployed by the
marketplace.
4. Test
the Listing
Once the listing is ready. Test the
listing to be sure that it provisions your app correctly.
5. Submit/Approval
Once testing
is complete, submit the app to the marketplace. The Marketplace owner would
then review and approve your app for listing in the catalog.
6. Add
to Marketplace
Once approved. There are two more steps
to push the app live:
“Mark
as Active” – You must mark you app as “Active”. Only active apps can be
displayed in a marketplace.
Assign
Category – The Marketplace owner needs to assign you app to one or more
categories.
7. Live
Operation
One you app is
live, it will be available for sales. To monitory activity, go to the reporting
section of your “myaccount” and view the sales report, installation status
(near-real-time installation progress, conversion report, and web reports.)
More
Help
To get more help. Use the other tabs in
the support section. These tabs include:
Forums – Interact with other
developers.
Downloads - Download how to documents
Example Apps – Review the example
apps to help jump star development
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