Behind the Box: Rethinking our pricing model
Building a model for more ways to use FrogBox
For much of FrogBox’s early growth, the way customers used the platform was relatively consistent. Most were cricket clubs using a FrogBox camera and an annual streaming pass across a season where the number and length of matches were reasonably predictable.
That remains an important part of our business, but the way FrogBox is being used is starting to broaden.
We are beginning to work across more sports, introduce new ways of capturing a game and support organisations with very different streaming patterns. A cricket club streaming regularly across a season looks very different to a volleyball association covering several courts in a day, a tournament generating a large amount of streaming over a short period, or an organisation starting with mobile phone capture for only selected matches.
As we work across more of these environments, we are seeing where the original model starts to become less suitable. A structure designed around a relatively consistent use case will not always fit the wider range of ways customers are beginning to use FrogBox.
That is why we are starting to shift our thinking towards usage. The aim is to give customers more flexibility in how they access FrogBox, while creating a closer relationship between how much of the platform is being used and the cost of providing the service.
Moving towards usage
From October, our plans will be based around streaming usage rather than being closely tied to an individual camera.
Annual plan customers will have an included allocation of streaming hours that can be used across their organisation, with the ability to add more when required. For customers looking for a lower entry point, a small upfront and pay as you go option will provide another way to access the platform.
Some organisations will continue to stream regularly throughout a season and prefer the certainty of an annual plan. Others may only want to cover a tournament, selected fixtures or a new sport without making the same commitment upfront. As mobile capture becomes another way into FrogBox, customers can also start thinking less about which individual camera a subscription belongs to and more about the amount of coverage they want to create.
“Cricket gave us a very good foundation because the usage patterns were relatively consistent, but the further we move into other sports and capture options, the more variation we are seeing,” says FrogBox CEO Rob Knee. “We want customers to be able to add another camera, stream from a phone or cover more teams without the commercial model becoming the barrier. Moving towards usage gives us a better foundation to support that flexibility.”
There is also a practical sustainability point behind the change. Streaming carries real ongoing costs, and those costs increase as customers use more of the platform. Under a more unlimited model, organisations with very different levels of streaming could effectively be paying similar amounts despite creating very different costs to serve.
Moving towards usage creates a closer relationship between what a customer uses and the cost of providing that service. It gives us a more sustainable way to support organisations operating at greater scale, while still providing a realistic entry point for customers who stream less frequently.
As with the new sports and capture options we are introducing, we expect to keep learning from how customers respond and how different organisations use the plans in practice. The important thing is that the model can flex with the platform rather than becoming another constraint around it.
Building the experience behind the plans
The change customers will see in the plans is only one part of what is happening.
As FrogBox grows, we are also changing the systems and processes behind how customers buy, access and manage the platform. Some of our early commercial processes were designed for a smaller business where annual invoicing, manual administration and a relatively simple hardware model were manageable. As we introduce new plans, more capture options and more markets, we are increasingly seeing where those processes need to evolve as well.
Over the past year, a significant amount of development has been happening behind the scenes. We are building FrogBox Shop and connecting payments, customer accounts, platform access, streaming usage, hardware logistics and finance workflows so that more of the customer journey works together rather than relying on separate manual steps.
The same work is extending into the requirements of operating across more markets, including support for different currencies, purchasing processes, finance workflows and fulfilment arrangements.
Much of that work is not particularly visible from the outside, but it becomes important if we want customers to be able to sign up, purchase what they need, understand their usage and manage their FrogBox experience without unnecessary administration.
This is also an area where CTO Justin Cook and our product and technology team have been closely involved.
“The pricing model is really only the front end. Behind that, a customer needs to be able to purchase a plan, access the platform, understand and add to their usage, buy equipment and have those transactions flow through the rest of the business. A big part of this work is making sure those systems support the customer experience rather than creating more steps around it.”
That work is continuing as we move further towards self service sign up and give customers more control over how they purchase and manage FrogBox.
For us, this is not about automating every interaction. There will always be situations where customers, partners and new markets benefit from working directly with our team. The goal is to remove the administration that adds little value, while keeping more time available for the conversations and support where people do.
Rethinking our pricing model is therefore happening alongside the broader changes across FrogBox. We are opening up more capture options, starting to work across more sports and building a platform that can support organisations with very different needs.
We do not expect every assumption we make today to remain unchanged. The important part is that the commercial model, customer experience and systems behind FrogBox continue to evolve with the way the platform is actually being used.
Want to learn more?
Explore FrogBox plans and capture options at FrogBox.Live, or get in touch with our team to discuss what might work best for your organisation.