Why I rather pay for Backpack than use free alternatives

Backpack is a nice little tool for organizing your projects, ideas, tasks or whatever you want to organize. After trying the free version for one month I just couldn’t resist paying for it, so for ten months now I’ve let 37signals bill my credit card once per month – and felt great about it every time.

Unlike you’d assume, this post isn’t about how great Backpack is and why everyone should be using it. Instead I’m digging into a deeper psychological question: Why on earth do I want to pay for this piece of software? For some reason since my few first encounters with Backpack and its maker, 37Signals, I’ve been having this uncontrolled urge to pay for the product! Maybe it’s some kind of online hypnosis, or a drug, or then it’s all about people (and clever marketing).

1. People buy people first: A great quote from one of my favorite authors, Scott Ginsberg, tells what I think is the main reason for my Backpack addiction. My first contact with 37signals was through Ruby on Rails. After that I read their software development book, Getting Real. And only after that I started looking at their products – and loved them all. Coinsidence? I think not. I think the reason why I felt so strongly about the products was that I already knew some of the ideology behind them. I even felt like I knew something about the guys behind the product. While Backpack is a great product I have no illusions about it: I could easily fill the same needs with a few different free alternatives. But I don’t want to – I want to pay for Backpack. I have become a fan.
2. Would you pay 5$ / month to use Google? This is an interesting question I found on the Signal vs. Noise blog (once again from the makers of Backpack) while doing research for this post. I guess I wouldn’t. But why do I then pay for Backpack, which I use a lot less than Google? I guess a big reason is the image that Google has. If Google wasn’t free, it wouldn’t be Google. But that’s not all there is to it. I think that one thing that is great about Backpack is that from the very beginning it is stated clearly that if you are a heavy user of Backpack you can upgrade to a better plan. You start by using the free account, and then when you reach the limit of 5 pages, you can move to the 5$ plan, then 9$ and finally 14$. At least this for me this works as a reward: when I see that I’m paying 9$ for Backpack, it makes me feel that I’m a pretty good user.
3. When you look at two products you shouldn’t compare features, you should compare value: In his reponse to a request for lowering the Backpack prices Jason Fried says that you should think about the value that the product brings to you, and not what features the product has in it. It’s a great point, but I think value goes even deeper. Paying for something gives that something value. If you don’t pay for something, its value for you is pretty close to zero. It may be a useful tool, but you have no personal attachment to it. When you find a better tool, you move on. But if you have invested your money on something (something good that is) you grow mentally attached to that product and start valuing it over its features and functionality, just because you feel some ownership on it.

I know that not everyone feels the same way about Backpack. Some people always prefer the free alternative (maybe they just don’t have any money?) and some people prefer some other products. But I’m sure most of us feel obsessed with some product. If you do, it would be great to hear your story as well!