Software companies should know what measure in their market analysis to determine their consumer surplus so that create products that are better at fulfilling their customers.
Messerschmitt and Szyperski have studied what factors affect the perceived consumer surplus in the software product market.
On the other hand, many things affect the total cost of ownership of software products besides price.
Additionally, switching costs to competitors play a role because customers may fear that the vendor may discontinue the product or go out of business.
(2004) Calculations of consumer surplus is one way that software firms can keep track of their perception by customers in an integrative way.