jbjones wrote:
Really though the concept of a cheaper priced upgrade is a way to reward and create loyal customers. It does make sense to give larger discounts to people to continually give you money with every version and not as much to people who wait 6-10 years between upgrades. |
I agree that a loyal customer being rewarded is a good idea. But having only one upgrade path from one version behind is not what I call rewarding loyal customers. But I get what you're saying.
I personally like Xara's approach. I have upgraded every year from Xara X (released in 2000) up to the latest version which at the moment is called Xara Designer Pro X (v8).
When a new version is released there is a grace period where you can get the upgrade at a discount price (€93 instead of €129).
You can still upgrade later in the year without the introduction upgrade price if you so desire. This way a loyal customer is rewarded in my opinion that always gets the new version right away.
You can also decide to skip a year or more if the new features aren't worth it for you. You can be FIVE versions behind and still get the same upgrade price as everyone else. I like that a lot compared to Adobe's and Quark's new policies.
If for some reason you think €93 is too much to pay every year for a new version then just upgrade every two years and cut your expenses in half, or even once every three years. This way it's the users who are in control of upgrading or not. I know this makes a lot of companies shudder just thinking about their users having choices.
When you treat your customers correctly they actually want to upgrade and get the latest features. They feel good about it. If you do not treat customers correctly they will move and start using other software. If you really manage to piss off your userbase they will even go out of their way to badmouth the company at every opportunity. There are still a lot of Quark people here from the old days who will never forget Quark's behaviour.
jbjones wrote:
On the other hand, it is really REALLY nice when companies like Sony Creative Software let you have the upgrade price from any previous version. I enjoy supporting a company like that much more than companies who act like they are afraid of going bankrupt or think they can coherce more money from me using negative reinforcement. |
I fully agree. Once again taking Xara as an example, they have been very consistent over the years releasing one new version every year around the same time. No weird policy changes, no weird upgrade schemes. Just the same consistent customer support and pricing as always. You know what you get, when you get it, and what you pay for it. I'm fully behind companies who behave this way.
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