Sneaky Sales Tactics!

[William Overington]

Oh, so potentially one of those sort of "gimbal lock" things whereby Serif offers simultaneously a discount for m days and a free trial for n days and n is somewhat greater than m and then after n days when the trial period expires and the potential customer decides to buy the product the potential customer is ... er ... concerned, that the discounted price is no longer available.

On the previous occasion I think that, after ... er ... feedback in this forum that Serif management allowed people who were in the "gimbal lock" to buy the product at the discounted price.

So, is the situation the same as what happened last time, or is it now built-in to the process that if a prospective customer starts the trial during the discounted price period that he or she has the option of buying the software at the discounted price up until, say, the day after the trial period expires?

Whichever way it is going to work, it would, in my opinion, be best if the situation is made clear now rather than ambiguity and scope for confusion and concern arising at a later date.

William

 

[deeds]

20 minutes ago, Twolane said:

Isn't there a 30-day free trial?

Best not complain for too long. The price is surely going up on December 15. There'll be plenty of whining then, too, I'm sure. And we can all hear it already.

Is this preemptive complaining about impending whining, or premature whining about potential complaining?

[William Overington]

16 minutes ago, deeds said:

Is this preemptive complaining about impending whining, or premature whining about potential complaining?

Neither, it is excellent elucidation of prospective problems so as to magnificently minimize distressing disappointments.

William

 

[debraspicher]

4 hours ago, Ali said:

This is why I left and didn't post for a long time. I have only returned because of the V2 release, but am now about to remove my bookmark to the forum (again). It seems to be full of trolls these days, and some particularly nasty ones.

Same. I only came back for V2, but would check occasionally for any news. Social media has generally ruined the ability to build attractive communities without it being taken over by spectators looking to pick people off. It's sadly become predictable. I miss the age of personal websites and chill communities.

[William Overington]

28 minutes ago, debraspicher said:

Same. I only came back for V2, but would check occasionally for any news. Social media has generally ruined the ability to build attractive communities without it being taken over by spectators looking to pick people off. It's sadly become predictable. I miss the age of personal websites and chill communities.

You might find

https://punster.me/serif/

to be what you would like.

It is run by @Alfred and is a polite forum, with nice people, some of whom were regular participants in the old Serif lounge.

William

 

[deeds]

36 minutes ago, debraspicher said:

Social media has generally ruined the ability to build attractive communities without it being taken over by spectators looking to pick people off. It's sadly become predictable.

I think the OP makes for a prime example. Straight into a baptism of fire, so to speak. How many folks arrive in these forums as new users and new customers, only to have their first posts of issues and/or objections become cesspits of hot takes and haranguing, or worse? What percentage then leave, never to return, with all their previous optimisms and potential enthusiasms for the Serif brand and its products in tatters, or inverted entirely?

In this case, we've been lucky to see the new customer stoutly defend and clarify, seemingly having had similarly negative experiences in other forums, and able to differentiate this behaviour from the brand... to some extent. I doubt they're going to be buying into cheer leading the product or brand as a result of this experience, regardless what they choose to do next in terms of purchasing and usage. 

 

Which brings up the big point. If these kinds of issues and objections were handled with a little decorum and genuine concern for the user's experience, how many would transition to subsequent sales and upgrades, lifelong cheerleading users and potentially ambassadors?

@Smpl sadly, and unfortunately, how you've been "welcomed" is somewhat indicative, at the moment, of these forums.

I hope you've been enjoying v1 of Affinity, whichever product(s) you're using, and that they've saved you time, sped up your work and increased your creativity. And I fully agree with the sentiments you're expressing.

 

[JanGen]

People are commenting that the discounted price of about $26 dollars seemed fair for V1. I am new, and purchased the Windows version of the Affinity Photo for $54.99 just 5 months ago. I was not told there was a V2 coming out, nor given the cheap price of $26. I am a little disgusted seeing there is a V2 so quick and my only option to get it is to pay and additional $40.99. No way, that's pretty messed up and they won't be updating V1 either. I don't download from the Apple store, I purchased directly here for Windows, so whatever the claim is or reason behind there financial decisions because of problems with Apple is not my concern, all I know is regardless if other companies do the same thing, it would be nice if they had more consideration for customers, it's just lacking integrity. I will not be purchasing anything from here again.

[deeds]

3 hours ago, JanGen said:

People are commenting that the discounted price of about $26 dollars seemed fair for V1. I am new, and purchased the Windows version of the Affinity Photo for $54.99 just 5 months ago. I was not told there was a V2 coming out, nor given the cheap price of $26. I am a little disgusted seeing there is a V2 so quick and my only option to get it is to pay and additional $40.99. No way, that's pretty messed up and they won't be updating V1 either. I don't download from the Apple store, I purchased directly here for Windows, so whatever the claim is or reason behind there financial decisions because of problems with Apple is not my concern, all I know is regardless if other companies do the same thing, it would be nice if they had more consideration for customers, it's just lacking integrity. I will not be purchasing anything from here again.

Unfortunately, for you and those with similar experiences, they've apparently had 3x the sales success they envisaged from this update cycle.

One might imagine that would leave them with some money to run around and find folks like you to reward with a free update. 

But clearly (and sadly) that's not happening.

I hope you find other software that's good enough and doesn't come with these kinds of experiences. 

[William Overington]

28 minutes ago, deeds said:

But clearly (and sadly) that's not happening.

It might not have happened yet, but on a previous occasion after a while I saw that people who were in a "gimbal lock" situation each were promised an email with an offer.

So, this time, maybe it will happen, maybe it won't.

It is not good for a business to have customers who are cheesed off with the service received.

William

 

[drkanukie]

Making the V1 apps not open V2 files was the unforgivable sneaky sales tactic. IMO. Especially as V2 has a much reduced hardware compatibility range to V1.

[Tia Lapis]

No backward compatibility is often simply a technical necessity as many internal structures may have changed.

[_Th]

🤣 All this whining over the pricing just cracks me up. And really misses the point...

The truth is Serif should pay me to use their software!

After all, I'm investing my time, using my hard drive space, consuming my electricity ... I could go on and on. Seriously(not), why should I have paid even the ridiculous give-away price I did for the v1 software since it wasn't absolutely perfect? And why should I pay another ridiculously-low price for the seriously-upgraded and still not absolutely perfect software? I mean $99 USD for all three apps available to me on all three platforms? C'mon! Look, I don't have to take this! Ad0be is having a sale! I can just go other there and plop down $480 bucks for an entire year! OK, I'm a little short on funds, so I'll just pay the $82 a month. 'Cause ... math. And when I stop paying for that software, it'll still work fine, I just won't get any updates. Am I right or what?!

</sarcasm>
OK, sorry. Silly rant over. It's just frustrating because the Affinity suite is the best alternative to Goliath and their hideous subscription model, and it's dirt cheap no matter how you slice it.

That said, Serif must improve certain things if they want to continue to grow and/or remain competitive. This is the golden hour, the absolute best time for them to gain (and keep) serious market share, something I think we all want to happen. Pricing (new or upgrade) is not the issue for them, or us. It is getting the basics right. This forum and the V1 forum are full of examples of the basics being missed. I am a huge supporter, and I want very much to see this endeavor succeed. However, the vitriol many hold towards Ad0be means the field is wide open for someone to step in with a more solid offering. For me, I'm cheering on the Serif team and hoping they'll be the ones to slay the giant.

Cheers.

Edited December 1, 2022 by _Th
Grammar

[SpaceBound]

I agree with you. However the people who fell for this are partially at fault. If people had done research they would have known the release of such an app was going to be around this time to early next year with a price increase. 1 they had piximperect talk a bit about affinity. 2 they had done interviews in magazines. 

[NewInBoston]

On 11/26/2022 at 5:41 AM, Ali said:

This is why I left and didn't post for a long time. I have only returned because of the V2 release, but am now about to remove my bookmark to the forum (again). It seems to be full of trolls these days, and some particularly nasty ones.

It’s the Great Peasants’ Revolt. I guess that comes with having such a low barrier to entry all these years.

Oh well, maybe by V3 the peasants will have left. 

Hold the line 💪

[William Overington]

On 12/1/2022 at 11:31 PM, _Th said:

The truth is Serif should pay me to use their software!

...

</sarcasm>

If Serif were to pay people to use their software, would the heat glow from their web server be detectable from space?

William

(There you are @Alfred I have set things up for a one word humourous answer!  )