Why no support for long term customers?

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  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 3,752 Expert

    @Lionzinio

    "Their entire online ethos is to sell you something new every week"

    I think it is fair to assume that this is every companies ethos - or they would not be in business for long.

    I also think that NI is just fine with whatever "loss" that me (or you) incur if we do not buy stuff this sales cycle. As Matthew_Ni already stated:

    "If nothing is interesting for you now, maybe it will be more interesting for the next sales special."

    VP

  • Milkman
    Milkman Member Posts: 291 Advisor
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/195114#Comment_195114

    "I think it is fair to assume that this is every companies ethos - or they would not be in business for long."

    This^^^^ is the core contradiction we must recognize and understand. True: under CURRENT economics, without urgently needed ethical changes to how we do all of this, there is always incentive - actually its more like an imperative - for companies to behave this way, which always leads to bad blood, friction, and attempts to replace one grumpy customer base with a new, less initiated one.

    Did you know the original lightbulb still burns?

    Its been burning for close to 70 years (it broke once), but our mass produced lightbulbs were never allowed to burn that long because - duhh - how would those lightbulb companies stay in business long without reliable, repeat purchases? So they built scheduled obsolescence and made products disposable, allowing them to sell billions more bulbs than they would have. And my goodness, look at the world now after 100+ years of this.

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 3,752 Expert

    "There is always incentive - actually its more like an imperative - for companies to behave this way, which always leads to bad blood, friction, and attempts to replace one grumpy customer base with a new, less initiated one".

    Have never known a single successful company that would actually turn away/ignore/bypass/forget a new, less initiated customer in favor of retaining an old one. That sounds like a guaranteed recipe for failure.

    And - not all companies have bad blood, friction OR a grumpy customer base. Many thousands of them are doing just fine.

    VP

  • Lionzinio
    Lionzinio Member Posts: 135 Pro
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/195354#Comment_195354

    It’s not about turning away new customers, it’s about retaining existing ones.

    If NI doesn’t value the fact that I’ve purchased a lot of its products when trying to sell me ones I don’t have, then it’s less likely to sell me new products.

    The recent 50% off Komplete 15 versions is a good example. Even when they apply the discount, it doesn’t reduce my upgrade price by 1¢ . It’s an entire marketing scheme that actively punishes existing users. Because someone in marketing would rather spend more money attracting new customers than doing deals that work for its existing ones.

    It’s a fact that it costs companies more money to acquire new customers than it does to keep existing ones. But some bad companies prefer to churn their customers, accepting that their poor standards and bad treatment will drive away their users as a ‘cost of doing business’. You’ll see your mobile phone company and utility companies doing it all the time. Spending huge amounts to provide the best deals for new customers while actively planning for their existing customers to leave. That might work in a world where everyone has a mobile phone and no one really cares what network they’re on as long as their call plan is acceptable and cheap. It’s a less viable strategy when you’re selling the same things in a very small, oversaturated market like music production.

    I’m looking at NI’s entire range of deals and not one of them rewards its existing customers.

  • Vocalpoint
    Vocalpoint Member Posts: 3,752 Expert
    edited December 2024

    "It’s not about turning away new customers, it’s about retaining existing ones"

    Well - you can continue to believe what you want to believe. Even if it's rooted in 2009-era (Good Ole Days NI) thinking

    I still think Jeremy_NI nailed the whole thread with this:

    "There are several sales specials throughout the year, it's not always the same offers. Sometimes it is directed to new customers, sometimes it's aimed at customers who already own some products or bundles. If nothing is interesting for you now, maybe it will be more interesting for the next sales special."

    Really nothing more to say or add to this thread.

    VP

  • Milkman
    Milkman Member Posts: 291 Advisor
    edited December 2024

    The long term attrition against the profitability of your company that you see from focusing on new customer acquisition while older customers are cast aside will be so great that by the time you notice it, your last paycheck will already be in the mail. That's the beauty of late-stage economics and policies. Surprise!

    You cannot "externalize" the bad blood and word-of-mouth reputation damage enough to keep the brand afloat, long term. This is just the current investor group wringing the remaining value out of NI, transferring it to shareholders, not really caring about the longevity of the brand, sustainability, the careers of the workers, etc.

    And right on time, my just under 3 year old extremely well maintained MK3 has started to constantly hard freeze, standalone or in a DAW. A fitting end to my relationship I suppose. No, I dont need any support.

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