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Here's how I deal with users who steal

pud.com

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Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#101

Post by laureny »

Very clever.

I wonder if you could make this official with something like this on the home page:

"If you are interested in our product but you can't afford it, please send us an email explaining why you can't afford it and we will give you a free license".

That's it, no conditions ("at least two paragraphs, and it has to feel real!"), no lecturing, just asking people who can't spend money on the product to spend some time instead.

I wonder if the extra thoughts that would-be pirates would have to put into writing that email would be enough to make them reconsider and actually buy the product they would have otherwise pirated...

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#102

Post by chm »

bemmu wrote: post #99
nostromo wrote: post #8

Interesting that the "scholarship" (free) plan isn't mentioned on the homepage. It seems you have to try and steal the product before being offered the free plan. I also like the subtle dig, "if you can't afford it." I've certainly pirated things myself. If iTunes asked me, "We noticed you've pirated The Walking Dead. If you can't afford $3, click here to get it for free." By reframing it as charity I might be shamed…

A company I used to work for made bible software. You could browse different bible versions side-by-side, collect verses etc., designed for people seriously into it (like priests composing their sermon). But some of these people would still copy the software instead of ordering the disk from us. We didn't really detect that, but the boss added a screen that just randomly pops up reminding the user that if you are run…

My little finger tells me you would have received less calls if the company sold video games, or pornography, for example.

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#103

Post by laureny »

ars wrote: post #9
nostromo wrote: post #8

Interesting that the "scholarship" (free) plan isn't mentioned on the homepage. It seems you have to try and steal the product before being offered the free plan. I also like the subtle dig, "if you can't afford it." I've certainly pirated things myself. If iTunes asked me, "We noticed you've pirated The Walking Dead. If you can't afford $3, click here to get it for free." By reframing it as charity I might be shamed…

What if someone can afford it, but isn't willing to? To me that means the price is too high, so maybe also let them set their own price?

Perceived price certainly varies greatly depending on the buyer.

A professional musician will not think twice about paying $50 for an awesome tab software, but to me, a hobbyist guitar player, paying more than $20 would be a stretch. This has nothing to do with the quality of the product.

The Humble Bundle pricing model has shown that such an approach can be extraordinarily successful, but I'm not sure how well it can be extended to other software products.

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#104

Post by eruditely »

marincounty wrote: post #75

This is a good business plan. The larger music companies should hire some new blood? or, Not--I coukd care less; 90% of artists were screwed out of royalities on their music by thiefs. The successful ones are were rare, and if they made money, they just ruined their health with drugs and alcohol. Napster ruined the music industry model. Maybe it should stay that way? A good band, Protools, and a little effort will pu…

What are you even saying?

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#105

Post by eruditely »

marincounty wrote: post #75

This is a good business plan. The larger music companies should hire some new blood? or, Not--I coukd care less; 90% of artists were screwed out of royalities on their music by thiefs. The successful ones are were rare, and if they made money, they just ruined their health with drugs and alcohol. Napster ruined the music industry model. Maybe it should stay that way? A good band, Protools, and a little effort will pu…

What are you even saying?

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#106

Post by eruditely »

marincounty wrote: post #75

This is a good business plan. The larger music companies should hire some new blood? or, Not--I coukd care less; 90% of artists were screwed out of royalities on their music by thiefs. The successful ones are were rare, and if they made money, they just ruined their health with drugs and alcohol. Napster ruined the music industry model. Maybe it should stay that way? A good band, Protools, and a little effort will pu…

What are you even saying?

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#107

Post by dllthomas »

wfunction wrote: post #100
dllthomas wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be, if making music is the only real way you have to make money. Of course, in that case I would hope that you would use your proceeds to pay the service pretty quickly.

Wait so if the only real way I made money was by theft, then that would make it "essential"?

Yes, that's is clearly exactly what I said.

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#108

Post by JumpCrisscross »

ballard wrote: post #86
caf wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This - rewarding deviousness - troubled me about the system too. Perhaps, instead of explicitly mentioning the Scholarship accounts on the homepage, there could be text along lines of "Struggling to get by and can't afford it? Email us and we'll see what we can do."

TL;DR - this is a shrewd play for a number of reasons. You don't understand, it's just business. Furthermore, the conversion of requiring people to beg via email to explain they're broke is next to zero. People won't do it. They'll take the POLR: fake accounts. Kicking them out also won't help: they can attack the brand and also if they succeed, the service looks like the bad guys. Furthermore, it builds stats by hav…

"Any concern about mass defection of paid users to unpaid is unlikely if the service is good and shows trying to take the high road."

In my experience, this works until a user hits a moment of hardship or "meh". Then they cancel and find it's easier to reallocate those consumption dollars to something new than reboot the subscription.

Re: Here's how I deal with users who steal

#110

Post by PeterisP »

judk wrote: post #87
mooreds wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone can afford a product, but isn't willing to, then they should look elsewhere for the value provided by the product, or live without it. That's embedded in the definition of a market--sellers get to choose the price, buyers get to choose whether or not to buy.

Actually a market is a place to negotiate prices. Seller-fixed prices are an American curiosity.

The act of negotiation itself is a cost/fee that people would rather avoid - and for small purchases the need to negotiate is more costly than the actual product price.

Lack of negotiation isn't a curiosity, it reduces friction of transactions - see item, point at it, give the money, you're done; which saves effort for both parties.

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