Subscription fatigue and related musings
morrick.me
Subscription fatigue and related musings
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Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#2In-app purchases (free-to-play) are largely a separate issue although they share some of the same ongoing "Is this worth it?" fatigue.
But I'm just super-wary of subscriptions. I mostly don't have the discipline to re-evaluate all my subscriptions every month and then have to agonize over those I get some value from but is it worth $10? And usage goes up and down. So my default is mostly to just say no.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#3I build apps with subscriptions (like https://homechart.app) and this is why I offer a lifetime subscription/one time payment. To me, the monthly/yearly option gives users more of an "extended trial" option, and they'll hopefully see that it makes sense to just go lifetime.
One problem I have (perhaps self inflicted) is that I do not offer my lifetime subscription on app stores. 30% is a huge cut of what is effectively my TCV, and I'd rather they use my web payment processor vs raising the lifetime subscription to cover the increase hit. I think this creates friction to conversions, but I don't know for sure.
I do think subscription-based creates better quality software as you are (in theory) having to prove your software is still valuable everytime a customer renews. But too often this just results in redesign churn without any net new features/benefits.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#4Some apps that I purchased before in full, later turned into subscription based apps(giving me a year of free subscription). This made me feel bad and I lost my warm and fizzy feelings towards these apps.
That said, I understand why they are doing it. It doesn't make sense whatsoever to receive one time payment and provide updates forever. Also, despite that people claim that they want "one time payment apps" that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Very small number of people actually pay in full for the apps.
What's worse than subscriptions is ad-ridden apps. I love hyper casual games for example but I can get no joy from these anymore because they are overflown with ads, the experience turns into torture. I don't want the ad based model to be the answer too.
Maybe there could be other models like trial purchase where you get an old school trial version and pay to continue using it. I think actually there's nothing stopping you to implement this but it doesn't solve the problem of need for continued payments for continued support. Maybe the AppStores can implement something like version limiting and you can ask for a payment for upgrading to the new version.
In the grand scheme of things, the subscription model is the best option at this time. People say that subscriptions are devils act but that's also how viable businesses are created.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#5In-app purchases (free-to-play) are largely a separate issue although they share some of the same ongoing "Is this worth it?" fatigue. But I'm just super-wary of subscriptions. I mostly don't have the discipline to re-evaluate all my subscriptions every month and then have to agonize over those I get some value from but is it worth $10? And usage goes up and down. So my default is mostly to just say no.
If I find a product useful and a 1-year subscription is available and doesn't feel expensive I will subscribe, then cancel renewal on it. This forces me to reevaluate if it is worth it every year.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#6A significant problem is that the App Store just says "In App Purchases" on the App page.
We don't even get a list of prices and functionality of the IAPs.
In EU it is a requirement that: "When you buy goods or services in the EU, you have to be clearly informed about the total price, including all taxes and additional charges." https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/pri...
I don't think the App store currently respects this law as the advertised price is not the total price for the advertised functionality when InAppPurchases are required to unlock them.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#7I build apps with subscriptions (like https://homechart.app ) and this is why I offer a lifetime subscription/one time payment. To me, the monthly/yearly option gives users more of an "extended trial" option, and they'll hopefully see that it makes sense to just go lifetime. One problem I have (perhaps self inflicted) is that I do not offer my lifetime subscription on app stores. 30% is a huge cut of what is effectiv…
Your “Learn more about self-hosted” link on the home page is broken. Looks cool. Might try it.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#8Some apps that I purchased before in full, later turned into subscription based apps(giving me a year of free subscription). This made me feel bad and I lost my warm and fizzy feelings towards these apps. That said, I understand why they are doing it. It doesn't make sense whatsoever to receive one time payment and provide updates forever. Also, despite that people claim that they want "one time payment apps" that do…
>It doesn't make sense whatsoever to receive one time payment and provide updates forever.
Duh? This is written in English but I genuinely have trouble making sense of your words. We had this for decades without subscriptions, they're called UPGRADES! You buy 1.x, or 2.x or whatever, and then when 3.x comes out new customers pay full price but existing ones get it at a much reduced price. But they can do so on their schedule, or if they don't then they don't lose anything they already have, they merely don't gain the new features. Which in turn is one of the few truly hard direct bits of incentivizing feedback, developers don't get money "by default", but must earn it each time.
I struggle to understand how suddenly it's like the entire idea of upgrades seems to have vanished. Why would a one time payment mean updates forever for free? But why would it mean subscriptions either?
Edit: Maybe if there is anyone truly to blame as the root of this evil it's Apple for being massively hostile to updates in the App Store for reasons that I will never understand either. That really sucks and probably forced subscriptions on the general population more than any other single actor. For that reason alone I really hope to see alternative stores forced on them by law.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#9In-app purchases (free-to-play) are largely a separate issue although they share some of the same ongoing "Is this worth it?" fatigue. But I'm just super-wary of subscriptions. I mostly don't have the discipline to re-evaluate all my subscriptions every month and then have to agonize over those I get some value from but is it worth $10? And usage goes up and down. So my default is mostly to just say no.
If I find a product useful and a 1-year subscription is available and doesn't feel expensive I will subscribe, then cancel renewal on it. This forces me to reevaluate if it is worth it every year.
That's a nice theory but a lot of subscriptions are decidedly not cheap on an annual basis ($100+) and there's a lot of potential for money leaks you aren't pro-active about. Though I actually agree that subscriptions as a principle often align developer and user interests.
Re: Subscription fatigue and related musings
#10Kind of orthogonal to the article, but I feel the iOS App Store's subscription mechanism is how online subscriptions as a whole should work. There's a unified predictable way to start subscriptions, and more importantly, a unified predictable way to stop them. I don't have to jump through hoops to stop a subscription, and the UI is clear on when recurring charges will occur next and for how much. I would love it if banks let me unilaterally cancel subscriptions just as easily on my online banking page.
It almost makes the Apple tax worth it. Almost.