Should all customers be treated equally?

A bunch of us editors are kicking around the question, are 99-cent customers worth having? One editor feels that "customer is a customer, regardless of what they pay." (This goes back to Autodesk ceo Carl Bass discovering just how entitled 99-cent customers feel.) I disgree, feeling that customers who pay very little should receive less attention.

I am not sure why Autodesk wants 99-cent customers, who expect Autodesk to give them

• Lifetime free updates
• Free customer support 
• And allowing them copy the software to all their same-OS devices for no extra fee 

This level of expecation was created by Apple's and Google's app stores, and is quite a change from Autodesk's traditional $5000-customer, who pays the five thousand bucks, makes annual payments of hundreds of dollars to Autodesk for updates and enhanced support, and is limited to running the software on just one lonely computer (at a time).

But now Autodesk has around a hundred million entitled-feeling customers running their next-to-no-revenue Android and iOS apps. I wonder if Autodesk figured on this level of ultra-high-maintenace, ultra-low-revenue when they forayed into the world of tiny apps.

Comments

[Rande Robinson]

Good Question? In today's world a customer is a customer and more to the point any unhappy customer can be a big problem for a business. I think one needs to consider the question -"what do people who get a product for free or 99 cents actually expect?" One would think that the old adage of "you get what you pay for" would apply. Unfortunately in a world of warning labels, unreadable licensing agreements and lawsuits if you don't state it up front then you are basically opening yourself up to whatever expectation the customer has. If it is a problem for a business then I would suggest they state the terms of the product up front an in plain "english".

[Jon Banquer]

With Autodesk CEO Carl Bass forcing all Autodesk users to the cloud Autodesk products are no longer being considered by those I work with. In my mind Autodesk is no longer a player in the machining job shop market.

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
CADCAM Technology Leaders group on LinkedIn

[Ken Elliott]

There's an old saying in the software biz: "The more you pay for software, the sh***er it is."

And it's pretty logical. CAD software has to need support or there is no need to buy maintenance. For $50 software you can't even afford to answer a phone call from the user, so it better be pretty good. So $.99 software forces the vendor to ignore the customers almost completely. Or keep the app simple as a way to keep the bug-count low. And that may be the lesson for us - keep it simple and focused.

[Sean Doughtie]

Funny how they can make a ton of money off of 99 cent customers, dominate the market, squash any competitors, then say it's not worth the trouble. A company should give all customers at least a basic level of support to make sure their purchase works. If they can't do that; then maybe they shouldn't market to the 99 cent customers. Maybe they should step out of the way for others to do it.

I've paid over $10k for Autodesk products and don't feel like they appreciate me as a customer.

[Allan Behrens]

I agree with Rande that it has much to do with expectations....however given the importance of peer reference and the increasingly pervasive and viral nature of social media, complaints or praise from the smallest source can influence buyer behaviour totally disproportionate to purchase value.

Let’s also not forget that clients (users) that start small can grow, and people move on; together with their recommendation, influence and vetoes.

Realistically, the markets that software companies address (for example business or consumer) and the products they supply should help to define how they best deliver 'support'. No one size fits all.