Great functionality, customer experience needs work

  • SumoMe—List Builder in particular—has grown my list by about 50% in a year. I don’t undertake any special content upgrades or testing that is recommended by SumoMe, but I still get really good growth.

    All the functionality is great but I have some issues. I will say that I understand businesses need to make money and I have no issue over that.

    Some things that irk me are:

    1. The SumoMe banner/tab USED to cost $10 once off to remove, now there is a monthly fee. Annoying.

    2. List Builder used to allow you to have a name (and other fields) to send to your mailing list software. This was turned off, with only email remaining. You then had to pay whatever it costs for LB Pro to get those fields. That sh$t is wack as there was no warning, no opportunity for grandfathering.

    3. Code Bloat.

    4. The SumoMe Banner is ridiculous.

    I get this was initially a free product, with some paid upgrades, but when you have free functionality, you build an expectation around that. Fair enough if you want to charge for it, but it’s accepted practice that you give users a warning and grandfather existing accounts. This is what Mailchimp did with automations, it’s what 37Signals did with Basecamp Classic, it’s what Active Campaign did with their free plans, it’s what Thesis did and it’s what loads of other companies do.

    I also get companies need to make money, but the constant imposition of feature locks so you upgrade to premium is just odious and tiresome, and it’s actually a disincentive to pay. I don’t think you ever want customers to pay for something out of chagrin, or with a sense of resentment, but this is what I feel. It’s not a case of hey, the free version is rad but the paid version gives me all this goodness. It’s a case of “hey the free version is SO FREAKING SH%TTY that I must upgrade. I have no choice.”

    Again, I am a big Noah fan, but the approach needs a rethink because it just seems greedy.

    Sorry Noah but you need to refactor the model judging by the poor reviews.

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  • Come on – let’s be realistic here – I use the totally free version and it works fine for me!

    To moan like crazy about something you don’t even pay for seems mad. Just uninstall it and go get some other free software if you really think Noah has screwed you!

    We have an expression “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” – personally I’m very glad to be able to get such high-performing tools for no money down at all – our ancestors would be astonished at the stuff we can get for free nowadays!

    Thread Starter tmarsh1

    (@tmarsh1)

    You’re missing the point.

    AppSumo / SumoMe are not charities. Free products are not free out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re freemium to whet your appetite for a paid product.

    If you read my post again, you’ll note my point is that the monetisation path induces resentment. Also the management of functionality retirement is poor.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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