When faced with a choice between what’s good for the company and what’s good for the customer, what do you choose?We recently faced this.
We’ve got a big, fantastic (and paid) version 2 upgrade around the corner for OfficeTime. We’d love everyone to upgrade because it saves people time and, well, it makes us money. But what about those that don’t. Well, that’s easy. Apple will soon stop supporting older 32-bit apps like OfficeTime Version 1. Everyone on a Mac will be forced to pay us money to buy the upgrade and keep using OfficeTime. It’s a win-win. We get money in the bank to keep going and they get a snazzy, new app. Right?
Well, no.
That’s not what we chose. Instead we’re releasing a free upgrade to Version 1 that is full of 64-bit goodness and will probably work for years to come.
Why?
People should upgrade because they want to upgrade, not because they are forced too. I’ve heard from many customers that they love OfficeTime just the way it is and don’t want to be bothered with a new interface and features. That’s fine. I think it’s worthwhile mission to make OfficeTime 2 awesome enough that people want to upgrade to it.
Through my many years of business I’ve found that decisions that benefit the customer usually end up benefiting the business. We have one of the most generous money-back guarantees in the industry. We try our best to take our time on customer service rather than cost-cutting it. We’ve been releasing free upgrades for more years than I’d like to count. These things cost us money and they make us more. People recommend us. Unhappy customers become satisfied customers. We get good reviews. It’s just good business.
So the next time you’re faced with a choice between you or the customer, what do you choose?
(OfficeTime 1.9 is available as a free upgrade right now for Mac and shortly for Windows from www.officetime.net/download )