Cheaper is not always better

Discontinuing a product, undoing a decision is always a hard task. Two years ago we introduced the memoQ translator standard version to lower the entry costs into the world of memoQ. Soon after, SDL also launched their Starter edition with an even lower entry price. I don't know if they have success with this or not, but we definitely did not have a lot of success with the standard version. 

Our idea was that support is expensive, so we need to cut that down, but most of the functionality that a standalone translator would need should be there. We were expecting the low-tech translators to join the posse, whose customers do not impose a technology requirement. In reality, many users who bought the translator standard version wanted to use the STAR Transit filter or work with memoQ servers, which the standard version was not supposed to do.

As the standard version never contributed to more than two percent of our total revenue, and people were still coming to support, we decided to discontinue it. Having multiple editions also means more work for marketing, more chances for customers to hesitate before buying, etc. Internally we had to check in our CRM if someone had a standard or a pro version, and if they had standard, start exchanging emails about upgrading or buying support hours -- often we found that answering is easier than persuading them to buy extra things. In fact, the decision was taken at the beginning of the year, but we had one big question: how not to alienate our existing customers.

This is really the core question. We made a mistake by introducing this low-priced, limited version, and people who bought into this should not pay more just because we made a mistake. All the brilliant ideas are simple, and this is what Gábor came up with: let's convert their edition to translator pro when they pay up to a translator pro. Simple and works for both sides! So we have to allow three years before the last person leaves the boat, but if someone has a translator standard, we should allow buying another year and another year, all together three years in a row, and then simply upgrade. Nobody will blame us because they don't have a crippled version anymore!

Communication was easy, a newsletter to all users and potential users, some publicity on Twitter, etc. We got some criticism and we got some applause for this, but we're used to both. Ultimately we only care about customers - if they are happy, we are happy. And, as this was communicated on June 30 and we'll keep the translator standard in the webshop till July 15, we expected a surge in translator standard purchases, for two reasons:

• this is the last chance to buy a memoQ version for a very low price,
• this is a very good discounted offer, so if you do the maths, you learn that it's one of the better promotional deals for translator pro (though not the best in nominal amount).

Interestingly we haven't received more purchases than usually. This suggests that price is not so much a matter - people are ready to pay more for a product that comes with good service -, and that people don't look into loopholes if a company is acting honestly. And again, this confirms that it was a good decision to discontinue the memoQ translator standard edition. It will be easier for us, and easier for the users.