marketing gurus: why is Adobe extending the creative cloud offer?

What is the conventional marketing wisdom? Are they extending the offer because the response is not meeting expectations? In the past 30 days they have lowered the price, opened the offer up to anyone (not just previous owners) and now extended the offer.

OR

Is the response so strong that they are keeping the promotion going? More subscribers (even at $10/month) is a better bottom line and a higher renewal rate next year.

They are extending it because the marginal cost of providing their service to one person is virtually nothing. They can afford a "promotional" year and still make money. They are trying to get as many people to sign up as possible. Then when a ton of people get addicted/reliant upon the product over the course of the year they will pay full price next year and all subsequent years.

Essentially it would be like drug dealers selling low to get you committed to their product then converting you to a permanent customer at a later date.

They need those of us holding on to older versions of PS to make the leap, and hope that once we do there will be no turning back. Sort of like the first free hit of crack. Once you install the CC and get used to the features it will be unlikely that you will be satisfied with your copy of CS3 and then they have you.

Did we both just compare Adobe products to drugs?

benji25 wrote in post #16498840
Did we both just compare Adobe products to drugs?

Yes, same principle. Get em hooked and have the only product in town that satisfies the need.

Old school software was marketed the same way. Quicken used to be free, then you had to pay for shipping, then you had to pay for the media, then after several years of free, or almost free software, they charged full price. Odds are you weren't going to switch to a new system after years of using Quicken.

Microsoft was the same way. All the big software companies did this to build a captive customer base.

You get used to using CC/LR5/PS/PSE/Bridge, etc. for a year. Then you get nearly full price billing, then full retail price. It's analogous to the "loss-leader" aspect of marketing.

ask a drug dealer why the first time is free

Shareholders aren't going to be happy when the next recession hits and the subscription rate starts declining. As for the current situation I'm sure they want to have a happy story to tell at the next shareholder meeting and "subscriber base is growing" is the message they have to deliver to make the stock price rise.

I don't trust adobe. They will screw us all soon or later...

I've done some research on this, and found that the Adobe Photoshop Product people are saying that the price will not go up after the first year, unless they need to adjust it for inflation, or if they decide to lower it (not much chance of that happening). If not true, I will revert to CS6.
Here is the link to the discussion:
http://blogs.adobe.com …-photography-program.html
I use CS4, CS5, and CS6 for different purposes, and subscribed to CC a few days ago using the special offer. Digging the CC version for it's speed over the previous versions, but haven't yet explored any of the new features.

benji25 wrote in post #16498830
They are extending it because the marginal cost of providing their service to one person is virtually nothing. They can afford a "promotional" year and still make money. They are trying to get as many people to sign up as possible. Then when a ton of people get addicted/reliant upon the product over the course of the year they will pay full price next year and all subsequent years.

So where is it stated that the current price ($9.99/mo or whatever) is a promotional rate and will go up significantly next year? Everything I've read is that the price is expected to remain stable, excepting small "inflation" increases.

jrbdmb wrote in post #16501283
So where is it stated that the current price ($9.99/mo or whatever) is a promotional rate and will go up significantly next year? Everything I've read is that the price is expected to remain stable, excepting small "inflation" increases.

Thats what I would say too if I were selling a subscription to a monopoly.

gonzogolf wrote in post #16501320
Thats what I would say too if I were selling a subscription to a monopoly.

Bingo...

The three great lies..
1. The check is in the mail.
2. Absolutely, I will respect you in the morning.
3. Our rates will stay the same.

http://www.adobe.com …loud/faq.html#p​slr-bundle

Will the cost of my membership ever increase?

When you purchase directly from Adobe, the cost of an annual membership will not go up during the first 12 months of your membership. It is possible that the cost of the month-to-month membership will increase, but if it does, you will be notified and given the opportunity to cancel.

Adobe also offers prepaid cards through retailers and resellers that allow you to buy membership with an upfront payment.