I don’t like complaining, especially with such a good piece of software as CLZ. I’ve been with you for a good few years, and am making this public as I presume others must be thinking the same thing. How on earth can you justify a price increase $29.95 to $39.95? this “smacks” of Adobe type practice - I knew this would happen when you abandoned the desktop version! I realise there is little point in complaining as it is a “done deal” with no discussion with your valuable (presumably) customers.
I am presuming that you will answer by referring to the many improvements you’ve made, well I was thinking while you were making them that many of them aren’t needed, although some are useful. I’m making a suggestion in the next paragraph. I used to run my own “SMB” for 15 years, and if I had imposed such a vast increase customers would have walked, despite it being a good product. I won’t be renewing next time unless you could possibly introduce the following;
How about a more “bare bones” version of the Book software? All I need is a basic few of the obvious fields, and to be able to have book covers. In addition a reasonable search function. That’s it, I don’t even really need Core. How about it?
Thanks.
The last time we increased the price of the Connect web-based software (and the Collector desktop software), was over 7 years ago.
Since then, the price has been steady at $30 per year, even with the numerous new features we added and even more improvements to existing functionality.
For the full list of improvements, check here:
Remember that there is a 13-man team here, working on the software, the cloud system, the mobile apps and of course on the Core online databases.
So… together with the increase in overall costs (hosting, office rent, salaries, etc…), we are confident that the current price increase is fully justified.
Have you considered the CLZ Books mobile app?
That is half the price, while still offering most of the functionality that Connect has.
The same price increase was already implemented for our comic database tools on Jan 1 and for our game and movie database tools, on May 1. The book and music products will follow on July 1.
In the meantime, we have seen very few complaints from users. We’re not even seeing a lot of cancellations.
Thanks for your reply. Obviously I am still disappointed, as I said it seems way of all subscription software I’ve come across to hike the prices.
One question about the Android app, would I be able to “convert” my data from the book web version?
Not hard to spend that much at McDonalds for a couple of burgers. Remember when you could fill up for only a couple of bucks there? But people still be eating there…
When Alwin announced the Music Collector price increase of course I wasn’t happy about it considering it’s very unlikely it will ever receive any new features (I’d love a robust AI driven runout list), but I use it all the time and it still provides a ton of value to me. Researching releases and cataloging them with this software is one of the reasons why I enjoy record collecting.
I doesn’t look like there are other good alternatives out there, so for only $30 per year (less coupons), it’s not worth my time right now to build a comparable solution.
I’m not sure if my account is grandfathered (in which a renewal wouldn’t be needed), but even if it was I’d probably try to support the team another way.
I agree it’s still great value. My only comment is that, as a former manager of a business, I found customers will accept regular modest annual increases much better than one big increase every few years with the rationale that you haven’t had an increase in a long time. It’s even more difficult if rolling it out in inflationary times when customers are more sensitive to all price increases. It’s hard for people to tell themselves that it’s ok because it’s the first increase in seven years, especially if they’re a newer customer who hasn’t been using it for that long. I don’t have a problem with it because I’ve been using the programs for many years and it’s the best out there, so I’m comfortable with the idea that it’s spread over several years of no increases, but I think 3-5% annually or biannually would be easier for people to swallow than 35% in one shot. This is just a comment and suggestion, not a complaint. Don’t wait until you need the big one to start accruing more modest increases.
Hey @CLZ_Alwin, might you consider a multi-year subscription with a discount? this would be good for folks who are willing to consider for a long term relationship with you guys
The response from CLZ staff in this thread comes across as aloof and uninterested. I don’t care how many employees you have, nor do I care when the last time you increased your subscription cost was. My manager doesn’t care if my household costs increase, the only way I get a raise in salary is by clearly articulating what extra value I’m bringing to the company’s bottom line.
I don’t see any added value for me for this subscription increase, so I set my subscription to not renew when it is up in July.
How is that? I actually responded and explained the reasons for the price increase.
Maybe you don’t care, but those facts ARE important. My employees are making sure our apps and services are getting better and they are the ones providing our excellent customer support.
Also, how long ago our previous price increase was, IS definitely a factor. I mean, if we increased it last year also, it would be a tough sell. But, after 5 years, during which we added many features (without increasing the price), then the price increase is definitely justified.
Yes, that is why I clearly articulated the extra value our customers received since the last price increase. In short: lots of improvement to the CLZ Comics app itself and a huge increase in quality and completess of the Core online comic database.
I am sorry to hear that.
So NOTHING we did in the past 5 years added any value for you?
None of all the app improvements was interesting for you?
None of our Core comic database improvements provided any extra value for you?