subscriptions

Microsoft: An example of how not to communicate price increases due to ‘changing market conditions’

“As of April 03, 2023, the subscription fee for Microsoft 365 Family will change from AUD 129 to AUD 139 to address changing market conditions.” 

Microsoft email notification 19 March 2023

Okay, not a huge increase. But:

  • absolutely no explanation or detail as to what those “changing market conditions” are.
  • no explanation about the additional value being provided.
  • no detail about any additional costs being incurred.
  • no information provided around whether the scope of services provided will change.

Other than to say: “if you don’t like this increase, here is a link to unsubscribe”, absolutely nothing.

My take:

  • a really badly drafted email to loyal subscribers (I think my family have subscribed to Microsoft 365 Family for around 10 years).
  • a missed opportunity to set out all the great features that Microsoft 365 Family provides – and there really are a lot -and why paying AUD 10 per year more will be worth it at the end of the day (after all, this is less than AUD 1 per month).

TIP

If, like me, you got this email can I suggest you file this away as an example of how NOT to communicate a price increase to your clients/customers.

And if you need help talking through how you might be able to do a much better job than Microsoft have in communicating price increases to your loyal clients, feel free to reach out:

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Photo credit: Ross Findon on Unsplash

Do you know the 5 Cs of Value?

My friend John Chisholm hit the big time last week, he made the front-cover of Issue No.5 2021 of Legal Business World. All joking aside, John’s article ‘Who subscribes to your law firm?‘ (starts on page 8) is a really good read.

One of the gems I took away from John’s article is what he calls: ‘The 5Cs of Value’, which are (in his words):

  • Comprehend value to clients.
  • Create value for clients.
  • Communicate the value you create.
  • Convince clients they must pay for value.
  • Capture value with strategic pricing based on value, not costs and effort.

These are really good cornerstones to have, even if you don’t subscribe to John’s views of value-based pricing (did you see what an did there 🤪).

In any event, if you are new to the concepts of subscription and value based pricing, read the article because you’ll get a lot out of it.

And if you want to know more about the important topic of value based pricing in law firms, call him – but make sure to extract as much value as you can from him!

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