Let me pose a question, How much does it cost to get a new customer as opposed to keeping an existing one?

I have to tell you I wonder if anybody is actually thinking about the big picture, recently a software company was gloating about how many sales they have for their product. The number was indeed something to brag about, but I wonder how many happy customers actually exist for the firm.

I personally use their products, in fact just purchased another copy. I mean there was a big celebratory sale going on 10% now thats nice. I continue to use the product even though support for the product is not exactly what i consider top notch.

WHY?

I suppose it has to do with overall value. I never really thought about this untill now. The initial price of the product was low its feature set seemed pretty decent. A relatively smart script in my opinion although it lacks some of the power of the leading product in its field. That was a compromise i was willing to take, I figured what the hell its rumoured to work on sites doing over a million hits it has to be good!

Sure enough it is good, but there are just so many god damn quirks to using the thing that it damn near drives you insane. However to be fair this is to be expected for any product designed for our industry. (READ: We NEED More PRO Software Companies!)

I Digress. The issue is value, how much is the initial price worth to you if over the long term support is slow or worse ceases to exist. How many times have you purchased software just to watch that company go out of business all together? How much does lack of support cost you?

Afraid to say?

OK, I will go first. The total amount spent on derelect software for my company in the past five years exceeds ten thousand U.S Dollars. Certainly a lesson learned the hard way, wouldnt you say?