Know your customer … And it may not be the buyer…

[Sundown]

Hey all,

 

I’ve suggested privately to many plug-in / software providers to offer gift cards. From a license/copy protection perspective I need to be the owner of my software, but a gift card allows my wife to give me something of meaning, without understanding the details. To date, no one that I know of has done it or taken me up on the idea.

 

It reminds me of a reality in my profession, which is automobiles. I’m a mechanical engineer, but I do work with marketing and if you want to market an automobile, you better be sure you are marketing to the actual decision maker. You can’t advertise and market to a dude who wants a sports car … You need to market to the couple, who make the big spending decisions. Not all of us are married or in relationships, but many of us are, and no successful dude makes a major purchase decision without buy-in from his spouse.

 

Plug-in / software vendors can apply the same learnings … Offer gift cards. Maybe you apply your creativity to make them special and custom so that they aren’t just a cash value (maybe you allow a special, custom message for the receiver). Maybe you provide a cool, physical medium that can be packaged like a gift. Any way you slice it, you are losing sales by not offering gift cards.

 

But you can apply the same learnings to pricing … I can easily justify (if not even mention) a $30 or $50 dollar purchase in a given month. If your plugin costs $600, that’s starting to become a discussion item. Clearly many plug-in manufacturers have learned this and offer plug-ins at very low, seasonal prices.

 

Again, the customer base may be single, in a relationship, or married, but if you’re not thinking about the other half, you might be missing the real decision maker.

 

Todd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[o0Ampy0o]

If anyone really wants to give funds to apply towards a purchase extending the freedom of choice to the receiver you can purchase and give a Cash Card with a Visa / MC logo or even crypto good everywhere these are accepted. So in effect someone could contribute funds to be used towards something of greater value or which requires the transaction to be documented and committed to a specific person like a user license for software. However, this option does carry with it the downside of giving cash instead of something personally selected for the person. I have always viewed cash as being personally selected for me anyway because most people have not known me well enough to make a personally selected gift choice for me and by giving cash they acknowledge they know at least that much. On the surface I am easy to think of a gift for. I have interests like art and music. Guitar picks are safe. They don't cost much and I may not use them. My father played golf. Golf balls safe? Nope. He used a specific brand, model and only the odd numbered balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Notes_Norton]

I make it a point, never to give a person a gift that pertains to his/her profession unless I absolutely know it's what he/she wants.

 

Someone could buy that person something they already own, or is popular, but not for them. So for a musician, I'd get them something nonmusical, or if I'm stuck, a gift card at someplace I know they shop at would work.

 

Using myself as an example. I pretty much have everything I want musically now. Oh, I'm sure something new will come along, and when it does, I'll decide whether I want to buy it or not. I don't need another guitar, saxophone, synth module, and so on. I have enough to make a living. For example, if I got another guitar, it probably wouldn't get played much. I have the one I gig with, a spare, and another that I don't have to plug in.

 

Don't get me prerecorded music. I have a lot, and I'm very picky about what I add. You could buy one of my favorite symphonies, but which conductor? Which orchestra? Which recording by that conductor/orchestra? When I buy without listening, I have a 50/50 chance of keeping it, anyone else has less.

 

I actually dislike gift cards, as they can convey this message; “I didn't either care or have the time to figure out what you really want, so the easy way out was this gift card.” But sometimes, there is no alternative. So I would make the gift card a last alternative.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

For anything work-related or related to any hobbies or activities I'm passionate about, I'd rather just buy the stuff myself.  Gift cards are good!

 

I used to drive my parents crazy when they asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  I'd ask for socks and underwear....   Then I'd go out and buy myself some toy or something with my own money.  They'd ask, why didn't I put it on my Christmas list?  Because they're likely to get me a lesser, cheaper version of what I really wanted.  This continued well into adulthood and I'd buy myself some fancy piece of camera gear (or whatever) and I could never let them see it.

 

Musical gear would be the same issue I am sure!

 

 

[Anderton]

3 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

I actually dislike gift cards, as they can convey this message; “I didn't either care or have the time to figure out what you really want, so the easy way out was this gift card.” But sometimes, there is no alternative. So I would make the gift card a last alternative.

 

Presents are cool, but sometimes it's hard to know what to get someone, especially if that person shops at a place where the stock turns over frequently. My wife actually prefers gift cards, she knows I love her anyway  and with a gift card, she can wait until the perfect moment something comes along that she wants. Then she can just whip out the gift card, even if whatever event prompted the gift card is long gone.

 

[Notes_Norton]

That's why a gift card is the last resort.

 

My wife and I don't get each other Christmas presents. Instead, we plan an annual vacation. We both chip in to the cost so it's our gift to each other.

 

In the 45 years we've been together, we've been to all 50 US States, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix & St John (USVI), more than half the Canadian provinces, 7 Mexican states, Bahama Islands, Bermuda Islands, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, England, Scotland, Wales, Gibraltar, The Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Czech Republic, Austria, Australia, Russia, Japan, and China (From the Great Wall down to Hong Kong).

 

Other than China, they have all been independent travel. No tours. We had to do a tour in China, because that was before smartphone translators, and I couldn't read the road signs or bus/train schedules in Chinese characters.

 

We were going to go to Madagascar when COVID hit, and it's on our list for the next one, unless they get another devastating cyclone, in which case we'll wait.

 

We both prize experience over possessions, so it works for us. The memories are more precious than any material object. If someone robs us, he/she won't get much, because we have just basic possessions, no jewelry, no wide screen TV, and no luxury items.

 

It's not the right way for everyone, but it works for us.

 

Notes ♫