{"id":1234,"date":"2015-07-17T22:03:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T10:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funk.co.nz\/blog\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2015-07-17T22:03:01","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T10:03:01","slug":"dear-xero-open-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funk.co.nz\/blog\/rants\/dear-xero-open-letter","title":{"rendered":"Dear Xero, (open letter)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Xero,<\/p>\n

I'd love to try Xero but the free trial period is too short to risk wasting time on and ditching; but the $25\/month too expensive to this point since I've never tried it.<\/p>\n

I invoice monthly and have\u00c2\u00a0just a handful of\u00c2\u00a0clients and last year only pulled barely enough for minimum wage for myself, not that really ever even paid myself barring a few \"Directors Drawdowns\".<\/div>\n
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Trying to launch a another (actual) charity soon is also going to be \"interesting\" and not that lucrative.<\/div>\n
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On your pricing page\u00c2\u00a0https:\/\/www.xero.com\/nz\/pricing\/<\/a> you say Create and send 5 invoices<\/strong> - is that per month? A little extra detail could be nice? Seems kinda stingy and kinda arbitrary. The same amount averaged over a year - say 60 per year would likely be fine some months I have a burst of invoices go out. Looking at that I can really see you want everyone on $50\/month. I guess it's all about the 24\/7 support yeah? Makes sense (I've work on a help-desk before).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Considering I'm a one man band and I don't have to pay anyone else for my own time, I'm happy (ish) using this crazy homebaked Excel sheet I been sweating over in the hopes of saving $600\/year, but I sure would love to even try Xero for a bit.... but I am religiously opposed to time limited trials such as your 30 day on.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I suggest the following changes to your pricing structure:<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. Convert \"Free Trial\" into \"Forever Free\" but\n
      \n
    1. with no 24\/7 free support<\/li>\n
    2. cap it at 200 bank transactions, 60 invoices (no time limit! this is company lifecycle stuff!)<\/li>\n
    3. up to 5 users<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    4. Boost by about x4 the numbers inside your Starter Pack as such:\n
        \n
      1. 20 invoices per month instead of just that stingy 5<\/li>\n
      2. 20 purchase orders per month instead of 5<\/li>\n
      3. Cap both the invoices \/ purchase orders if you must at say 240\/year each<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Why Do This?<\/h2>\n

        Because it creates deep trial usage and therefore increased chance of customer entrenchment<\/strong>. I mean... if I had entered 60 invoices into a Forever Free trial, I know I'd probably be at that point where I felt I had gotten such a good deal I was ready for Start and to get access to that free 24\/7 support. In fact, it mite be that I switch to starter sooner just to get that.<\/p>\n

        Considering my religious opposition to 30-day trials\u00c2\u00a0- by concept and execution style of time limited trials, maybe worth a thought?<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Regards, Tom.<\/p>\n

        PS...<\/p>\n

        What is it exactly that sucks about 30 day software trials?<\/h2>\n

        So it's like 3 days before the trial ends and you're like \"dang, I'm so busy I forgot to check this thing out - but I had better give this software one last chance before it times out\" and maybe need to get a new fake email to re-register another trial (or call the friendly helpdesk for a reset); and you never really get to pour your heart out into it. If you have a forever free tier, or say a 2 year trial, you get more entrenchment.<\/p>\n

        PS... I'm gonna checkout Accomplish Cashmanager<\/strong> at their trial is generous: \"enter and process up to 50 transactions\"<\/p>\n

        http:\/\/nz.accomplishglobal.com\/cashmanager-trial-download\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Dear Xero, I’d love to try Xero but the free trial period is too short to risk wasting time on and ditching; but the $25\/month too expensive to this point since I’ve never tried it. 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