I'll take the liberty of translating the OPs topic. And for the OP, the topic is found here:
I just got an email offering 10 plugins for £299, so £30 each or 20 plugins for £499 at £25 per plugin. The email calls me the backbone of UA, a power-user and such. It’s a nice loyalty offer and what many have been wanting to see. Do I need another 10 or 20 plugins? Of course not, but let‘s...
uadforum.com
It doesn't apply to you. In the grand scheme of UAD, a Spark customer is new. Spark was the beginning of the UAD revolution noting that some are willing to pay a subscription. If the current promotions were called something other than "loyalty" it wouldn't matter to me nearly as much. I think "exploitation" is just another word for good marketing 101.
Of course they
support old users. But it's not like calling UAD on the phone, asking a detailed question and getting an immediate response or maybe waiting for 2 miutes while they look up a spec on the Manley Massive thats not listed in the PDF. Then maybe some geunine applicable-to-audio pleasantires, chat about whats coming up soon etc. Those were real humans at UAD being paid a decent wage. Today, because of the huge numbers of newbies, you get a ticket system, and hopefully a decent email answer. In my case, I have had to respond to a ticket, and ask that they
re-read my question again very carefully, outlining in
bold certain words and sentences so they don't
assume things, probably becasue similar, but not the same questions are asked daily.
UAD do not offer any legitimate discounts for old users who have licenses for lots of their plugs. For example in my "My Offers" section I get the privilege of completing my EMT Classic Reverb Bundle (it only includes 2 plugs, the 140 and 250) by paying $149 for the EMT 250. UAD has cheapened themselves closer to Waves pricing these days. The "My Offers" section for me at least is a joke.
Loyal customers, like starting with when it was Mackie, paid large amounts of money for these plugs. These true loyal users is what made UAD to what it is today. My guess is most loyal customers gradually accumulated plugs over 20 years. Bundle offers existed, but until subscripton, it wasn't much better than $100 per plug...maybe around BF $75 per plug if you bought a large bundle. You learned how to apply the "thank you" vouchers which helped, but generally speaking, you paid a lot more money then.
Today, a lot of these long time users have most of what they want. And they picked them up over time. But, there are often maybe a couple plugs, perhaps the newer releases that a long-standing customer would be interested in at a discont for being truely loyal.
With the current so-called Loyalty Offers, it's not an offer for someone who has been genuinely loyal over many years. This pseudo-loyalty offer is for those who took the bait in the past couple years, and now want more of them, for good reason...they work well and sound great. $300 for 10 or $500 for 20.
Sure it was a huge benefit by using the Pultec or Fairchild 20 years before the masses had access to the same. And yes, customer service was great. Am I envious because of the huge price reduction? No. Waves did the same long ago when I paid hundreds just for the L-2 on discs. But calling this a "loyalty offer" is IMO an insult to true loyal uers.
The "it's just a dongle" crowd, "Waves sounds better" crowd and "my _______does it just as good" crowd sat on the sidelines looking in and wondered for 20 years. Some of them I'm sure had secret envy. Today, these very same people buy the bundles, brag about cost per bundle, brag about sale glitches, and yes...even proclaim how good these plugs really sound. However, as good as these plugs sound, they also admit they would never consider paying over $30 for each plug. Is that loyalty? Keep in mind for the most part, inserting these brand emulations in a project won't manifest an improvement without really
learning them.
Meanwhile, the true loyal users sit on the sidelines. There is no discount for buying just 1,2, or 3 plugs for being truly loyal. There is no voucher that would be valid, for example, up to a year for a future plug release. I'm guessing those type of revenue deals would be peanuts in UADs eyes, therefore not interested in true loyal users. The bundle deals for newbies, as well as subscription I would assume, do make money.
Regarding Insurance your mileage may vary. I once was a sucker for changing insurance companies to save money. A year later when I called my new company asking why they jacked up my rates, they told me my "new customer" 1-year discount had expired. I switched back to my old carrier and paid less. Is that exploitation or just good marketing?
I call my ISP provider every 6 months because like insurance, their business paradigm is sucker the customer in, then after 6 months, jack the rates and hope the customer doesn't immediately notice. If I don't call them when the 6-month promotion expires, my ISP rates will double. If they tell me I can't have another 6 months promotion becasue I just had one, I mention a competitor and they somehow find another "loyalty" promotion.
It's a marketing 101 game thse days, and they make money doing it.
