What Turns You Off About Evaluation Software?

An Anonymous Coward asks: "I work at a mid-tier software company (which shall remain nameless, lest I draw attention to myself). Recently we have started making 30 day evaluation versions of our software available for download after prospects register. An email containing a username and password is sent to the registrant a few hours after submission. We have been surprised to find that not a few registrants don't actually go on to download the software. We make the file size and system requirements clear up front. I would guess some slashdot readers get involved in evaluations. What process do you go through? Why might you stop short of actually downloading the software?"

Comments

I dont enter my email

[reptilian biotech]

If it wants a valid email addy, I forget it and find something else. say no to spam

Re:I dont enter my email

[TedCheshireAcad]

If I am going to use commercial software, it means I gave up trying to find a similar product under the GPL. I have only come across this problem in several instances, all times when I needed something for a Windows network.

How to turn customers off:
1. Make them enter an e-mail address.
2. Make them fill out a form. See 1.
3. Make them wait for registration info.
4. Use a 30 day limit. 90 sounds better.
5. Make them do all that crap for software they didn't need or like anyhow.
6. Have you sales staff hound them nonstop by phone and e-mail and personal visits. (Will you folks at StorageSoft get the point?)

How to turn customers on:
1. 90 day or unlimited trial only with the stupid features turned off.
2. No registration crap.
3. Precise product description, no lies.
4. Screenshots, my god, screenshots.
5. Multiple fast download sites. I should be able to get 150k/sec at least.
6. No hunting for downloadable files. This goes for you too, Real.
7. Upfront licensing policies and prices. Tell me on your website how much I have to pay for 1, 10, or a site license.
8. I will call you if I want to buy it. Don't feel free to bother me during my lunch hour. Your voicemails get deleted, too.
9. If you must have my e-mail address, remember this: My inbox is a sacred shrine, none shall enter that are not worthy.

-my $.02

Re:I dont enter my email

[Anonymous Coward]

How to turn customers on:
1. 90 day or unlimited trial only with the stupid features turned off.

In other words, pretty much give it away for free. (90 days apart to uninstall/reinstall or in some cases reformat is not much of a pain in the ass.) Not that this surprises me coming from Slashdot, News for People Who Don't Want To Pay.

2. No registration crap.

If you're serious about trying out the software and would seriously consider purchasing it, giving them an e-mail so a representative can contact you for support makes sense. Not really for like winzip, but if you're downloading a trial of a professional software package it's more professional, in my opinion, if after downloading it you get an e-mail from Bob Soandso and his phone number if you have any questions about how to use the software, etc.

Re:I dont enter my email

[DahGhostfacedFiddlah]

Ummm....then how is it different then the full version? Evaluation software is supposed to be used for *evaluation*. Not for five-nines critical applications. On a server the popup messages will go unnoticed, and the startup sequence will appear almost never. If you want to use it longer, then maybe it's time you paid for it.

Re:I dont enter my email

[cropserion]

2. No registration crap.

If you're serious about trying out the software and would seriously consider purchasing it, giving them an e-mail so a representative can contact you for support makes sense. Not really for like winzip, but if you're downloading a trial of a professional software package it's more professional, in my opinion, if after downloading it you get an e-mail from Bob Soandso and his phone number if you have any questions about how to use the software, etc.

I have to agree with the AC on this one, if you are really trying a piece of software then you should enter an email addr.

Personally I have my own domain and all emails sent to that domain goto the one mailbox by default, so when filling out a web form I will always use a different_name@mydomain for the name portion of the address. I always try to use a name similar to the company who want my address, for instance I would use redhat@mydomain when filling out a form on the redhat site.
Then if I find that I am receiving alot of spam to a particular address I will then block all mails to that address in sendmail. I also try to find the sales and support email address of the company who sold my address to the spammers and I will sign up their address for newsletters from some of the sickest porn sites I can find.

I guess for most people this isn't an option but it works for me :)

Re:I dont enter my email

[plover]

If not, but you take it upon yourself to write one, there's even a better hack approach to take. Modify sendmail to 'tarpit' the spammers.

Once the RCPT TO: <certain_spammer@my.domain> identifies an inbound-but-unwanted letter, rather than have it drop the connection, have it S...L...O...W - I...T...S...E...L...F - D...O...W...N. Spam works because they can send thousands out easily. They still have to establish thousands of connections. Make any appreciable percent of those difficult, and spam will not work as well.

This might not work so well with true $$MAKE_MONEY_FAST$$ spam, but it should work for those companies who refuse to stop sending you email. They're usually more clueless than you might expect.

Evaluation Software

[Anonymous Coward]

A large factor in my downloading a piece of evaluation is whether there is a crack available for it. If there isn't a crack then if the evaluation isn't hindered in any way for the amount of time it is allowed to be evaluated would be a factor. Of course, usefulness of the software is a large portion as well. Assuming there is a crack, then if the software is used frequently it would get paid for sometime.

the wait....

[Pfhreakaz0id]

In the words of Veruka, "but I want it NOW!"...

If the link/password/whatever hasn't hit my inbox in a minute or two, I'm probably moving on looking for another thing to try. Welcome to the short attention span decade.

Joel's rule

[blacksqr]

Joel's rule: every barrier to implementation reduces your customer base by 50%

http://www.joelonsoftware.com

Re:Joel's rule

[Anthony Boyd]

Joel's rule: every barrier to implementation reduces your customer base by 50%

This was actually very literally proved out at Borland, too. While I was the Web guy there, we watched "attrition" rates for pages. It went something like this: if you have a home page with 1000 people hitting it, only 500 people will hit the subpages, and only 250 people will hit the sub-subpages. Once we realized that, we quickly moved to a very busy homepage with tons of links, trying to keep everything 2 or 3 clicks away at most. Even though I found the design to be ugly ugly ugly, I was amazed at how the numbers improved. Previously buried articles quadrupled their readership -- at the expense of nothing else. Everything benefitted from the rise.

I never get the confirmation

[BurritoWarrior]

...since I use Cowboy Neal's email address for all registration forms.

Often it is too complicated

[Cryogenes]

Take, for example the Borland downloads of Delphi Personal Edition, Kylix Open Edition etc. They ask you to register and fill out forms before you are allowed to download. Then installation itself is another multi-step process with various registration infos getting sent back and forth - it takes hours to complete.

I just don't do this anymore. Much easier to get a version with all necessary serial numbers and whatever included from edonkey or usenet.

Don't require registration. Don't ask intrusive questions. It is not good for your company if the legit evaluation copy is harder to obtain than the warez version.

Do you believe in death after life?

Your product is not unique enough

[AtomicBomb]

The simplest reason is the users have found something else in the mean time. It is particularly true if your product is mainstream (eg virus scanner, compression program, image viewer and the like).

Say, they are looking for jp2 viewer, they will go for shareware first, then evaluation ware. If nothing is found, go for evaluation ware that need registration. As long as they find something okay, they will stop searching. (Of course, if your software is unique, and some customers really need that, then they will wait.... Maybe more common in some sector of the research community. Not so in the commerical world.)

The better approach is to allow the user to download first. When they want to evaluate more advanced function of the software, pop up a window to lure them to register. If you really want to validate their email address in advance, please use automatic mail reply and ensure the avg time taken in within 5 mins rather than a few hours...

Fake addresses

[anthony_dipierro]

Why might you stop short of actually downloading the software?

Why do you think the people gave you their real email address in the first place?

I'd say most of the non-downloaders simply didn't give you their real email address.

it's the Pointy Haired Boss

[bunyip]

Often, the Pointy Haired Boss (PHB) has an urgent need for me to evaluate some Left-Handed Swivelhopper, so I sign up for the eval. By the time I'm ready to try it out, the urgent need has changed, I'm chasing Object-Oriented Dooverlackies.

I've often downloaded large files (>100MB even), then lost interest or found another way to solve my problem. Oops - I think I just admitted that I even change my own priorities! Oh well......

You might have it backwards.

[Sax Maniac]

Where I work, we routinely send out lots and lots demonstration software. A lot of them turn into sales.

However, our method is the reverse of yours. You can download all the binaries whenever you want, any time, all the time. Transfer interrputed? Go ahead, download again. Downloaded it, but lost it? Download again. Got corrupted? Download again. These are the real things, not crippled evaluation versions.

What we do is liberally give out demo licenses via email, that expires after a short time. Provided you're not an asshole, you can renew your demo licenses.

Of course, the downside to this it could be cracked and warez'd out. I don't know the company stance and don't pretend to speak for it, but I don't care. Piracy is part of doing business in software, and the less you piss off your customers, IMHO, the better. So, while I don't like people pirating our software, I'm still against the recent stupid-ass (c'mon, you all know the words!) laws that seem to have festered recently in this area.

Perhaps this works better, I don't know why. Maybe it's psychological: people download the binary first and then feel they need to try it out to justify the time spent. Or something like that.

Spam in e-mail or telephone form is EVIL

[hendridm]

> If you're serious about trying out the software and would seriously consider purchasing it, giving them an e-mail so a representative can contact you for support makes sense.

No, it doesn't. If I'm looking for a solution, I might try a ton of demos until I find the right one. I don't want to be hounded by all of the ones I discounted as crap.

It's like shopping at JC Penney or Sears and the salespeople hound you EVERY 3 MINUTES. Thanks, but I already know how to shop and you just turned me off to your store.

Here's a shocking idea - How about if I need help I'll ask?

What turns me off?

[interstellar_donkey]

Number 1: It's been said time and again, but registration. There are a million reasons why a company wants to have this, and I see these posts from people saying that I have no position to compain. I have EVERY reason to compain. I am a potential customer. And I don't want you to know anything about me until I buy your software. That's what I would prefer.

If I'm made to type in an e-mail address to download, I type in a bogus address. If I need to get a key or anything else from my e-mail, I've just been sent the message that the software company does'nt want my business. This has happened more then once, and I've gone somewhere else. If I like your software, and I give you my or my companies credit card number, you get to know who I am. Not before.

2. Full featured software. If I bother to download your evaulation, I expect to be able to use it. When I can't save my work, or find that an important feature is turned off, or I have some stupid 10 minut time limit, the software gets deleted.

3. Installation. I can tell right away how much I'd like or not like a peice of software by installation. Paste icons all over my desktop without asking? You've annoyed me. Put yourself in my startup, even though it's not needed? You're gone. Bundle yourself with spyware? You're gone.

4. Remind me, clearly, when the evaulation period is getting to the end. 'You have 5 days left in your evaulation period' when I start the program up. I can think of many times when I've found a peice of software I like, forget to purchase it, forget to get approval for the purchase. I find another way to get something done, and I'll just forget about it. If I were a more orginized person, I'd keep tabs of those things, but I'm not.