Rewarding loyal users
Mature apps with longtime subscribers, initially drawn in through low prices and reliable features, face a predicament. Those loyal users are good for business, but they’re often content with software that functions as it always has—and don’t expect to pay more for it.
But stagnant growth doesn’t mix well with inflation or stockholder expectations. It can also leave companies without enough revenue to develop new features and keep software up to date. Sometimes, the prices apps launch with aren’t sustainable in the long term, as Plex has said about its lifetime pass, which has seen its price increase by 525 percent over two price hikes since March 2024. We’ve seen a similar pattern with streaming apps.
New features can help soften the blow of massive price hikes. But it’s still hard for old customers to accept prices that double, or go even higher, especially if they were happy with the app as it was.
Developers have options for covering rising costs and funding new features beyond price hikes. For example, they could reward longtime customers with grandfathered pricing, exclusive features, or other perks to help offset higher costs. And when price hikes are unavoidable, giving customers advance warning can go a long way toward showing loyal users they’re valued.
Another option is to offer more subscription tiers in general. Developers often cite new features to justify higher subscription prices, but not all users want those features. A wider range of subscription options, including a cheaper, AI-free tier, could let developers expand an app’s features and audience without penalizing users who are happy with its original functionality. Alternatively, developers could offer advanced features to power users as individual or bundled add-ons.
Sometimes, various internal and external factors make higher prices inevitable. When that happens, users would be wise to reexamine whether that beloved app is still the best option after all these years.
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