Bestiary Package

[hooly]

I wouldn't expect a price reduction on the previous releases. The deal is great for NEW customers, but what about the existing base of customers that has helped you build your business? I thought Wolflair were a new breed of business rather than one with the mass market thinking of people like Sony (since you used Spiderman as an example). Was I wrong?

May I suggest another comparison? What about the Insurance company that wants new business? They make an special offer (or competition entry) for new customers but also make a similar offer for their existing customers so they don't alienate them in the process of looking for new business.

Just something to consider.

[rob]

Originally Posted by hooly

May I suggest another comparison? What about the Insurance company that wants new business? They make an special offer (or competition entry) for new customers but also make a similar offer for their existing customers so they don't alienate them in the process of looking for new business.

OK, I guess I'm confused now. This offer *is* available for all existing customers. It doesn't matter whether you first bought Hero Lab years ago, yesterday, or next year. The exact same offer is available to *everyone*.

In fact, as Paris.Crenshaw suspected, the clear majority of Pathfinder purchasers have *not* purchased the Bestiary add-ons. So this new bundle can be readily leveraged by well over half of our existing users.

We're a tiny company and we're not setup to jump through all sorts of hoops, so we're limited with what we can do. Given that, please outline what you would consider a "similar offer" for existing customers. If there's a reasonable way we can make it happen within the framework we've got available, we can explore it as an option. If we can't make it happen now, then at least we'll know what future functionality for our online sales mechanism needs to go on the todo list. :-)

[Cullyn]

Personally, I can see the reasoning behind the deal and as one of those who have purchased the previous Bestiaries, I have no issue with it. It's really no different for me than purchasing a game on a service such as Steam and watching it go on sale for 50% less or more a month or two later.

Don't get me wrong, I've given Lone Wolf some grief recently myself , but this isn't something I had even given a second thought about after snapping my fingers once and saying "Darn". I'm sure I'll pick up the third package as soon as my physical book shows up and I'm reminded.

[Paris.Crenshaw]

I want to go on record as clearly stating that I will be purchasing the Bestiary 3 data set regardless of any offer (or lack of an offer) of a discount based on the fact that I've already purchased the first two Bestiary data sets. That's not to disparage anyone who thinks a discount is a critical factor. I just wasn't sure if I'd made my stance clear earlier.

I'm very happy with the prices of data sets being offered. I look at each data set or package purchase as I would the purchase of a PDF version of a module or supplement, which is the closest-comparison product I can think of. Through that lens, even a $10 price tag is well worth it.

Rob, I don't know exactly how you guys calculate the price of a data set in order to ensure a profit, but whatever formula you're using works for me. I get far more repeated use out of my data set purchases than I would for a PDF book of equal price.

That being said, if there was a way to offer a small discount (say 10% to 15%) for those who subscribe to a particular line of products, then over the course of 8 or 10 releases, I'd be able to funnel those savings into a cool PDF or inexpensive accessory offered by someone else, while remaining a loyal customer for LWD.

The question, however, is whether offering such a discount would encourage enough people to subscribe to offset the discount (which would have to come out of the net profit per sale). I'm just not sure, myself.

[Colen]

Originally Posted by Paris.Crenshaw

That being said, if there was a way to offer a small discount (say 10% to 15%) for those who subscribe to a particular line of products, then over the course of 8 or 10 releases, I'd be able to funnel those savings into a cool PDF or inexpensive accessory offered by someone else, while remaining a loyal customer for LWD.

The question, however, is whether offering such a discount would encourage enough people to subscribe to offset the discount (which would have to come out of the net profit per sale). I'm just not sure, myself.

We've actually looked into this a number of times - unfortunately, it would require us to make a lot of changes to how our online purchase system is architected. We're already spread far too thin as it is, and at present it's not practical for us to work on this instead of Hero Lab, the Pathfinder data files, etc. It's a good idea, just not one we can take advantage of presently.

[Paris.Crenshaw]

That makes sense. Thanks for looking into it, though!

No worries...this gamer's addicted to your product. I'm not going anywhere.

[bodrin]

Originally Posted by rob

.We're a tiny company and we're not setup to jump through all sorts of hoops, so we're limited with what we can do. Given that, please outline what you would consider a "similar offer" for existing customers. If there's a reasonable way we can make it happen within the framework we've got available, we can explore it as an option. If we can't make it happen now, then at least we'll know what future functionality for our online sales mechanism needs to go on the todo list. :-)

For new customers the bundles are top value, for existing customers a predicted product bundle offer would be an intriguing idea!

For example purchase Book X singularly for this price or purchase Book X for a bundle price and receive the next X datasets of your choice to be determined as and when they become available.

This would give all potential customers the options to buy single packages at full cost, choose a pre built bundle cost or a customer determined package bundle.

Just my suggestion.

By the way I have bought all the bundles and singular packages so far, D20 and PFRPG and I'd certainly be purchasing Bestiary 3!

[enrious]

I've purchased Bestiary 1 & 2 and been using them for months now. That's the benefit I've had by doing so.

People who purchase them with 3 in a little bit for a discount have the benefit of getting a better monetary value.

So it's a tradeoff, one I'm happy with.

[rob]

Allowing customers to design their own bundles is a wonderful concept, and it's something that we've discussed internally - and have on the todo list. Unfortunately, it's far outside the limits of what we can do with the current online ordering system we have in place. :-(

For pre-built bundles, we done our best to come up with reasonable groupings and discounts. That was aided greatly when we first started by the fact that there were dozens of already printed supplements that we could design suitable bundles around. Now we face the problem that we don't know what's coming down the pipeline beyond a moderate distance. Paizo has been great about sharing their plans with us, but even *they* don't have concrete plans mapped out beyond a certain point. Consequently, we are severely limited in what we can commit to for bundles that contain future add-ons.

Given our limited information about the future, the only approaches that we can reliably implement are a subscription model (similar to what Paizo offers) and ad hoc bundles like the new Bestiary Bundle. A subscription model will require significant re-work of our online ordering mechanism, and many weeks of overhauling the server (instead of working on actual products) simply isn't realistic with everything else we're juggling right now. It's definitely on our todo list, but we're stuck with ad hoc bundles as the only option for the time being.

[bodrin]

I like the concept of the subscription but prefer the control to buy as and when I want a product!

For the customer designed bundle idea issue a digital key with the electronic receipt that can be redeemed against the products that become available, it could even be linked into the HL license server.

For example on the splashscreen it states I have access to all the datafiles and packages I have already purchased. I have no idea how difficult it would be to insert a code that would record a valid purchase token, but I envision the splashscreen saying something similar to; You have access to the core datafiles and package X Y Z plus you have an additional XX purchases from your order dated X/XX.

When a new package is released it would then alert the user of that product and ask if they wish to redeem one of their coupons!

The license keyfile can then be updated as it is now to reflect any extra purchases made until all the digital coupons have been redeemed!