Not long ago Ryan Lee posted an article about the WWE falling short on their membership prediction of 1 Million subscribers and only having 700,000 paying subscribers. They were going to have to make some budget cuts and possibly layoff some staff. It's a great post if you have not read it check it out here.
Cut to my post about a company who has over 2 Million PAYING subscribers on their membership site. Their membership plans range from the basic $9.99/mo. to the more premium $49.99/mo. It's not surprising that they are selling software but who is this company?
It's none other than Adobe who had 4 Billion in Revenue in 2013 Alone….
It Used to Cost Over $2,000+ to get All This Software
Adobe used to sell the Master Collection for over $2,000 but now they charge a monthly fee for their services. If you are a student or teacher you can get a discount on their services if you can prove you have an .edu email.
Adobe released their Adobe Creative Cloud service in June 2013 and in 17 months have gained over 2 Million subscribers. How did they do it and what can you learn from what they did? Here are the 3 things they did right!
1. Changing To A Monthly Subscription
It used to cost over $2,000+ to get all this Adobe software and now you can get access to a single app for $9.99/mo or all apps for $49.99/mo to cancel anytime or $29.99/mo if you pay for a year at a time. Some customers are mad that they will now have to constantly pay to have the latest and greatest Adobe software but in reality you were having to pay every couple years for the master collection and that was thousands of dollars so the cost is about the same year over year. This has done wonders for Adobe software and the apps I use the most are Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Acrobat (for PDFs).
2. The Latest Updates
Part 2.1
If you are a subscriber to Adobe Creative Cloud then you automatically get free updates to the apps you are using. They have made an adobe creative cloud panel for PC and Mac that will alert you to the latest updates for your apps so you can keep working and any bug fixes are patched fast. I also noticed that they have put out new 64 bit apps for users who can run 64 bit apps vs the old 32 bit apps that are being phased out over time.
Part 2.2
Also I would like to add that they have a great email campaign for subscribers that gives users the latest and greatest of the capabilities of all apps. For example sometimes the emails contain other users work created in apps, sometimes its how to optimize for mobile devices and sometimes its about email marketing. You just never know what great stuff you are going to get in your inbox from Adobe!
3. Cloud Storage (20GB Included)
That's right it wouldn't be perfect without 20GB of storage in the cloud included for you to store your latest masterpieces. Storing your work in the cloud helps as you can use the creative cloud software on 3 workstations with 1 license. You can save your work in the cloud from your desktop and then access it on your laptop and REGAIN ALL YOUR SETTINGS! That's right you can sync your app settings in the cloud and re-access them from any other device. This is probably my favorite setting as I love being able to work on something from a coffee shop and then come home and finish up at my desktop.
If you are interested in Adobe Creative Cloud then check it out (not an affiliate link)
https://creative.adobe.com/plans
