Classless change to Free

[RLC335 1]

I consider your implementation of the drastic change to the Free version classless because there was no warning or announcement at all. Even poorer behavior is your website has not yet but updated.

Until now, I used to speak highly of Evernote. Perhaps now I will switch to OneNote. At least Microsoft has the class and courtesy to inform users of changes well in advance. 

How to fix this? Consider ‘grandfathering’ current users so they can still use the prior free plan. 

[s2sailor 2,227]

The reason for the change is because it is not a sustainable business model. Personally I wish they had come to this conclusion sooner and had done a better job communicating it to users.

[PinkElephant 8,165]

Why should EN continue to use MY subscription payments to aliment other users, who refuse to contribute ?

Somebody on Free doesn’t have anything one could reasonably grandfather (except maybe their unreasonable expectations).

Its going to a normal model now: You test drive an app, and then you need to decide about using it seriously, or giving it up. Those using it take the value, and contribute.

[notion 0]

I used Evernote since 2012. I always appreciated its fonctions and simple user-interface. I understand well a compagny need money to run. But only one notebook with 50 note for the free plan? It's like saying "pay or bye". I hope they will revise this change.

[PokeBowl 3]

I love how all the paid users are griping about folks "taking advantage of this poor app" when it's Evernote themselves who shoehorned their casual users into staying on the free tier in the first place. Is everyone's line of thinking really that binary? No one should expect this service to be free, but the lack of flexibility in plan options means Evernote has been missing out on our money for over a decade - and cutting the free plan instead of just turning it into a basic plan means that the opportunity will be lost all together, as these users will simply move to another service. I've been hoping and praying they would offer a basic plan since I would pay up to $70/yr for what I'm already using it for (I solely use the notes feature and accumulated maybe 1400 notes in 11 years, the vast majority of which are plain text so this is literally a blip in data costs for them), with the exception of adding a third synced device, but paying almost twice that amount is simply not economical for this level of usage.

It's their company lol, they can do whatever they want with it, but I still have the right to wish they would allow me to give them my money. This app was first recommended when I was a young parent and brand new smartphone user reckoning with keeping organized while having to go on disability, so more than anything it's what I grew accustomed to using during a hectic period of my life. I'm sad to see it go, but I can't justify spending 130 bucks per year just to keep the familiar feel. A reasonably-priced basic plan would surely be a nice middle ground that benefits everyone, and the infrastructure is even already in place! All they have to do is add a price tag to it.

[WilliamL 654]

I entirely agree - this is classless behaviour and casts a highly questionable shadow over the companies ethics. 

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable expectation that a company provides the service they publicly claim they are offering. Sure, they have the right to change that (and perhaps are right to) but this should be communicated clearly. 

There has been zero communication regarding these changes and to me that’s not acceptable. 

I find myself asking, if they are comfortable not to stick to their promises, where else might this occur? Privacy policy? Statement they won’t read notes without permission? Who knows and that’s the thing, once a company starts breaking it word why should it be trusted. 

My own view, unless there is a MASSIVE change, in January I’ll be cancelling and moving onto a combination of Craft for writing and likely Amplenote for emails and tasks. 

[agsteele 2,952]

I understand that those affected by the trial are about 1% of the Free users.  Those adversely affected in the trial are likely to arrive to register their unhappiness. The remainder aren't affected - yet.  I would anticipate that when or if a final decision is made an announcement will be forthcoming and notice given to all by whatever methods are considered appropriate.

So far we have conjecture based uppon the trial that has been running and the conjecture of a Tech Crunch article.

I, personally, wouldn't have run the trial in the way that has happened. It is certainly clumsy and disappointing for those affected but I would imagine that the trial will work itself out sooner rather than later.

[PinkElephant 8,165]

@WilliamL Where is the beef ? I don’t see any, they run a test exposing a minor number of Free users to new conditions. Maybe an unhappy situation for these users, but all that happens is that they can’t create a new note while above the new magic „50“. They have access to their notes, and they can export them.

We had a parallel situation here, with subscribers to the grandfathered subscriptions. Oh, what a drama, bad communication was claimed. When asking, we learned that some did not have control any more over the same email account they use for their EN account, others found it in Spam (checking it is responsibility of the user), and another even told „yes, I got the email, but didn’t find time to react“ (for 4 weeks, and all it takes is to cancel the subscription with a few clicks).

Where is the beef ? No beef at all. It‘s just was a nice party, free drinks all night, they thought, and now somebody is switching on the overhead lighting and asks everybody to pay for a ticket if he wants to stay, or to leave. OK, not the best way to end a party, but who cares ?

We will see if this „cap 50“ is rolled out, or similar situations emerge to test a plan B, C and D. For a valid test you can’t make too much communication about it, so we have to wait to see what happens.

[WilliamL 654]

3 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Where is the beef ? I don’t see any, they run a test exposing a minor number of Free users to new conditions. Maybe an unhappy situation for these users, but all that happens is that they can’t create a new note while above the new magic „50“. They have access to their notes, and they can export them.

The issue for me is when a company says one thing then does another. Would it be an issue for them to have said they are reviewing and testing things? I don’t think so. Instead they mislead people using the product by stating they get X but actually it’s Y. I can’t grasp how that is acceptable or inspires trust in a company we give our data to. 

[gazumped 11,697]

Evernote aims here may be more to do with the cost effectiveness of implementing an arbitrary tight limit on devices and notes,  and how many free users will actually convert to subscribers,  given a very unsubtle push.  Discounts have also been floating around cutting the cost of the first subscription by up to 50% which don't seem to get mentioned much.  Once Evernote have worked out the numbers I'd expect

1. A Basic account will be an excellent way to test out Evernote's services with a few notes,  but is in no way attractive in the long term unless you are a very sparse note-taker
2. The Three main products will be Personal / Professional and Teams at a standard subscription which will vary from country to country based on tax and exchange differences.
3. Existing Free users will be told that unless they subscribe,  their account will be viewable but editable only within the new limits.  Accounts which have not been accessed for several months will be archived,  and those without access for longer may be deleted at some point.  Notice should be given to the users at their last known email address.

Why any of this is seem as unethical or reprehensible in any way I cannot understand - except that those who are currently using a 'free' service and really don't want to have to pay are obviously going to make a fuss when it ends.

While there are arguments that other services are available,  they are supported either by advertising or by harvesting user data,  or maybe both.  Way back to the "buy a drink, get a free lunch" scams back in the 1890's - you either got salty food or expensive drinks - and sometimes both.  TANSTAAFL is real!

Evernote is under no obligation to create a new product to fit the budget of those who don't want to use its full features - that's a huge extra expense and likely source of future "if only you'd included <insert random feature here>..." discussions.

If they didn't cut off the free users in this day and age we'd ALL lose Evernote's services,  because the company could not continue.  There's no way that a business operation can run a wholly free service used even by a few thousand users much less the infrastructure necessary to support potentially millions of clients.  And in that event you'd be moving your data sooner rather than later.

(Interestingly I've had about three services that I haven't used in several months tell me recently to log in or lose my account - maybe there's a general run on storage going on.)

If Evernote is too expensive - please just find another service you can use in future.  If Evernote was 'too complicated' then OneNote or Google Keep should be a good short-term option...

[PinkElephant 8,165]

 BS has inherited a large number of non performing, inactive or not paying accounts. From what I see they are looking for ways to handle this problem - opposite to the old management that just avoided it - in the end loosing the trust of their owners, and forced to sell out.

I am pretty sure the problem will be addressed in one or another way, and this is good: We (subscribers) don’t want again our money sunk into this black hole of (if my data is correct) 10 free accounts for every paying one. I want my money used to support my own account, plus the development of the app, plus say student discounts or similar.

And I see it positive that they do not again avoid the darker corners of the former business model.

For all those here who claim „I use it for X years, and now I am so fed up that I can‘t, and they didn’t warn me about it“ I can only say, be grateful for all that years, and it’s over when it’s over. You don’t need a warning, but a kick in the … because you expect others to continue paying your easygoing, infinitely. For me the users with this attitude can run as far and as fast as they want - the farther and faster the better. Just move on to another app NOW, thank you.

[Wanderling Reborn 185]

Reading the announcement, EN are not forcing free users to delete the excess content, they  just won’t be able to add any more notes until they fall below 50 notes in 1 notebook limit. So there’s nothing “classless” about this.

I agree with the lack of an affordable basic plan - but again, nobody owes anyone anything outside making sure that the existing user data is safe and accessible. There are alternatives.

[gazumped 11,697]

Thanking about it - the ability to have 50 free notes of (presumably) 25MB available in a browser is a pretty nice freeby.  Want to make a shopping list?  Take your travel docs with you?  Keep your favourite recipes handy?  Share (again presumably) with your partner / colleagues?

-The only major drawback is going to be you're a sitting target for the nagvertising to subscribe...

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,971]

I think @WilliamL's point is about the fact that they notified the test group about changes to their plans, while leaving the official description of the Free plan untouched. Given the apparently random nature of those "selected" for the test, someone could have signed up for the Free plan under the announced terms, and a few days later been limited to 50 notes. That would certain feel like, and IMHO be, a bait and switch.

[Boot17 1,466]

I'm not thinking that the criteria was so random though. From reports given so far by users, it seems like it is only targeting long term (currently free) users and/or users with a large amount of notes -- users more prone to pay to keep the service. 

[PinkElephant 8,165]

Nobody can „sign up“ to the Free plan in the meaning of creating a contract. A contract is created by an exchange of valuables, like money for services.

So nobody can claim he was „cheated“ if 10 seconds after creating an account, the rules change. Because the new user doesn’t have a contract.

He can’t be charged, but he can’t insist on any specific terms of use. He has to take the Free plan as it is, not as it was when he joined.

Subscribers in contrast are protected - they purchased a certain package, and can duefully expect it will be honored during the period for which they subscribed.

[mackid1993 754]

I mean it's a free plan, you aren't entitled to anything. They did a test on a small subset of users which EVERY SINGLE COMPANY does. There is nothing classless about a market test to gauge effectiveness on 1% of users that have never paid a dime for the service. If they suddenly limited Personal users to 1000 notes and to create more you'd have to upgrade to Professional then yeah that'd be messed up. Free users aren't entitled to anything. It's super nice that they get to retain their data and edit their existing notes. They are actually being quite ethical and generous and offering many of these users massive discounts to pay for the service they are clearly using a lot of if they have more than 50 notes.

I think BS has shown a lot of class here and did this in an extremely ethical way especially considering free users are owed nothing!