The Free Plan Device Limit Should End

[s2sailor 2,216]

@Federico Simionato

As someone who frequently reads the forum and occasionally tries to help other users, it has become noticeable that many free users, trying to migrate away from Evernote, are struggling with the free plan device limit.  It seems that many users may not have been using a desktop app, and when installing one, to allow them to export their notes, get caught up in the device number limitation.  With the new free plan change it doesn't seem like the limitation provides a useful purpose any longer.  Please consider lifting this restriction.

Also, the idea of only one notebook being allowed seems overly limiting.  For someone new and wanting to evaluate the app, they will not be able to experience what stacks are or the benefit of trying a few notebooks.  Maybe this should be increased to 3 or 5, to enable new users a more complete app experience during their evaluation.  I hope these comments will be taken under consideration, thanks.

[gazumped 11,685]

I recently tried out one of my free accounts (I have a couple of them used for testing) and was immediately pulled up because the computer I was trying to connect was a new device.  The pop-up screens which followed were always quite clear in how I could disconnect other devices to gain access on my new desktop - which I did - and offered me increasing discounts to encourage me to upgrade.  I did not,  because I already subscribe to a professional account;  but I have to say that if anyone loses access to their account it is likely because they were too busy being outraged that their free access had ended to pay attention to what was on offer.

More devices and more notebooks just brings more and more people into the "I could use that" zone well before Evernote have any chance to evaluate the results of their current action.  It's entirely up to them of course - but I don't think things should change to allow for the fact that non-paying 'users' are not paying attention.

[s2sailor 2,216]

5 minutes ago, gazumped said:

but I have to say that if anyone loses access to their account it is likely because they were too busy being outraged that their free access had ended to pay attention to what was on offer.

Sure, there has been a lot of outrage, but as long time experienced users, I think we can easily forget that this process can be tricky for the occasional, or technically inexperienced user.

6 minutes ago, gazumped said:

More devices and more notebooks just brings more and more people into the "I could use that" zone

The hard limit is 50 notes and I'm not suggesting to change that.  A couple more notebooks and unlimited devices, or just raise it to 3 to enable a phone, a tablet, and a desktop, is not going to encourage free users to stay, IMO, but it will allow new users a better experience when trying the app out for the first time.  For the new price of the app BS should want to make the trial experience as good as possible.  Assuming they actually want new users and not just rely on their current user base for revenue.

11 minutes ago, gazumped said:

don't think things should change to allow for the fact that non-paying 'users' are not paying attention.

Or they could be paying attention but are honestly having trouble.  At a minimum, if Evernote helps to make the process easier for those who want to leave, it will reduce the number of support tickets and the burden on an already over strained support team.

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Well told - I run 3 Free accounts on top of my Professional subscription, and somehow never managed to lock myself out. If a popup shows indicating a device limit issue, the advise prevents a lockout - if followed.

Who insists that he is right and the system wrong gains 30 days to think about it.

[s2sailor 2,216]

2 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

I run 3 Free accounts on top of my Professional subscription, and somehow never managed to lock myself out.

As an experienced technical user, I would be surprised if you did.  I would suggest that the majority of users are not.

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Don't know - since I am not using these accounts frequently, I get a device warning pretty often. I tend to forget which account is synced to which devices.

Nevermind, if I break off at that point, nothing happens. Just when I proceed without reading and thinking first, things get difficult.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,969]

@s2sailor, I agree that allowing say 3 notebooks and 3 devices would actually make the 50-note free trial more inviting for those who do use it as a trial and might be interested in subscribing. Two things that every Evernote user needs to experience are organization and multi-platform access. That's when it starts to look really appealing and useful. I can't imagine that allowing a couple more notebooks in a free account would consume a lot of resources--it's just an identifier at some point in the note's data structure, right?

[AlbertR 538]

I even would allow free trials to search PDFs and other (MS, ...) document formats within the 50 notes around 3 notebooks and more than 2 devices. Or full Home dashboard-, Task- , Calendar- and Offline-functionality...

The more nice features a new users discovers, the lower will be a hurdle to jump into a payed account.

[NicCrockett 17]

I agree that the 50 notes is too low. I get the old 100,000 limit was too many, even I thought it was too many. I think the limit should have been 100 - 200, which I still would have been well over.

The one notebook limit should be added to a class on marketing stupidity. Again, I get reducing the limit, but 3 - 10 would have been better. Who's going to try a product, see the ability to add notebooks, and pay to try the functionality of multiple notebooks without seeing it in action? I might be able to suggest one possible reason for this. They might be trying to phase out notebooks. If so, getting new users to move to tags would help train users to use tags instead. I don't know what the space difference is between notebooks and tags, maybe it's enough to attempt to move customers away from notebooks. I'm just throwing the idea out there, I doubt this is the case due to subscribers being pissed off with Evernote if they forced them to move to tags only.

The device limit I get to some degree, but the current implementation is a technical hurdle for those that are technically inexperienced. One thing I haven't figured out is if the web clipper is tied to using the website as a device. I tried to access it, but I can't even login. There are multiple reasons I'm seeing this:

• I'm already signed into two other device types (desktop/phone).
• I'm over the note and notebook limits. However, I'm just trying to sign into the web clipper, not actually save a clipping.
• Then, there's always the ever present Evernote has more glitches than functions.

Also, if you want to know more about system limits, go here and if you want to understand device limits go here. Oh wait, we decided to remove the second page because it was either too confusing or we don't understand it ourselves.

Another marketing blunder has been the harassments to upgrade. Again, I get advertising and trying to push users to a paid subscription. However, I couldn't use the Android app for 2+ months without restarting the app two or more times to get the message to clear. To date, I still get a notice to upgrade every few clicks in both the desktop or phone apps. Harassing customers with notices to upgrade now or lose this special discount isn't "special" when you can decline and immediately get the same offer two seconds, two hours, or two days later.

Let's talk about notebook consolidation after notebook limit decrease, also known as "we forgot how to program our own software". Evernote's solution is to delete everything, delete all but one notebook, and hope that notes didn't get permanently deleted before you restore to the one remaining notebook. Why, use a solution that could turn customers away because they might lose their data? A better and far easier solution would have been to let people choose a default folder and allow them to move notes to that one folder only.

I'll be amazed if Evernote survives these terrible decisions. Maybe, if the company restructures and elevates decision makers that don't hurt the company further. They'll also need to backtrack some of the new limitations I talk about here. In truth, it may be too late, I've seen too many people say they're vacating. I'm looking for another product to move to, but still hoping Evernote wakes up. Given how difficult it can be to relocate to another software, old customers will be less inclined to return due to the hassle. Anyway, this is all just my two cents.

[gazumped 11,685]

31 minutes ago, NicCrockett said:

I'll be amazed if Evernote survives these terrible decisions.

These terrible decisions to stop giving stuff away for free?  Good luck with that.  I don't see any magic parachutes in your near future.  Pay up or move out.

[NicCrockett 17]

26 minutes ago, gazumped said:

These terrible decisions to stop giving stuff away for free?  Good luck with that.  I don't see any magic parachutes in your near future.  Pay up or move out.

I never said they should give everything away for free. In fact, I agreed that changes to the free plan were needed. However, free is how you entice people to join. More than doubling the price is how you drive current customers away.

I did mention that I understood the change. I just think the implementation was done in the worst way possible. I would have continued to pay if the increase had been incremental.

No parachute needed, I can walk away without being rude.

[s2sailor 2,216]

1 hour ago, NicCrockett said:

I agree that the 50 notes is too low.

I’m not sure who you are agreeing with.  I’m fine with the note limit.  My comment was concerning the number of devices and the number of notebooks.

Essentially, the new free program is a trial for new users and an archive for prior free users.