Confusing marketing email from EMB

[Tom F 83]

 

 

I just got EMB marketing email that says, "Get 25% OFF plus 18 months of Maintenance for the price of 12 for RAD Studio, Delphi, or C++Builder, and don’t miss a release for 1.5 years."

WTF does EMB that mean by that???  If a 12-month license was normally $100, then would I get 18 months for $75?

Is it me, or does their marketing department need some who <checks notes> actually know how to write unambiguous copy?  Or are they deliberately trying to make it difficult for us?  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



I

[corneliusdavid 214]

Yes, I believe you got it right. It's a sale on a new purchase which usually comes with 12 months of updates free but this offer will extend that to 18 months. I guess that's a pretty good deal if you're in the market for a new purchase.

[Tom F 83]

4 minutes ago, corneliusdavid said:

Yes, I believe you got it right. It's a sale on a new purchase which usually comes with 12 months of updates free but this offer will extend that to 18 months. I guess that's a pretty good deal if you're in the market for a new purchase.

Thanks, @corneliusdavid.  Why did you conclude that it's only for someone re-subscribing to updates rather than also renewing?

[corneliusdavid 214]

2 minutes ago, Tom F said:

Why did you conclude that it's only for someone re-subscribing to updates rather than also renewing?

I didn't conclude that--just the opposite, in fact.  What I said is "It's a sale on a new purchase..." If you follow the link in the email and read the "Terms and Conditions" you'll see: "This offer does not apply to term licenses, renewals or academic licenses."

[corneliusdavid 214]

14 minutes ago, Tom F said:

re-subscribing to updates rather than also renewing

Isn't that the same thing?

[Tom F 83]

1 minute ago, corneliusdavid said:

Isn't that the same thing?

Yeah. You're right My sloppy thinking and typing.

Maybe my skin's a bit thin. But, I'd think that a good marketing department would have omitted sending this email to customers like me who are current on their update subscription. That would've saved me from wasting my time on this.

[corneliusdavid 214]

5 minutes ago, Tom F said:

I'd think that a good marketing department would have omitted sending this email to customers like me who are current on their update subscription

Yeah, I get lots of emails like this, too, and just have to delete them. Those seconds glancing at emails add up each day (not being sarcastic).

 

However, I can see Embarcadero wanting to send this out to everyone just on the off chance that:

• You have one product (Delphi or C++Builder) and have been thinking of getting the other one, or..
• You might want to upgrade your current subscription, or ...
• You know of someone that is ready to purchase but hasn't done it yet and they're not on the mailing list.

A couple of years ago, I was a current subscriber of the Professional edition and I took advantage of one of these offers to upgrade to the Enterprise edition. It was considered a new purchase because I did not currently have the Enterprise edition so I qualified for the advertised sale but I was able to get an additional discount because I upgraded from the Professional edition. So in some cases, these sales can even be good for existing customers.