Short story: It’s a free information backup that can help us help you later.
People periodically send me all kinds of customer service-oriented questions (inquiries about pricing, upgrade eligibility, lost discs, etc.). I do my best to get these things sorted out, and often the customer service folks need to ask for proof of ownership. Even if you’re twice as organized as I am, digging up a receipt or credit card record from several years back can be difficult, if not impossible.
Things tend to go much more smoothly if you’ve first registered your software with Adobe, as you serial number & other info are then on file. You’re ensuring that your proof of ownership doesn’t get lost.
Oh, and you tend to get some nice freebies in the bargain. (Here’s what’s available when registering CS4.)
I registered my copy, although I purchased it direct from Adobe as a volume license. The freebies were ‘ok’ and weren’t really an incentive for me. The books were cheaper on Amazon, I wasn’t interested in digital magazines, and I already had a Lynda subscription. The other stuff was just kinda meh.
The last link is broken…
[Not for me. –J.]
I have to say yes, in theory it would work this way. However, just last week I misplaced my CS3 cd for my MAC and asked customer service if they could help with a download and pointed them to my registration. They told me that wasn’t available and that I really should just pay for the upgrade…disappointing when Quicken had a software download link to me in 2 hours and it took me 3 days to get that disappointing response from Adobe.
Regarding the last link: it was broken for me too, but on the third attempt, it worked… !?
Instead of trying to pull the wool over our eyes by exaggerating the advantages and not mentioning the disadvantages, try making registration a REAL benefit to your customers.
1) Don’t automatically add us to marketing lists (for your benefit), don’t spam us, don’t share our registration info with your “partners” unless we proactively opt-in to give you permission to do so.
[Isn’t that exactly how it works now? –J.]
2) Provide a mechanism for registered users to download software to reinstall our purchased software.
[Uhhh… The downloadable bits are identical to what you get on disk, so you can re-download anytime. –J.]
3) Provide tangible benefits that are real, can’t be found elsewhere, cheaper, better.
[What, specifically, are you talking about? –J.]
Just treat us as valued customers, treat our information as OUR information, give us truly beneficial advantages for registering, and this problem will solve itself.
Build it and they will come.
[Thanks for the pseudonymous, ill-informed lecture. –J.]
i registered long ago and have yet to receive my issues of Layers which is pathetic considering they are electronic versions…