registration benefits

[justice]

Let me get to the point: do you have any experiences of useful product registration benefits? With many products including software and computer peripherals asking you to 'register now' even though you've purchased it - 'for added benefits, free information and news', I have almost never actually benefited from a registration scheme. The lack of worthwhile benefits actually has changed my opinion of these schemes: when i see one i see them just as a benefit for marketing departments sending out their crap leaflets or mail spam. Surely customers should be treated better with this!

The one benefit I actually had registering a product was with a zanussi washing machine, they keep your purchase records on file in case of a warranty claim. That's actually useful to me. But any software package i now default to 'never register' because I don't trust any benefits come from doing so.

What are your experiences? Should "register now" functionality be removed from all future software in an ideal world or did you get discounts / consumer benefits from registering it? I'd like to see if I am wrong on this.

[TucknDar]

I haven't really considered it, but now that you mention it I suppose you're right. There's little apparent benefit in registering. The only time when I've had a use for this, is with registering on the Genie-Soft website, where I've got a few questions answered concerning my purchased licenses. I might actually have got this answered through mail, but I think registering and using their "ticket-scheme" is their preferred way of communicating with customers.

Apart from this experience, I can't think of other instances of any benefit from the "Register Now!" option

Edit: Although I suppose DonationCoder.com could fall into this category somehow, and with great benefit, obviously

[f0dder]

I don't think I've ever seen something where registering made sense... for the couple of shareware applications I've purchased where I've need support in one way or another, registration (in the typical nag-screen sense) wasn't necessary.

[app103]

I used to have a Storm Imagewave scanner. The company that made it went out of business.

The prob I had with the scanner was that it forced registration on you when you installed the drivers for the scanner...every single time...and you had to have a dialup modem to do it because it would want to dial out to some 800 number....and there was no way to opt out. (and the phone number didn't exist any more) 

The only other time I have bothered to register something was some software of my daughter's for doing makeovers. Even though you bought and paid for the software on CD (at a price of almost $100 to cover cost of software + crappy digital camera), they made you register it to get a code to unlock all the features. They were also kind enough to install some spyware on your pc along with the software.

Thankfully, neither of these products are available any more.

[cranioscopical]

I've seen almost no benefits here but some hassles, as others have found.

Oddly enough, though, my favourite text editor recently had an update for registered users.

Since I first registered it (in 1993) I've changed both my home and office addresses and phone numbers.

I couldn't recall whether I registered it from home or from the office, or when, or if I used my own or my company name, or...  Then I remembered an old file from the days when things were registered by mail or fax.  I always kept a paper copy of these.  In that file I found a copy of my original registration and submitted it, which did the trick.

So, in terms of a registration-benefit success rate that's about .1% thus far

[Ralf Maximus]

There can be penalties if you FAIL to register.  I'm thinking about Windows here...

Other than that, software registration usually falls into the "so we may serve you better" happy marketing talk for "give us your data so we can build a database for marketing purposes".

HP's printer software is getting VERY agressive about staying in your face, registration or not.  Used to be you could choose to install just the driver, but lately I haven't seen that option.  The last inkjet printer I bought "helpfully" installed an applet in my system tray that nags me about when to buy more ink and "helpfully" tries to steer me to the HP website to spend more money. When I disable the applet, the printer doesn't work right.

It's like getting married, I suppose.  In this case I married the printer but am now also involved with the entire HP marketing division, and there's not a lot I can do about it.

[Carol Haynes]

Got a number of freebies from Adobe when I registered including free video tutorials, a few fonts and a short trial subscription to NAPP magazine. You were only supposed to get one benefit but since I moved software from one machine to another I was offered another freebie after each install (their DB was too stupid to notice previously issued freebies).

The other advantage is that if you register Adobe have a record of your serial numbers and therefore it is easy to get replacement media if you should have a damaged CD etc. without having to dig out receipts and post copies. This can be useful to have with such expensive products.

For general shareware software that you download there is usually little or no point.

[Josh]

I registered with microsoft and as such was entitled to a free copy of Win2k3 SBS with 5 CAL's and office 2003. I've gotten several small tokens for registration on various products. Its paid off for me several times.

[Renegade]

Some authors will send out update notices, which is worthwhile.

I only resend lost registration keys to the email address that someone purchased with unless I can verify that it's the same person. Not really registration, but I encourage people to let me know if their email address changes for that reason.

Often there isn't really a huge benefit. It's mostly marginal.

[Lashiec]

It's like getting married, I suppose.  In this case I married the printer but am now also involved with the entire HP marketing division, and there's not a lot I can do about it.

[high voltage]

@Ralph maximus;
if you go to the HP support and download the basic driver instead of the full one life will be sweet.