Promotions were central to Autodesk’s business model transformation. With most customers purchasing a new perpetual license every four years, we needed an incentive to change buying behaviors. To address the opportunity, I led the company’s promotion strategy and designed a tiered discount program to move customers to subscription offerings while slowly removing perpetual license purchasing options.
In the first phase, we ended the sale of upgrades and drove $250M in incremental billings with the global field promotional campaign. In the second phase, we introduced new subscription options and phased out perpetual licenses – first with AutoCAD LT in Australia and then expanding to other products and markets worldwide, until all Autodesk perpetual licenses phased out in summer 2016. The impact for the company was 103% YoY revenue and subscription plan growth. For me personally, it resulted in a unique invitation to Diamond Club.
Company: Autodesk
Year(s): 2014-2016
Results: 103% YoY revenue and subscription plan growth reported in May 2017