Answers to Questions about Exiting Beta
August 22, 2008Why aren’t you free anymore?
We are: Jott Basic is there and is a free offering! The premium accounts were added primarily for people who don’t want ads, or for those who need longer, more expensive transcription.
Why did you make your free offering useless by taking away email?
Jott Basic is still free and includes unlimited voice-to-text notes. You can view those notes online like many web apps, and we’ve added the new desktop app Jott Express (which works online and offline, syncs with the website and the Jott for iPhone app), and we still deliver Jotts in emails via the Daily Jott.
Here’s what the new Jott Express looks like:
These prices are outlandish, did you even think about them?
We thought about them for two years, and feel $3.95/month is a great value for everything that is provided. We were very honest from the get-go about charging once we were out of Beta and always having a free version and we have stuck to that promise. If you go out and do the comparisons of other companies that charge for transcription, you’ll see that we are actually VERY reasonably priced. It’s true that some of our competitors who are still in beta are still free, and though we can’t speak to any of their business models, at the end of the day they face the same cost realities that we do. $0.13/day is an extra expense, but it’s also a high value one that saves people from stress, lets them send hands-free messages, and keeps them organized.
Why don’t you have annual plans?
In part because we wanted people to be able to try the other services for a month, see what works for them, and then make a decision. Since the demand for this has been so high, it’s definitely something we’ve been considering adding in as a base offering as well. Realizing that our current customers would probably want an annual subscription we offered them just that with a pretty big discount- by entering in your phone number as the promo code you can get a year subscription of Jott at 26% percent off. For those who would like Jott Pro, enter your phone number with a plus sign (+) before it for the same 26% off.
It’s wonderful you have gone live…really. It sucks that I have NO OPTION to pay for EXACTLY what I used for months in beta. There is no plan that is exactly what you offered in beta. THAT plan worked for me. I got used to it. Used it every day. Counted on it. Made it a part of my life.
What research indicated that all the beta testers wouldn’t be interested in EXACTLY what they had before? I don’t remember taking any surveys. Research my eye.
I’ll bet that the complaints that are widespread anywhere Jott is mentioned would be very few if you had the insight to offer the EXACT beta plan as a paid plan. Hell, you’d already have my money. Honestly have you tried to Jott a 15 second message when you are used to 30? 15 seconds ain’t crap when you have always had 30. And please spare me any mention of the $12.95 ripoff plan or the even bigger $1 a minute knife in the back.
Any beta I have ever participated in has always kept the exact same post beta offering even if it goes to paid. You don’t hook people on something and then cripple it AND add a fee. Perhaps you’ll see that when the bulk of your beta testers vanish.
And the 26% discount on the crippled product is no deal.
15 seconds is too slow when you have to talk slow enough for the transcription to be good.
Comment by Jason — August 22, 2008 @ 7:54 pm
AND it sucks that even though I beta’d I am reduced to 15 secs before the 8th of September grace period.
Comment by Jason — August 22, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
Jason, you can get the exact same thing (as in everything that was part of Jott Beta) all in one place with both the Jott Pro and pay-as-you-go options. As far as the 15 seconds go, if you are calling the Jott number you should not be restricted to 15 seconds, the only time restriction that is 15 seconds is part of the iPhone application was released separately.
Comment by kate — August 23, 2008 @ 12:38 am
I really can’t afford this but Jott has become a very useful tool for me while driving and setting up a list of to-dos …. Is there a way to still have them delivered to my email inbox for free? That’s really all I use this for … getting quick to-dos in my inbox. I don’t think the texting thing or having to go to the Jott homepage (which I rarely used) will make this as valuable a resource for me.
Comment by Matt — August 23, 2008 @ 4:34 am
With a subscription, will the “Jott” text (noted below) at the bottom of an email be removed?
——–
“What is Jott?
Jott (www.jott.com) turns your voice into emails & text messages. Simply call Jott and speak your message. Jott converts your voice to text and sends your message. Jott can also create reminders, lists & appointments. Sign up for your FREE Jott account today.
Brought to you by Jott.com - 1-866-JOTT-123
300 East Pike Street, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98122
Comment by Dave — August 23, 2008 @ 5:57 am
I was a beta tester, too, but did not incorporate JOTT into my life all that much. The free service looks like it will work for the limited uses I need at this time. But, I am confused by one thing. When I call JOTT, a voice still asks WHO I would like to JOTT. Well, if I have read the plan correctly, I really don’t have any choice of who I want to JOTT. If I speak any of my contacts, I am told that feature is not a part of my plan. So, WHY ASK THE QUESTION?
Secondly, and most important to me right now, what is the proper answer to the question of who I want to JOTT? I guess I want to JOTT myself, but how do I convey that?
Comment by John — August 23, 2008 @ 9:48 am
“For those who would like Jott Pro, enter your phone number with a plus sign (+) before it for the same 26% off.”
I discovered through trial and error that this is actually incorrect; it worked if I put a plus sign (+) AFTER my phone number.
Also, I wish there were some sort of explanation of what exactly you get when you buy the pay-as-you-go option… Will I be charged by seconds or minutes? My prepaid *cell phone* plan uses minutes, even if I only use 15 seconds of talk time. If I call Jott and use 24 seconds, will I use up 24 seconds, or a whole minute of my prepaid time?
Comment by Morgan — August 23, 2008 @ 11:04 am
Found the answer to my question on the forums: http://jott.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1028&p=2762&hilit=pay+as+you+go&sid=c30b75aa96a7789235b13a5fefb7fb71#p2762
“Good questions! The clock starts ticking after the beep when your recording time begins. We don’t round up seconds, if you record a message that is 12 seconds, we keep it as 12, if you record a 37 second message its tracked as 37 seconds, you don’t lose anything thing to us rounding up.”
Comment by Morgan — August 23, 2008 @ 11:16 am
Would Jott consider a monthly plan in the 1 minute record time slot?
Comment by Brad Isaac — August 23, 2008 @ 11:35 am
I signed up for the $3.95 plan then realized I only got the discount if I chose ‘annual’ so I changed to that. Am I going to be billed for both? I do feel that your choices are rather limited.
Comment by Ken Burnham — August 23, 2008 @ 11:38 am
@ Matt- There is always the Daily Jott. It’s slightly different in that it’s not a receipt of every single message you create when you create it, but it will send you the most recent notes you created once a day. The default setting of every account is to have this turned off, but you can turn it on in the Email section of the My Account page.
@Brad- Right now the 1 minute plan is pay-as-you-go and no unlimited because of the nature of transcription and the difficulty and expense associated with long form transcription. I’ll relay the suggestion to the rest of the team!
@Ken- I guess that depends on if the transaction went through before you changed to the annual, but even if it did that should be very easy to fix! If you fill out a support form (the link to which is in the Help section) then Brooke can help you out and make sure you’re not charged for both
Also, in general for people who have questions about the specific nature of these decisions, check out John’s posts in the forum.
Comment by kate — August 23, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
I’m a casual user, and I almost signed up for the pay as you go option until I saw that you expire minutes on this plan after 180 days. This is a de facto annual plan priced at $20/year. I would go for this plan if you adopted the Skype model of maintaining paid for minutes if there is a minimum activity in the account.
Also, what is a minute? Do you time actual record times, or is there a minimum time per message? Also, if I were on the pay as you go plan, and entered Jott reminders on the web, for text and email delivery, is that charged as minutes? The terms of your plans are very vague.
Comment by Ellis Golub — August 23, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
First of all - no matter what the naysayers say — Jott is awesome and even if you have to pay. How did folks think this was going to work??? Jott would make a great product and then give it away - even though the product cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and mindpower. Did people hope that Google would swoop in, buy Jott, and then sell the private analytics and lease ad-space??? So, at the prices judiciously set by the Jott Team this is really a way of ensuring that the technology remains viable, updated and relevant. Kudos to Jott for the long beta and I am sending my payment for the annual subscription.
Comment by George — August 24, 2008 @ 7:16 am
I love the Fight Club references in the example to-do list!
Comment by person — August 24, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
Well, that’s unfortunate. *Everything* I was planning to do with Jott (but had not gotten around to) is no longer free. I was really hoping that when you did leave beta the free version would at least have Some value. (What good is being ad-supported if there’s nothing to support?)
I won’t be paying for a plan myself (as I wouldn’t use it enough to justify any cost.) but I will also not delete my account, in the vain hope that you will eventually add (back) some useful services supported by ads.
In particular I would like to use Jott to send SMS messages to people by voice, and access my Google Calender. (If I need to leave notes to myself I just pull out my phone, my PDA, or a piece of paper and a pencil. )
Comment by David — August 25, 2008 @ 10:37 am
Long-time beta user. Jott really is a very useful service that breaks new ground, but new pricing seems a bit high, esp. in this tough economic environment.
And, as a Blackberry user, why would I be forced to pay for the expensive Pro Plan, when iPhone users get their app as part of free Basic plan? This is probably a deal-breaker for me, as I can’t justify $13/month.
Any chance you may reconsider putting BB service in $4/month plan? I would definitely subscribe if that were the case.
Comment by Dan — August 26, 2008 @ 7:54 am
This is quite the service, $4 per month isn’t that bad for something that will apparently be updated on a more than regular basis. Plus, I just downloaded the FREE iphone app, we will have to see about that one.
http://www.chicomputer.com
http://www.twincitiesct.com
Comment by Marc — August 26, 2008 @ 9:03 am
@Dan- The reasoning behind the BB app being part of Jott Pro has to do with recording time, the Jott plan is 15 seconds, Jott Pro is 30. You can always use the pay-as-you-go option which depending on how frequently you use it may be a better option for you, there are longer recording times and BB is included.
Comment by kate — August 26, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Look,
I think all Beta testers feel like that they’ve worked for free for jott - a company whose business model is a bit speculative - and aren’t getting comped. Rather than ranting, those who are really upset, should “out” other companies backed by jott’s backers (Bain Capital Ventures, and others) as “portfolio companies that are likely going to change the game for beta testers.” An aggressive campaign against the companies may open the eyes of VC funds. At the least, such a campaign will make beta testers a bit more cautious about spending time on a new web site. There’s no recourse with jott - they’ll get chewed up and spit out just like any Steinbrenner ball player.
But then again, who knows. He who has the gold makes the rules, I suppose.
Comment by mkha98 — August 27, 2008 @ 5:22 am
We have a website, but we are not just a web service. We are primarily a phone service- one that involves text messages, and above all, transcription. We were very honest from the start that we would always have a free version of the service and that at some point we would start offering premium plans. The reality is this: we stay in beta as free for everyone forever and we no longer exist. We come out of beta and start making revenue to pay the bills and innovate with new features that get requested and we can stick around so continue to keep the service going. Take a look at the other transcription services that are available online and you’ll see that comparably, we are extremely reasonably priced. The point of all of this is not to be hostile to our customers who have stuck with us through beta, but to ensure that we can continue to be around for the people who really use and love the service.
Comment by kate — August 27, 2008 @ 8:15 am
Congratulations!, Jott, on taking a concept, adding the technology, creating a business plan, then building a business into fruition. My best wishes to your future success.
Comment by oskey — August 27, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
Well - I love my Jott - and signed up as soon as I could. The price is reasonable for all the extras I get. I did a “Management Tools” preso for principals during staff development - and what did they “ooh and ahh” about? JOTT! The voice to text feature is excellent and one teacher is using it in her class for special students who cannot write … To hear their story read back to them - and to see it in print - priceless. Hmmm … any thoughts about a spin-off for special needs?
Comment by Jill — August 31, 2008 @ 7:28 am
Although I loved Jott free, it certainly has a great deal of value for me, so I was comfortable with the $3.95 monthly plan and the 15 second jotts. I just use Jott with a link to my Nozbe account, so that is plenty of time per task entry. Then I read on this blog about the annual subscriptions for saving 26%. Now that was an unexpected bonus - I upgraded immediately. Thanks so much for that, for $2.93 a month, you can’t beat Jott, especially if your using any of the premium links. Thanks Jott.
Comment by John B. Kendrick — August 31, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
Now that your free version does not have the email feature, I see no reason to use your service. I do not plan to pay a monthly fee to have email notifications, and have no desire to go to a website to see notes that I’ve called in on my phone.
No thanks to your new plan!
Comment by kb5auk — August 31, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
There is no technical support. The guys at the Apple store can’t answer Jott questions. Why is there no telephone number to talk to a person who can answer questions?
“Sending- [sending cna only occur when app is open]” tells me nothing about why my messages DO NOT DISPLAY, until maybe tomorrow or the next day….
Disgusted
Comment by Dennis Trembly — September 1, 2008 @ 6:54 pm
Just a comment of support. I am shocked at these people with these bitter complaints. Worked for Jott? Are you serious? We all got a fantastic service for free! Teased with the beta? What planet are these people from? Jott has no obligation to do anything for the beta users (I say “users” not “testers” because the service functioned very well for at least the past year). It’s all just sour grapes.
Good work Jott. I’m not sure if I will sign on as a paying customer yet. The plans do seem a bit confusing. It’s a matter of providing more clarity, not necessarily changing your plans.
I am headed over to Costco now to try a few of their pizza samples. Then, I am going to go to the manager and complain that I can’t get a box of four pizza samples instead of the whole pizza.
Comment by PaulQ — September 1, 2008 @ 11:14 pm
@ Dennis- You can fill out a support form (the link can be found in the Help section). It may take a day or two for someone to get back to you, but they will. As far as the message taking a long time to appear- are you keeping the app open? Also, if you are connected to Edge and not wifi it can take a while as the audio files are large. There is an update coming soon that will help with this issue.
Thanks to everyone else for the feedback! A little note to add for the people still looking for to use the free service but in need of email- you can always go into the Email section of the My Account page and turn on the option to receive the Daily Jott which will send you a summary of all the Jott Notes you created that day right to your inbox.
Comment by kate — September 2, 2008 @ 8:28 am
Still a fantastic service even tho I don’t at this time use it enuf to become a subscriber. I think the complaints are from folks who are used to free internet products, like FireFox, Gmail etc.. Perception of value and who and where you are is another this. I’m retired (ie unemployed) so 50 bucks a yr makes me consider it a bit, but if I lived in NYC or LA, 4 bucks a month - a no brainer. So will you get a significant number of user for a 9.99, 14.99. 19.99 a year plan?
Comment by Hersey — September 7, 2008 @ 10:18 am
I LOVE JOTT! It has been terrific in the year I have had the privilege of beta testing for free and I have often thought it would be worth it even if/when they started to charge. My average time is 17 seconds so I opted for the $3.95 as it fits my budget best. It is great to be driving and just speed dial 6 to get Jott, leave a quick message and not worry about forgetting the name, the appointment, the thought! That’s especially useful for all of us Baby Boomers!!!
I appreciate your great service - nope, it’s not perfect, but NOTHING on the internet, or in life itself, is. But it is REALLY good and has been a mega blessing - so thank you to all of you working so hard to provide this service!
I will definitely be recommending this to my readers at www.SandwichINK.com. Caregivers and grandparents are always short on time, short on memories, and long on needing to remember things so I think it will be a big help to them as well.
Have you considered offering an affiliate program?
Let me know if you do!
And thanks again!!!!
Kaye
Comment by Kaye — September 8, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
Hi -
Just wondering if you’re ever going to fix your igoogle gadget. I just uninstalled it because I finally got too fed up with it:
1. it makes me sign back in like every time I leave the page. wtf
2. i can’t send jotts from the gadget anymore
these problems make the gadget virtually worthless to a person who spends almost all day on the computer. i would likely sign up for your subscription service IF you make the igoogle gadget workable. i know lots of people echo my concerns, see the comments on your gadget page.
Comment by Ariana — September 9, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
As an occasional beta user, I found Jott very useful, but not useful enough to pay $13/month for (I use Google Calendar and Remember the Milk). There are a lot of features in the Premium version I don’t want or need, but there is not enough granularity in the plans.
BTW, the pricing page says two months free for annual subscribers but there’s no annual option. Looks foolish.
Also as a beta user who was too busy to deal with this during the “grace” period, am I simply out of luck or is there a grace period to the grade period? If the latter, I’d be willing to try it out for a month or two to see if I’m going to use it enough to justify the cost, but if the latter, then I’m most likely gone.
Comment by kipkat — September 11, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
Kate refers to “John’s posts in the forum” but does not supply a link. What forum? Where?
Comment by kipkat — September 11, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
@kipkat The forums are linked to in our Help section. The link to that direct forum post is http://jott.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1039&sid=70c49079b6072d1f855f68a74414b9f6.
As far as the grace period goes- you can contact our customer service by filling out a support form and they will help you out with the extra discount.
Comment by kate — September 11, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
@Ariana Sorry, missed your comment earlier. The logging in and out issue is a new once since this last update. I’ve let the gadget developer know and he’s looking in to it.
Comment by kate — September 11, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
I really like using Jott and I have enjoyed using it during the beta period. I missed the deadline for the special offer for subscription plans. Is there any chance the offer will be extended or will be offered again?
Comment by Randy — September 13, 2008 @ 11:35 am
Well.. i for one refuse to get mad about what happened. Instead, I vote with my feet.
Your plan is ludicrous. It’s too expensive, and only inspired me to look elsewhere, which I have.
I now use VLINGO. And I find it has more functionality than the limited uses for Jott. For one thing. I can SMS straight from it, email, reply to emails like I do with Jott. Only, it’s free.
See you on the other side of the bubble jott! Which I don’t expect to take too long with your rate plans.
Jon
Comment by Jon — September 15, 2008 @ 6:55 am
Oh.. should have signed that:
Jon - Disgruntled Beta tester.
Comment by Jon — September 15, 2008 @ 6:55 am
@Randy- fill out a support form and Brooke will take care of you
Comment by kate — September 18, 2008 @ 10:21 am
[…] the basic Jott is free at the cost of ads, the Jott Blog explains the various commercial pricing available for more features from the […]
Pingback by Send Note to Self with Free Online Transcription - Convert Voice Message to Text Emails SMS with Jott Free | Free Video, Media & Digital How to & Tip — September 22, 2008 @ 9:28 am
The ONLY thing I was interested in Jott for was working with “Remember the Milk”. I am not opposed to paying useful web services… I pay $25 per year for RTM. I also pay $25 to Flickr for hosting my entire photo collection (some 6000+ photos and growing). But $3.95 per month works out to $47.40 per year… which makes Jott nearly twice as expensive as those services that I frankly find more important….
I understand Jott needs to make money… and I understand Jott has overhead… but I view Jott as largely a supplemental service that simply isn’t worth the pricing.
If Jott were to introduce a price tier that say included 1 “premium” link (time limits and all other limitations of the current free account can stay the same as far as I’m concern) and worked out to something on the order of $15 to $20 per year.. I would definately sign up… but not at these prices.
Comment by Alan Wild — September 30, 2008 @ 7:09 am
@Alan - A year of Jott you get two months free, which makes it $39.50, and if you took advantage of the early adopter discount it would have been almost five dollars less than that. There are also pay-as-you-go options that give you access to the RTM link and start at $9.99. That maybe a little higher than a year of web based services like RTM and Flickr, but an important note to make is the distinction between Jott and services that exist entirely on the web. Jott is not primarily a web application, what makes Jott different is the phone and transcription experience. Those are also what add to the cost to run the service. Similarly to the web apps out there that are free, you can use our online lists, our website and Jott Express to create reminders and to-dos all for no cost at all.
Comment by kate — October 1, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
I cannot get the discount code to work. I’ve tried +xxx-xxx-xxxx, and +xxxxxxxxxx, and xxx-xxx-xxxx+, and xxxxxxxxxx+. None of them are getting me the 26% discount. Each one generates a promo code not recognized. Any held available?
Comment by Paul — October 4, 2008 @ 10:11 am
@Paul - That offer has expired, but you can email Brooke by filling out a support form, and she’ll help you out!
Comment by kate — October 5, 2008 @ 10:47 am
Wow - spanning the comments is a real psychology lesson. To the folk who have offered less-than-polite feedback (I’m not saying “positive” or “glowing”, just “polite” - there’s a difference) I have this suggestion:
Jott owes you nothing for signing up during the beta period. You got to use some really cool features for free - Jott received your voluntary feedback. That was the extendt of the relationship. At the end of the beta, they set the terms for continued use of their services. Either sign up for a plan, use the free service with ads, or politely say goodbye.
I enjoyed the Jott service in beta, thought for a while when the beta ended and signed up for the $4/month plan. The service is worth that to me, and I have recommended it highly to others even as a paid subscription.
Unless Jott signed a contract with you don’t whine that you feel jaded or cheated. Grow up, pay your respects, and say adios.
Comment by Kurt — October 22, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
Dear Jott,
This is a love note. I was not a Beta user. Just found you last week after a fellow author told me about you after hearing me complain about the voice recognition software I’d tried in the past. Now, I am using your services (much cheaper than a secretary) to write notes for my books when I’m on the road, even dictating text when I’m not near the computer. If it keeps going like this, I may really fall head over heels and may end up writing my entire next novel via Jott. Can you make a special plan for me to dictate for, say, ten minutes at a time?
Best,
Laura Caldwell
www.lauracaldwell.com
Comment by Laura Caldwell — October 27, 2008 @ 8:10 am