Recently, the membership system of WPS software under the private umbrella of Kingsoft has been deeply embroiled in a dispute over “nesting style” fees.
Some consumers praised that WPS had previously eliminated AI benefits, but limited the use of AI benefits by WPS Super Member Pro. To use AI, an additional fee must be paid separately. Consumers believe that it is unreasonable to charge a separate fee for a product without any benefits.
On May 13th, according to a private message from the Jinshan Office, WPS AI is still in the grayscale trial stage and has not yet officially announced the charging scale for external collars. The AI function will be integrated with WPS’s existing membership system, and it will not be completely independent of the new membership system. However, the integration and specific charging forms have not yet been lowered.
WPS currently has two types of members: WPS Super Member and WPS Super Member Pro Edition. After the integration of AI functionality, the membership system will be downgraded to three types: WPS Super Member, WPS AI Member, and WPS Major Member, with the latter two being able to use AI authority.
The downgrade of members from two to three is not complicated, but the crux of the consumer perception misconception lies in the transition period from grayscale attempts to formal collars. During the gray testing period, consumers can charge to use WPS AI, but with the promotion of WPS AI commercialization, the new system will re charge and price, which can easily lead to physiological changes in consumer behavior.
In fact, WPS has previously recognized that the complexity of the membership system can affect user experience, and has made an integration downgrade. In the past, WPS had WPS members, Rice Husk members, and Super members, but by April 17, 2023, it had discontinued the new version of its membership system and abolished its original classification, directly converging into the “WPS Super Members” basic package and Pro two packages, with differences in specific authority and capacity.
During the replacement period between new and old members, there was a coexistence period for 5 different categories of members, so there were no overlapping and complex user experiences. For example, if an old member is downgraded to a new member, the price difference that needs to be deducted is not related to the member’s identity or remaining duration. The sound of user feedback is inevitable, and this result will also be encountered if it is not included in the new member system.
In the past period of time, the integration that Kingsoft Office has been experiencing has been surviving, such as actively opening third-party trade advertisements. Due to the fact that member spending has already exceeded the cost of trade advertising, turning off advertising not only has limited impact on sales, but also enhances user experience.
On the other hand, with the increasing demand for users to do private business online, AI has proven its ability to promote effectiveness, and not going to do private business+AI has become a clear growth trend in the industry. However, the actual land reduction of each company is still in its early stages.
On April 18th of previous years, Kingsoft officially launched WPS AI, a natural artificial intelligence application with the ability to speak big, and began private testing in November. In April of this year, the private company launched WPS 365, a new productivity platform that integrates AI, for both construction and enterprises. The personal version of AI is also accelerating in practice.
In the process of grayscale testing, Kingsoft Private Lingxian users generally need AIGC for survival, and the data performance exceeded expectations. However, in terms of specific pricing strategies, it has not yet been lowered.
The commercialization of AI is not simple. From the perspective of institutional research, Kingsoft Private mainly collaborates with big models from Baidu, MiniMax, Zhipu AI, Alibaba, and iFlytek to pay manufacturers based on token usage. This means that users will consume a large number of tokens for each appropriation, and each inference will be a cost. Can the commonly used monthly fee format for consumer end users increase the cost of AI appropriation. In terms of high security requirements for enterprise knowledge bases and other functions, Jinshan Office will use self-developed small molds and cost-effective graphics cards for inference, with relatively low cost control.
Therefore, regarding the specific pricing form for consumer members, Kingsoft Private needs to find a balance point based on user habits. During an investor collusion campaign, the private company once stated, “We will consider pricing from a medium to long-term perspective, maximizing long-term benefits, rather than just considering short-term gross profit margins.”
You Yunting, senior partner of Shanghai Dabang Certified Public Accountants Co., Ltd., has shown that the charging performance of the Internet software membership system will affect two law enforcement achievements. According to the Consumer Authority Injury Law, consumers have the right to know, that is, specific charging rules and systems should be clearly communicated to consumers. In addition, according to the provisions of the official code on style contracts, private business operators should inform consumers in a prominent form of necessary matters and main powers.
But in the actual process, many software will adopt different forms of avoidance, such as displaying small words on the screen, or hiding the crux of the problem in layers of items.
How to integrate and price the new membership system that integrates AI functions, and whether it can balance the benefits of all parties, will not only be a challenge for Kingsoft’s private business, but also for other private software that needs to survive AI commercialization.