In the past, Act! Pro users who wanted to upgrade to Premium, had to uninstall Pro, restart their computer, and then install Premium. If those same people wanted to go in the opposite direction, namely Premium to Pro, they had to repeat the same steps, but remember to downgrade their data file in advance of this change.

Either way, it was not a great customer experience.

Ironically, the publisher had similar misgivings about Act! Pro, but for different reasons. Act! Pro didn't simply represent a lower tier of product to them, it was a totally separate code base. This meant whatever changes they made to the Premium product, whether they be part of a new release, service pack or hotfix, they often had to be prepared separately for Pro, as well. As you might guess, this increased both the cost of producing and maintaining Pro, which ultimately led to it being dropped from the v23 upgrade cycle and presumed to be gone forever.

However, in September 2021 Swiftpage quietly brought Act! Pro back with the release of v24, and made a number of important changes to the program, not the least of which was Pro and Premium were now part of the same feature-gated code base.

To those out there that don't speak software-ease, "feature-gating" is a way of releasing multiple tiers of a software product in one code base, with the features of each tier being released by the different tier's license keys. For instance, a user would download the "Act! v24 installer", and the version & features they'd get would be based on what license key they activated with that installation. If it was a Pro key, the Premium features would be suppressed; if it was a Premium key, all the program features would be available.

We employ a similar feature-gating technology with our TopSuite products where people can purchase different tiers of Designer, Dash, or Alerts at different prices, and the license key we provide will dictate which features they have access to. As a publisher, this streamlines development considerably and reduces costs. 

Why should you care about feature-gating?

Well, the first reason is Act! Pro might not exist without it, so there's that. The second reason is the ease of use. It's easy because now Act! Pro v24 customers can upgrade to Premium with a simple change to their account. Since each key is registered with Act!, when a Pro v24 user signs up for a Premium subscription, those Premium features get released instantly, without the user having to make any changes to their software.

This is great because there are a lot of reasons to consider such an upgrade now that this speed bump has been removed. For example, upgrading from Pro to Premium offers the following benefits:

• Act! Marketing Automation
• Act! Web API features like Insights, Companion, Office integration, and Dynamic Pipelines
• Act! Web API functionality for addons like Linktivity or Handheld Contact API
• Expand their Act! team beyond the five-user limit of Pro
• Access Act! on the cloud through a browser
• Significant deployment and security enhancements with Premium including features like Limited Access and Network & Internet Sync
• Access to all new features being introduced with each new version of Act!

A full list of the feature differences between Pro & Premium can be found HERE, but the main takeaway with this blog is that the upgrade path is now a snap. One installer, one code base, and quick access to the features you want, without the uninstallation & reinstallation hassles of the past. With both the customer and the publisher happy, this is a Win-Win!