As I understand it, you need and want to raise more revenue whilst reducing
the more tedious elements of your and your staff's jobs to a minimum.
To do this you are encouraging people to use an automated order input system
which reduces the tedious work your staff carry out and by increasing prices
for those who don't thus increasing your revenue. Looks a good solution on
paper with less work and more cash.
Unfortunately, you also have to take into account your customer base from
which all revenue comes and a significant number of them don't like your
proposal for various reasons. Your choices are to risk alienating this group
or seek an alternative. Obviously you have to make a commercial judgement
but based upon the ten unhappy customers for each one who complains I think
you may have a problem. The fact that many players are very happy with
differential pricing (curiously, all those in favour seem to be people who
will be unaffected by it as they can/will use AM) is irrelevant except that
you know you will not lose their custom. It is the unhappy ones who will go
or not start new games etc.
So your choice is to tough it out and hope not much damage is done once the
dust settles or try something else. Doing nothing won't get any complaints
but does not solve your money problem except through the uptake of AM that
has now occured. A third alternative is to raise everyones prices by either
the full amount which will net you more revenue but may be seen as excessive
or to increase it to �4.25 (and US equivalent)for all.
The last is my best suggestion. You gain the revenue, if not more, alienate
a very few customers judging by the almost universal acceptance of your
desire to generate greater revenue, and you will have less work due to the
AM uptake already generated. No problem!
With hindsight, if you had put the price up for all and then, with Meow
fully functional, offered a discount for use in six months time I think you
would have been acclaimed. Problem is you have now associated the price rise
with an attempt to coerce your player base into something that a number of
players won't/can't use and any future differential pricing will be seen as
a continuation of that. Of course you may eventually come to the point where
the numbers complaining are few enough to ignore but I suspect that is not
yet.
I don't understand your question about Automagic. If it is entirely
voluntary it can only be a good thing for those who use it and irrelevant to
those who do not. If you moved over to computer only, order submission then
I, for one, wouldn't be playing anything but face to face games.
Anyway, those are your choices, as I see them.
Cheers
Chris Courtiour