INTUIT OUTLINES COST OF ONLINE
Intuit last month discussed the cost of QuickBooks Online versus the price to buy and renew the desktop product. And the formula should work the same for higher-priced packages sold via subscription. It costs more to lease than buy. Kiran Patel, SVP of Intuit’s Small Business Group, said that over five years a QuickBooks Online customer would pay $1,500, based on the $25 per month subscription price.
A desktop user, who purchased software and renewed twice, would pay about $600. The wrinkle in this is that the online product has a faster churn rate than the desktop. Patel did not discuss the online turnover pace, but at an Intuit event in 2009 he told investors that "One out of five QuickBooks customers never gets through the entire product." Patel also reported that the average QuickBooks user purchases about $800 in additional products after the initial software purchase and that is up from roughly $400 three years ago. These additional products include payroll, payment and website builder applications.
