I HATE the gym business model.
(same for mobile and insurance companies)
They have one rule –
Give new customers the best deals… and raise the fees for loyal, long-time customers to make up for the margin.
~ You are penalizing your best customers
~ You are betting on customers’ laziness to NOT switch to your competitor
~ You are training customers to wait, to keep shopping… because what you offer the first time is always going to be a worse deal
This is, obviously, wrong on so many levels.
BUT –
Why do so many ecom brands do the exact same thing?
(while taunting how bad AT&T is)
Don’t believe me?
This is a comment I saw from a loyal customer to an e-commerce brand:
“My first suggestion – don’t have deals back to back within days. Space out your deals.
The reason – I bought my [product] and immediately I saw another deal, same as mine, in addition you gave away BOGO [product] packets. In USA, stores with big name will honor and would send me another set of [product] packets if I asked as it was within days of my purchase. I was really upset with your company because I asked and the response I got was – sorry you will have to buy another one in order to get the BOGO offer. I am like, I just purchased one package, why would I spend another package in order to get BOGO.”
The frustration is real.
The anger is reasonable.
The flaw is obvious.
And this is my first lesson for you –
Every time you’re creating a new offer — Black Friday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day (?!) — ask yourself:
Am I punishing my best customers?
Do I prioritize my most loyal fans?
Who would be most upset seeing this offer?
If you can’t comfortably answer these questions, scratch the idea and restart.
Now that you know the first rule of creating a new offer, tomorrow, let’s dive into the step-by-step process of actually creating one.
To be continued…
– WYH