5 ms·

Check Out What Happened When I Unsubscribed From Groupon’s Email

143 points by AndrewWarner 17y ago

patio11 17y ago
Speaking of which, I had a very pleasant account cancelation experience recently. I used to subscribe to SEOMoz but didn't get much use out of it in the last year and decided to cancel. They sent me to a very nice rescue page which combined a good last-effort attempt to save the relationship with an honest, upfront, easy click here to cancel workflow. Major points from me on both counts. The last stage of the cancel workflow was "You account is canceled but will run until $ANNIVERSARY?_DATE. We'll give you a last week totally free if you take our exit survey." (They also had some language to make clear they were not pulling an AOL on you and that you'd be canceled after the week ws up.) That was so brilliant that if I had a service which could be canceled I would have implemented the minimum version of it in the spot.
- qeorge 17y ago
  I'd like to second this, my account cancellation with SEOMoz was handled wonderfully as well. In my case, I simply sent them an email, and got a very nice response back within minutes letting me know everything was taken care of and I wouldn't be billed again. Its really important to me how a company handles parting ways. Because their cancellation experience was so easy I am more likely to reopen my account again in the future. Note: SEOMoz's Pro service is a great deal if you need the tools it provides. I canceled simply because our workload shifted, but would re-up in the future.
mildweed 17y ago
Direct example link: http://www.groupon.com/minneapolis-stpaul/unsubscribed?mid=96988&addx=reddit@me.com http://www.groupon.com/minneapolis-stpaul/unsubscribed?mid=9... EDIT: Something's funky there. It worked earlier this AM when clicking from here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/b1fyl/this_is_what_happens_when_you_unsubscribe_from/ http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/b1fyl/this_is_wh...
- AndrewWarner 17y ago
  I'm getting a 404 on that.
  - Frazzydee 17y ago
    The entire site is down right now: http://www.groupon.com http://www.groupon.com Sucks when something goes viral and I can't visit the site to find out more about them.
    - 83457 17y ago
      Must be a odd discussion to have in the office... "servers went down due to an over-welling demand for our unsubscribe page -- subscriptions are up 3000%"
biggitybones 17y ago
There's nothing I love more than having fun with something most companies try to convolute and make impossible. Great, honest mechanisms that in some cases reverse the negative process.
- Hexstream 17y ago
  I'm looking forward to seeing that being copied excessively all over the place so much that it becomes cliché and boring...
  - NEPatriot 17y ago
    Maybe this happens for most but for those companies who can take this concept, iterate on it and make it work it's a good move.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
NEPatriot 17y ago
brilliant marketing one to copy cat in some form for sure
richcollins 17y ago
ShopItToMe is really smart about retaining users that want to unsubscribe: http://emailmarketingvoodoo.com/blog/tags/tag/unsubscribe http://emailmarketingvoodoo.com/blog/tags/tag/unsubscribe
- josefresco 17y ago
  The take a break/less often features are killer. I wonder if Constant Contact would jump for something like that (or already has).
btipling 17y ago
There is no drink in that drink. :(
lolcraft 17y ago
It's really that the message they want to send? "If you unsubscribe, it's like you kicked that guy in the nuts! Hope you're happy now (jerk)!" Even being satire, that has some creepy connotations of emotional blackmail. Well, at least it's optional.
payjo 17y ago
I think this is just brilliant. Better than getting something for free. This actually makes me want to resubscribe.
fnid2 17y ago
I like mixergy, but the advertising is a real turn off.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- PStamatiou 17y ago
  I don't understand this big hold up about advertising. He's making a living. As long as he provides excellent content, what do you care? I have advertising on my blog as well and it pays a lot of my bills right now and helps me work on my startup more, but none of my readers have mentioned that the ads annoy them because I always have good content. For example I live-blogged Startup Riot 2010 on wednesday http://paulstamatiou.com/live-blogging-startup-riot-2010 http://paulstamatiou.com/live-blogging-startup-riot-2010
  - jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
    Agreed. The ads are really relevant too: Wufoo, grasshopper, and shopify are all very useful resources for entrepreneurs. I actually want more ads, because I trust the services + recs that Andrew puts up.
    - NEPatriot 17y ago
      As long as I'm not being sold on "how to get ripped in 1 week" or have ads shoved down my throat I think it's fine. The interview starts off with 10-20 seconds of ads and there it is. Did you guys notice Andrew monetized the site now? With a "how much would you pay model" where the users can choose what to pay per month. (pay to access older interviews)
      - fnid2 17y ago
        See that I appreciate. Much better than hear the same message about the same company every time. We all know about shopify. It's all the buzz. I don't need a shopify, i have paypal. I don't need woofoo. I have skype already. Let the companies create a video and submit it to play and pay $20 for the spot. Spice it up. Make the advertising entertaining. Does he even really need the advertising? Why not use the time to talk about a startup in his community?
jmonegro 17y ago
This made my day.
SandB0x 17y ago
Can't view the video on phone - can anyone summarize?
- gridspy 17y ago
  "Derrek" wanted you to read the newsletter. Because you didn't want to, you now have the chance to "Punish" him. Clicking on the "punish" button leads to a video of Derrek receiving a hot coffee to the face and sinking off the chair. After your punishment, they asked you if you wanted to make up for being mean by resubscribing. Inventive, if cruel.
  - SandB0x 17y ago
    Thanks
  - Harvardlaw2012 17y ago
    The question is - was it really hot coffee or just a tepid liquid.

143 points by AndrewWarner 17y ago

Speaking of which, I had a very pleasant account cancelation experience recently. I used to subscribe to SEOMoz but didn't get much use out of it in the last year and decided to cancel. They sent me to a very nice rescue page which combined a good last-effort attempt to save the relationship with an honest, upfront, easy click here to cancel workflow. Major points from me on both counts. The last stage of the cancel workflow was "You account is canceled but will run until $ANNIVERSARY?_DATE. We'll give you a last week totally free if you take our exit survey." (They also had some language to make clear they were not pulling an AOL on you and that you'd be canceled after the week ws up.) That was so brilliant that if I had a service which could be canceled I would have implemented the minimum version of it in the spot.

qeorge 17y ago
I'd like to second this, my account cancellation with SEOMoz was handled wonderfully as well. In my case, I simply sent them an email, and got a very nice response back within minutes letting me know everything was taken care of and I wouldn't be billed again. Its really important to me how a company handles parting ways. Because their cancellation experience was so easy I am more likely to reopen my account again in the future. Note: SEOMoz's Pro service is a great deal if you need the tools it provides. I canceled simply because our workload shifted, but would re-up in the future.

mildweed 17y ago

Direct example link: http://www.groupon.com/minneapolis-stpaul/unsubscribed?mid=96988&addx=reddit@me.com http://www.groupon.com/minneapolis-stpaul/unsubscribed?mid=9... EDIT: Something's funky there. It worked earlier this AM when clicking from here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/b1fyl/this_is_what_happens_when_you_unsubscribe_from/ http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/b1fyl/this_is_wh...

AndrewWarner 17y ago
I'm getting a 404 on that.
- Frazzydee 17y ago
  The entire site is down right now: http://www.groupon.com http://www.groupon.com Sucks when something goes viral and I can't visit the site to find out more about them.
  - 83457 17y ago
    Must be a odd discussion to have in the office... "servers went down due to an over-welling demand for our unsubscribe page -- subscriptions are up 3000%"

biggitybones 17y ago

There's nothing I love more than having fun with something most companies try to convolute and make impossible. Great, honest mechanisms that in some cases reverse the negative process.

Hexstream 17y ago
I'm looking forward to seeing that being copied excessively all over the place so much that it becomes cliché and boring...
- NEPatriot 17y ago
  Maybe this happens for most but for those companies who can take this concept, iterate on it and make it work it's a good move.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

NEPatriot 17y ago

brilliant marketing one to copy cat in some form for sure

richcollins 17y ago

ShopItToMe is really smart about retaining users that want to unsubscribe: http://emailmarketingvoodoo.com/blog/tags/tag/unsubscribe http://emailmarketingvoodoo.com/blog/tags/tag/unsubscribe

josefresco 17y ago
The take a break/less often features are killer. I wonder if Constant Contact would jump for something like that (or already has).

btipling 17y ago

There is no drink in that drink. :(

lolcraft 17y ago

It's really that the message they want to send? "If you unsubscribe, it's like you kicked that guy in the nuts! Hope you're happy now (jerk)!" Even being satire, that has some creepy connotations of emotional blackmail. Well, at least it's optional.

payjo 17y ago

I think this is just brilliant. Better than getting something for free. This actually makes me want to resubscribe.

fnid2 17y ago

I like mixergy, but the advertising is a real turn off.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
PStamatiou 17y ago
I don't understand this big hold up about advertising. He's making a living. As long as he provides excellent content, what do you care? I have advertising on my blog as well and it pays a lot of my bills right now and helps me work on my startup more, but none of my readers have mentioned that the ads annoy them because I always have good content. For example I live-blogged Startup Riot 2010 on wednesday http://paulstamatiou.com/live-blogging-startup-riot-2010 http://paulstamatiou.com/live-blogging-startup-riot-2010
- jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
  Agreed. The ads are really relevant too: Wufoo, grasshopper, and shopify are all very useful resources for entrepreneurs. I actually want more ads, because I trust the services + recs that Andrew puts up.
  - NEPatriot 17y ago
    As long as I'm not being sold on "how to get ripped in 1 week" or have ads shoved down my throat I think it's fine. The interview starts off with 10-20 seconds of ads and there it is. Did you guys notice Andrew monetized the site now? With a "how much would you pay model" where the users can choose what to pay per month. (pay to access older interviews)
    - fnid2 17y ago
      See that I appreciate. Much better than hear the same message about the same company every time. We all know about shopify. It's all the buzz. I don't need a shopify, i have paypal. I don't need woofoo. I have skype already. Let the companies create a video and submit it to play and pay $20 for the spot. Spice it up. Make the advertising entertaining. Does he even really need the advertising? Why not use the time to talk about a startup in his community?

jmonegro 17y ago

This made my day.

SandB0x 17y ago

Can't view the video on phone - can anyone summarize?

gridspy 17y ago
"Derrek" wanted you to read the newsletter. Because you didn't want to, you now have the chance to "Punish" him. Clicking on the "punish" button leads to a video of Derrek receiving a hot coffee to the face and sinking off the chair. After your punishment, they asked you if you wanted to make up for being mean by resubscribing. Inventive, if cruel.
- SandB0x 17y ago
  Thanks
- Harvardlaw2012 17y ago
  The question is - was it really hot coffee or just a tepid liquid.