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Customer retention is an area companies fail at hardest and most often. It makes me wonder what is being taught at business schools. There's nothing wrong with
by Someone1234 4y ago
Customer retention is an area companies fail at hardest and most often. It makes me wonder what is being taught at business schools.
There's nothing wrong with asking exiting customers if there were/are problems that could be addressed. But there absolutely is something wrong with badgering/harassing/tricking or wasting the time of customers leaving, as it will cause reputational damage and worse cause repeat custom to almost disappear.
It is just yet another example of how modern US business culture values the Short over Long Term. In the short you see a slightly lower Customer turnover, but in the long term you see a HUGE reduction in returning customers (who remember the exit process from last time).
To be clear: A short survey makes it feels like a company gives a crap about why you're leaving, but it needs to be via the same mechanism you used to sign up (e.g. online sign-up? Then online exit), and it shouldn't feel like a way to block the exit. This is particularly problematic if you're forced to call and the person on the other end is on commission. They're more often than not just there to wear you down and make you hate interacting with the company, by its very nature if you do leave you will be unlikely to return since that's the last thing you remember.
I've blacklisted multiple businesses for that practice and I often check the cancellation process during sign-up to avoid it.
- corobo 4y agoUrgh, Adobe wound me up so much with that block the exit bullshit I'll go out of my way to tell anyone that needs it how to get out of their cancellation fee haha. Must have cost them a few grand by now in cancel fees never mind bypassed retention. They probably don't care but the person who can now bypass the timewasting and cancel out for free does. Posting it on HN would probably get someone to fix it. It's not a hack or anything illegal, lurking Adobe lawyer, put your headed paper away.
- hirako2000 4y agoThey don't care, it won't matter, and sadly just works better than not employing the practice. It's particularly sad given for certain co such as Adobe it's kind of hard to not go with it. E.g their file format is part of existing bits in the pipeline. They know, and it's been their strategy for decades now.
- ncallaway 4y agoI unsubscribed from the NYT a while ago due to the cost. I was planning on resubscribing in the not-too-distance future. But despite letting me subscribe online, they didn't let me cancel online. So, when I resubscribed to a few other papers again, the NYT wasn't on that list. It'll be a decade before I think about giving them another cent. I thought I heard that they ended this practice now, but...well, I don't trust them anymore. Once trust is burned, it takes a long time to recover.
- more_corn 4y agoThis is why I don’t subscribe to the NYT. I can’t support that behavior.