9 ms·

I always find it a bit insulting when a company tries to offer me a discount to stay; like I wasn't good enough to qualify for a discount when I was a loyal cus

I always find it a bit insulting when a company tries to offer me a discount to stay; like I wasn't good enough to qualify for a discount when I was a loyal customer. This seems a lot like the situation where an employee threatens to leave and the company offers more money to keep them for which I almost always give the advice: "just say no". I guess if price is really the only thing making someone leave, then lowering the price might make a difference but price and value are intrinsically linked: if they thought the price was too high, then they considered the value to be too low and it's probably just a matter of time before they decide to leave anyway.

the_bear 14y ago
It also creates a mess if your other customers find out about it. In general, offering different prices to different customers is playing with fire unless you have a way to justify it when your non-discounted customers call. Not to mention, shouldn't every Fancy Hands customer that reads this go in and pretend to cancel to get the discount?
- patio11 14y ago
  offering different prices to different customers is playing with fire This is a falsehood believed by engineers for nebulous reasons largely founded in naivety about business. Businesses routinely offer the same service at multiple price points. Virtually every input in your business is offered at multiple price points, from paper to telephone service to your Internet connection to your VPSes to... you get the general drift. Variable pricing is an observable and unremarkable fact of life. It causes virtually no drama. Not to mention, shouldn't every Fancy Hands customer that reads this go in and pretend to cancel to get the discount? Want to get a free shake from McDonalds? Buy a shake. Consume it. Take a napkin from the napkins, put it in the shake cup, bring it up to the counter, and say "I am dissatisfied with my shake, because it has napkins in it. I want a new shake." You will get a new shake. Why does every customer at McDonalds ever not scam McDonalds for free everything? Partially because they have principles, partially because they fear social opprobrium, partially because they are unaware of the opportunity, partially because they just can't even conceive of why any sane person would scam McDonalds for free shakes, but it is an observable fact that McDonalds collects revenue for nearly all shakes despite there being (numerous) pathways to stealing them.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    You laugh, but my friend Tom more than once got free ice cream by ordering cookie dough ice cream, eating most of it, and then complaining to the staff "this cookie dough is raw!".
  - mootothemax 14y ago
    Want to get a free shake from McDonalds? As I discovered last week, even if you throw your half-full drink on the floor thanks to shaky-handed incompetence, walking up to the counter apologising profusely and asking for a mop will achieve the same result. Along someone else for you to apologise to when they arrive to mop up your mess.
rmc 14y ago
I always find it a bit insulting when a company tries to offer me a discount to stay; like I wasn't good enough to qualify for a discount when I was a loyal customer. Lots of people think that lots of business will treat them better if they are "loyal" and stay with a company for a long time. If you're a bog standard residental customer and it's a large company with thousands or millions of customers, this doesn't hold. Usually those customers get some of the worst deals. Forget loyalty. This isn't a marriage or an army, this is business and economics.
mcguire 14y ago
"Now, when a user wants to cancel, we give them two buttons front and center.... If it’s because of price, we’ll give them an instant, lifetime discount..." Ah, the credit card company gambit. Then you can charge more for default accounts, to allow the subset that fail to see the game being played to pay for the those that do know the trick.

the_bear 14y ago

It also creates a mess if your other customers find out about it. In general, offering different prices to different customers is playing with fire unless you have a way to justify it when your non-discounted customers call. Not to mention, shouldn't every Fancy Hands customer that reads this go in and pretend to cancel to get the discount?

patio11 14y ago
offering different prices to different customers is playing with fire This is a falsehood believed by engineers for nebulous reasons largely founded in naivety about business. Businesses routinely offer the same service at multiple price points. Virtually every input in your business is offered at multiple price points, from paper to telephone service to your Internet connection to your VPSes to... you get the general drift. Variable pricing is an observable and unremarkable fact of life. It causes virtually no drama. Not to mention, shouldn't every Fancy Hands customer that reads this go in and pretend to cancel to get the discount? Want to get a free shake from McDonalds? Buy a shake. Consume it. Take a napkin from the napkins, put it in the shake cup, bring it up to the counter, and say "I am dissatisfied with my shake, because it has napkins in it. I want a new shake." You will get a new shake. Why does every customer at McDonalds ever not scam McDonalds for free everything? Partially because they have principles, partially because they fear social opprobrium, partially because they are unaware of the opportunity, partially because they just can't even conceive of why any sane person would scam McDonalds for free shakes, but it is an observable fact that McDonalds collects revenue for nearly all shakes despite there being (numerous) pathways to stealing them.
- tptacek 14y ago
  You laugh, but my friend Tom more than once got free ice cream by ordering cookie dough ice cream, eating most of it, and then complaining to the staff "this cookie dough is raw!".
- mootothemax 14y ago
  Want to get a free shake from McDonalds? As I discovered last week, even if you throw your half-full drink on the floor thanks to shaky-handed incompetence, walking up to the counter apologising profusely and asking for a mop will achieve the same result. Along someone else for you to apologise to when they arrive to mop up your mess.

rmc 14y ago

I always find it a bit insulting when a company tries to offer me a discount to stay; like I wasn't good enough to qualify for a discount when I was a loyal customer. Lots of people think that lots of business will treat them better if they are "loyal" and stay with a company for a long time. If you're a bog standard residental customer and it's a large company with thousands or millions of customers, this doesn't hold. Usually those customers get some of the worst deals. Forget loyalty. This isn't a marriage or an army, this is business and economics.

mcguire 14y ago

"Now, when a user wants to cancel, we give them two buttons front and center.... If it’s because of price, we’ll give them an instant, lifetime discount..." Ah, the credit card company gambit. Then you can charge more for default accounts, to allow the subset that fail to see the game being played to pay for the those that do know the trick.