Use It Or Lose It

Posted by m4bmarketing under Marketing
From http://www.m4bmarketing.com 5096 days ago
Made Hot by: maplesummit on May 6, 2010 3:52 pm

That was the basis of a marketing email received a couple of days ago from a software company. I was testing out the free version of the software and as I had not logged in for 60 days they wanted to free up space on their server. If I did not login in the next 3 days the account would be deleted and all the information I had put in. 3 marketing lessons from this are:

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Comments

Written by q4sales
5095 days ago

This is spot on, Susan. Really well done and great reminder to me. Process. Process. Important for new work that I'm starting. Thanks!

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Written by m4bmarketing
5095 days ago

Thanks TJ and it was Diane's article that got me thinking. Good luck with the new work.

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Written by jeffyablon
5095 days ago

Good points, but let's go further:

There's no real overhead to "keeping your account on the server". So the real point of threatening to nuke accounts is getting non-engaged customers to re-engage.

That's a great goal and a reasonable marketing thought, but there's dis-ingenuousness in the way the message is being delivered. They're LYING to you about their needs/motives.

Just some food for thought in an era when we're all so overrun by marketing messages that the slightest slip can be harmful. A better message would be "we delete inactive accounts because we want to make sure you're still there" (tweak away, marketers).

Jeff Yablon

President & CEO

Answer Guy and Virtual VIP Computer Support, Business Change Coaching and Virtual Assistant Services

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Written by m4bmarketing
5095 days ago

Thanks for your comment Jeff and if you think about it all they hd to do was be upfront when you sign up. Then they could folow up with emails nudging people to upgrade as have a lot of free accounts really does not make sense from a business sense.

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Written by yoni67
5096 days ago

Susan, GREAT post and EXCELLENT principles. You are so right. I too had an experience recently with a company from whom I bought a program that was supposed to make my computer run faster. I had major problems installing it and major problems maintaining it. I wrote nearly 20 emails to the company requesting assistance. They never answered...no follow up. And, as you said...no customer value. Then of course as the subscription began to wear down I got the daily emails...your subscription will run out in...3...2...1...days. You know what? Once I got the program running with the assistance of my wife it was great, but who wants to do business with a company that contacts you only when they want your money!??

Thanks for a great thought-provoking article,

Yoni

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Written by m4bmarketing
5096 days ago

Thanks so much for your comment Yoni. The funny part of this story was that the software was a CRM and I really like the program but not the attitude. Maybe it is a case of slowing down and ensuring the processes are in place to keep the connection hapening with customers.

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