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Why Do Companies Take Their Customers For Granted?
By JLP | February 1, 2007
Everytime I turn around, I see advertisments for the Wall Street Journal. It’s usually a pretty good deal but it is only available to NEW subscribers. I understand incentives to get new customers. I mean you have to grow the company. However, what bugs me is how they have raised their prices nearly every year over the last ten years that I have been a subscriber. This past year, when I received my renewal notice for $249, was the straw that broke JLP’s back. Their new price was $34 more than last year, a 15.8% increase. I’m sorry, but this is just too much. I put off renewing thinking that they would offer me a better deal. No deal ever came so I have decided to let my subscription lapse.
All this brings me to this question:
Why do companies work so hard to get new customers but take their current customers for granted? I mean where’s the loyalty?
Topics: Business News, Rant | 18 Comments »
February 1st, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Is that rate for a year? The rate theyy just quoted me was much less for a year’s renewal.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:44 pm
I guess they think I’m made of money or something. When did you renew?
And yes, that’s their rate for a year.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Everything is fair in capitalism
Profit comes before customer.
They take people for granted right from the beginning, right from the point where they offer the incentive…it’s a suprise Wall Street Journal doesn’t renew your subscription automatically (that’s enough loyalty for capitalism).
Btw, someone throws a respectable newspaper in front of my door every Sunday…and I didn’t even sign for it. Taken for granted yet again. I am sure I will recieve a subscription (or charges due)notice for it in near future.
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:47 am
Negotiate! Call them up and threaten to cancel your subscription unless they match the rate for new subscribers. Even if you don’t get that low rate, I’ll bet they give you some kind of deal.
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:07 am
I agree with Trixie Belden. This sort of thing happens a lot and often (not always) we have managed to get the same deal offered for new customers just by asking.
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:16 am
The problem is they’re using the existing customers to subsidize the new customers. Most newspapers lose money on new customers nowadays, so they hope they can quietly raise their prices and not have you notice. With business-oriented newspapers like the WSJ, which are often “lobby papers” for businesses, this strategy actually works well.
I actually don’t hate this as much as the evil strategy used by a magazine marketing company in which they’d send you something that looked suspiciously like a bill. If you paid it, you got the magazine. I actually thought it _was_ a bill once when it was for my “Economist” magazine and sent them money! Fortunately, I was able to get The Economist to just give me a credit for another year and not give me _two_ subscriptions.
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:21 am
One aside: newspapers are getting killed in their ad revenue, so unlike the past when the subscription fee was icing on the cake and they could profitably give the newspaper away, they now depend on it and most newspapers still lose money.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:00 am
IMHO, the WSJ just has way too much information for me to find it useful. I get much more information I’m interested in and quicker reading blogs and such.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:21 am
There is lots of data that shows it costs 10x more to get a new customer than to retain an old one. Unfortunately, companies routinely ignore this and alienate their old customers. Poor business strategy in my opinion.
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
JLP,
Let your subscription lapse for a few months and then join as a new member at the promotional rate. Or find the info elsewhere on the Internet, and say adios to WSJ. Our office subscription to WSJ lapsed, and I don’t miss it that much.
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:59 pm
This totally makes me wonder how much customers really benefit from ongoing wars for customers from dominant companies. The first reaction seems like it should be “rate war! score!” But I wonder how much better costs and service could be if more energy (and money) were put into satisfying loyal customers than attracting new ones.
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Hi JLP,
Why not redeem some of your frequent flyer miles for a WSJ subscription? Last time I had to burn up some of my miles (or risk them expiring), they had a pretty good deal for the WSJ. I went with The Economist, but to each his or her own.
-Joshua
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:41 am
Hi JLP,
After being a customer of the WSJ for more than 5 years, they never gave me a better deal on my subscription…hence I cancel in 2005.
The supervisor did not seem to care that I was canceling and they have never tried to get me to join again…I guess I was not worth it, but then, I notice mailing to the neighbors offering subcription rates at substantial savings (as recent as last month)…go figure!
February 3rd, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Actually I was discussing this same topic with my wife around a specific renewal, Sports Illustrated. I love to get it and have been receiving it for a few years. The started an auto-renewal a few years ago, but this year I plan on canceling and after a short hiatus, renewing with one of their promotions. I figure I can miss a few issues and get a much better price, plus the give-aways.
February 4th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
I have to decide whether or not to re-subscribe to WSJ on a student subscription. It’s a great newspaper …the articles are superbly in-depth, and some of the “Personal Journal” essays and features are good. Of course, the editorial page reminds me of the dinosaur views that the establishment holds, but even WSJ is starting to realize that the Corporate Honchos have had a field day at the expense of shareholders, and is arguing against these megalomaniacal Gods and Goddesses in favor of muted salaries and bonuses.
BUT…I don’t have time to read two papers (NY Times), blogs, The Nation, The New Yorker, Harper’s….
So…today’s my decision day.
By the way, the student rate is $54 for twenty-six weeks.
February 4th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I buy all my subscriptions through ebay. I get my magazine and newspapers through ebay at a substantial savings. Right now, there’s a 6 month sub for WSJ that’s at $26 and another that’s at 31. It may bid up a little more – but it’ll still go for under $100.
True – they’re not always available when you’re looking to subscribe for the first time, but if you wait, you’re going to find one that’s much cheaper.
February 6th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Just to add to WearyTraveler’s very helpful remarks, most magazine resellers on ebay will renew your existing subscription at their auction price. That way your current service will continue uninterrupted (and unduplicated) and you still don’t have to pay the ridiculous prices for existing customers.
February 6th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
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