I have been frustrated after being a long time user of a service and recently deciding to leave. When finally clicking the ‘cancel’ button, I have been taken to a screen like this…

In this case, I’ve been a member of audible for 3 years, paying a monthly fee and accumulating credits to purchase audiobooks. The day I decide to cancel my membership (huge backlog of books) is the first time I’m offered a discount.

How frustrating. It actually makes me feel like an idiot that I didn’t push that cancel button every few months for years – saving myself 50% every so often.

The same thing happened when I recently switched my phone plan. I had been an O2 (big UK carrier) customer for 7 years and never offered a discount. When I called to cancel, all of the sudden I’m offered 30% off for the next 18 months? Wow.

Why are solid long-term users rarely rewarded, while users who try to jump ship are offered a deal?

Why are solid long-term users rarely rewarded, while users who try to jump ship are offered a deal? Click To Tweet

It feels like retention marketing has become such a science, while incentivizing loyalty is almost never considered. How often have you ever seen a subscription service decreasing the price every year as a ‘thanks’ for being a valued customer?

SaaS company challenge: on your pricing page explicitly state that customers who renew their subscription after the first year will be offered a 5% discount.

Over a few days, do your initial signups increase? Do any other quantifiable metrics improve? I would guess at minimum long customer loyalty and positive word of mouth improve – two hugely important factors, which not coincidentally are some of the hardest KPIs to track.