Rewarding users for jumping ship?

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.

About Andy Shannon

Hi, I'm Andy and this is my blog, hope you enjoy. Feel free to get in touch anytime via Twitter or Linkedin