Are you really customer centric, or is it just lip service? Perhaps you've been tempted into the Seven Deadly Sins of Marketing. Today, here's a big one (and it's very, very common)...
GREED: Squeezing customers out of every cent
GREED: Squeezing customers out of every cent
Customers are just lining up to give you money. They love your product or service. They rave about you online. You're the very best, and your customers just can't get enough of you.
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| I HAS ALL THE MONEYS! |
So, maybe you raise your prices a little bit. And that works. So let's look for more ways to nudge that margin up a little higher...
Maybe you issue "basic" versions of your product or service, but to get the newest, coolest best, most fun stuff, you have to purchase additional items, or content, or products.
Maybe you make it difficult to redeem offers, or change the value of points in your loyalty program to make it harder for customers to redeem rewards. Think airline rewards programs where they blackout the most popular travel dates, make sure that the number of points needed to redeem for popular routs is so huge, only the very best customers can "afford them. Or again, let's pick on the airlines and think about how much they charge for wifi service.
Think about hotels where you are charged for every single thing, including a bottle of water that costs less than a dollar retail.
Think about coupons that are only good on a very small select product line - one that isn't very popular - or they're only redeemable by jumping through a lot of hoops.
Think about paying for video games that, in order to get the very best equipment, you must buy it (and these are not free games to begin with, mind you)...
Think about airlines charging a couple of dollars for a snack that would cost less than fifty cents retail.
Think about hotels where you are charged for every single thing, including a bottle of water that costs less than a dollar retail.
Think about coupons that are only good on a very small select product line - one that isn't very popular - or they're only redeemable by jumping through a lot of hoops.
Think about paying for video games that, in order to get the very best equipment, you must buy it (and these are not free games to begin with, mind you)...
Think about airlines charging a couple of dollars for a snack that would cost less than fifty cents retail.
You don't think that customers will ever get tired of being squeezed for all they have, do you? Everybody loves to be met with a hand out for their cash every time they interact with a company - right? Especially if you're a top brand!
Come on, there's no way they'll go to a competitor that doesn't charge them for every enhancement to the basic product. They wouldn't possibly be interested in a loyalty program that actually rewards them for being loyal customers, would they? They wouldn't be drawn to change to a new company by coupons that are easily redeemed for stuff they really want?
Surely not.
Come on, there's no way they'll go to a competitor that doesn't charge them for every enhancement to the basic product. They wouldn't possibly be interested in a loyalty program that actually rewards them for being loyal customers, would they? They wouldn't be drawn to change to a new company by coupons that are easily redeemed for stuff they really want?
Surely not.
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