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by chrismckleroy 2465 days ago
In reference to making it hard to quit a service... "In reality, it is a great way to ensure a customer never comes back and likely does not recommend the company to others. This approach is trading short term greed for long term growth. A leader obsessed with customer experience would make sure canceling their service is painless as it will likely lead to revenue in other ways -- counterintuitive right?"

I want to believe. But seeing how painful it is to leave Facebook + iCloud, I find this hard to believe. It feels idealistic, but I wonder if the data says otherwise. People are lazy. It's unethical. But people are lazy.
5 comments
projektfu 2465 days ago
I will say that my experience with gyms and their cancellation processes is awful. "We recommend sending a certified letter to cancel your membership," for example. It only makes me not want to go back to the same one when my circumstances change. And I'm unlikely to give referrals because you basically kick me in the nuts on the way out, just to try to scam an extra month or two of unused gym time.
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si1entstill 2465 days ago
Yeah, I am curious about this as well. I can say that I _would_ be more likely to recommend a service that is easy to cancel, but I am curious if that is enough to offset the people who don't follow through. It probably depends on market and demographic, but it would be cool to see some data.
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cloudmanic 2465 days ago
Yeah, some companies have cornered the market. My ISP makes it really hard to cancel but on the other hand they are the best speeds in the market.

But on the other hand, the NY Times makes it super hard to close down your account. I tell all my friends to choose other newspapers because of it.

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kristianp 2465 days ago
You're probably right. Just look at Google. Occasionally there's a Google-free phone OS announced, but 99.99% of Android users aren't going anywhere.
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okmokmz 2465 days ago
Many of the "meal box" companies make the cancellation process very difficult, and it's one of the factors I use when deciding not to do business with a company. However, I agree that I am likely in a very small subset of users, and the vast majority are too lazy or not knowledgeable enough about these tactics to care
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