Take Netflix for instance.
They had a good thing going for awhile there. They had a great package-online streaming and DVD service for a low price. But instead of embracing what was already working, they got greedy and decided to hike their prices by 60% AND split this divine service into two.
How does that make sense? In what way does the CEO explain this move?
 |
| The future. Its happening. |
That's right-their explanation: we're thinking about the future.
Apparently the future means no more DVDs and only online streaming, which is all fine and dandy, except that the future hasn't happened yet. That's because, um, well, its the future, and unless I'm mistaken, DVDs are still very much in use.
It's no surprise to me that consumers were infuriated, to say the least. Its also quite funny to me that Netflix promptly lost 1 million customers.
You'd think they would learn, right?
 |
| I think not. |
I heard an interesting (and true) story about how the CEO thought up this name. They played a game called "pin your finger on the alphabet eight times while you are blindfolded."
What's really interesting is that Netflix did yet another 180-degree turn by abandoning this ingenious idea of separating their services onto two different web sites.
Netflix is sticking by their future-loving ideas, however, and hiked prices.
But do you know what all this tells me?
More often than not, it seems that a corporation's success and a consumer's satisfaction are mutually exclusive. Netflix, just like any other big corporation, doesn't give a crap about consumer. Yes, I understand that this a capitalist society and big companies are out to make a profit. But that doesn't mean you dump on your customers, and right now, Netflix users are nothing but peeons.
What makes this story worse, is that Netflix obviously knows they messed up, and they are only fixing one bad thing. Note how the one thing they fixed doesn't affect the price in any way.
Yet people are still subscribing. What else can they do? No matter how much Netflix flip-flops, there is no other service like it, so they're forced to stick with it.
I'm interested to see what they will do next to prepare for the future. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be splendidly original and refreshingly aggravating.
What's really interesting is that Netflix did yet another 180-degree turn by abandoning this ingenious idea of separating their services onto two different web sites.
Netflix is sticking by their future-loving ideas, however, and hiked prices.
But do you know what all this tells me?
More often than not, it seems that a corporation's success and a consumer's satisfaction are mutually exclusive. Netflix, just like any other big corporation, doesn't give a crap about consumer. Yes, I understand that this a capitalist society and big companies are out to make a profit. But that doesn't mean you dump on your customers, and right now, Netflix users are nothing but peeons.
What makes this story worse, is that Netflix obviously knows they messed up, and they are only fixing one bad thing. Note how the one thing they fixed doesn't affect the price in any way.
Yet people are still subscribing. What else can they do? No matter how much Netflix flip-flops, there is no other service like it, so they're forced to stick with it.
I'm interested to see what they will do next to prepare for the future. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be splendidly original and refreshingly aggravating.
No comments:
Post a Comment