“Whenever possible, learn from the mistakes of others.”
Everyone makes mistakes. Not everyone learns from them. Taking time to review past actions can benefit you and your marketing greatly in the future. Learning from others mistakes is a great way to leverage the lessons of others in your own business.
Recently there have been some changes with the popular mail order DVD rental and streaming service Netflix, and with change there has been backlash.
Lessons from Netflix
In July Netflix raised their prices and lost a load of customers as a result.
This weekend, framed in an apology, Netflix announced they are spinning off the DVD mailing service into another company, Qwikster, while focusing the Netflix brand on enhancing and expanding the video streaming part of the business.
Lesson 1: Falling on the Sword
Mistakes happen, we all make them, admitting mistakes is the first step to learning and recovering from them. Reed Hastings, CEO and Founder of Netflix does a good job of this, admitting and apologizing.
I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation. It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes.
He then goes on to share lessons he’s learned from other companies who have had to adapt their business model to keep up with changing technology, competition, and customer demands. Excellent.
Lesson 2: Inviting Customers Along for the Journey
What Reed apologizes for is “arrogance” as a company, saying he fell into the trap of believing past success would insure future success. This type of transparency is needed in the corporate world, is welcome, and helps connect people with the people behind the company. I think it might go further if he identified what went wrong, as oppose to how “what” went wrong. In reading the comment thread, it seems people are ticked feeling this was “thrust upon them.”
This is a great lesson for us as budding why marketers. Invite customers to participate in developing your future. Which ties into the next lesson.
Lesson 3: Make Existing Customers Feel Special Through Change
As a business evolves, change is inevitable, and with change comes customer feedback. Businesses that change will lose customers. This transition can be eased by rewarding existing customers who continue with your product or service, and business evolution.
- Invite them to be a part of the process via email invitations telling your story, and inviting their participation though a customer survey. Not sure how to host a survey? Consider using services like SurveyMonkey, SurveyGizmo, or Polldaddy.
- Phone surveys of a sampling of customers. Getting on the phone with customers is a great way to build rapport, and offer surprising feedback.
- Upgrade rewards, locked in pricing or other discounts during the product launch period for those who have already committed to your product or service.
This process would have softened the backlash Netflix received, and would have made for a more compelling story to tell customers when introducing new services, such as the introduction of Qwikster. Results are in the hands of customers, but one could also argue this would have been a more profitable course of action making stockholders happy too.
Netflix will be fine, they aren’t going anywhere. However, a small online business might not have that luxury. Watching the Netflix announcements and backlash has served to remind me that admitting mistakes, inviting customer feedback, and making them feel special along the way goes a long way for any business, regardless of size.
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Hi, my name is Travis Campbell, I operate this site. One way I can extend what I've learned marketing online over the years is by writing about it here... and helping you along the way.
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