A bad ending.
A business account I use auto renewals 30 days before the service period starts. They have now locked me in until 2025 without telling me. As a consumer I feel super trapped. Let’s look at this as an ending.
Firstly, I don’t blame the business. Established business thinking says ‘making it easy to leave means more people will leave’. Which sounds really moronic. BTW, there are two reasons people leave your business
Your product does not match their needs.
External personal factors.
A business has control of one of these. The other is none of the businesses, business.
The business I am enduring currently is using a Payment Before Service transaction type. If done poorly this type of transaction often leads to bad customer experience. Take the money and run type of business – think late trains and having to ask for your money back through loads of forms.
This business has gone one further and asked for payment a month before the service starts. That takes some balls. Especially in a purely digital service with no commitment to purchasing materials. They are just turning data centre accounts on.
The Ending Type this business is using is a Time Out ending. One year contract. (If you have done the Endineering course, you know experiences can end in a few types, but usually one type in dominant). Time Out endings are fine for most situations when there is transparency. (Think of holidays. If a travel business was not clear about dates it would be chaos) If you don’t contact the customer before the time period has lapsed, then that really moves it to a twisted type of Lingering ending. Where the end has happened in the background without a discussion.
How to improve it?
Firstly, make the ending far more transparent. Clearly show a reference on the site to the end date of the current contract (Time Out endings need to be clear to all parties).
Periodically remind the consumer about the renewal.
As the end gets closer, do this reminding with increased tempo.
Invite conversation as the end comes closer. Help the customer navigate options at the end.
At the same time invite flexibility about contracts. Some people want to leave. Some people won’t.
The current experience gives the impression of the business being paranoid and desperate. I don’t think it is, but trapping people in for a year, a month before that year starts is not a good look.
Make the end a place for celebration not worry. In this type of business there is a great deal of elements to package up and archive before anyone leaves. This could be a great goodbye legacy. Leaving the client with a warm nostalgia ( + embedded brand equity). The customer should not be experiencing the relief of getting out of some traumatic event.
Probably the biggest impact to any business of a bad ending is the impact on the service team. Call centres often take the brunt of bad endings. It takes a lot of admin time and therefore money. Especially if the business is paranoid about people leaving. A smooth ending helps tasks get solved. You wouldn’t make it hard anywhere else in your product flow, why do it at the end.
Lastly, I think the business I am talking about is better than this. Elsewhere, they have been great at running the service. But the ending they are currently doing is bad for business and the brand.
