thoughts, observations and other miscellany

Dear Mr. Hastings,

I received your lengthy email this morning. Frankly, I’m confused.  I’ve been a happy Netflix customer now for a few years.  Since you’re so technologically saavy, you should know that I’ve never utilized your streaming services.  I’m a classic DVD-only customer.  So, your news a few weeks back, that you were changing the subscription structure came as welcome news: I’d be getting the same service for a LOWER price! Hooray!

Now today, you share that soon I will soon not even be a Netflix customer.

I wasn’t bothered by announcement numero uno, but this one rubs me the wrong way. 

First of all — what the heck is a Qwikster?  Bad name.  How about Quickflix? Mailflix? Or something along those lines…maintain the “flix” suffix and brand.

Second — KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.  You should have created targeted communications for every audience you reach.  And, you should have done this the first time around.  One message for people who stream-only; another for DVD-only folks; and something entirely different for those doing both — since they, really, were the only customers affected adversely by price changes.

Third — If you were planning to separate the companies, why not just streamline the whole process at once, when all of the details were in place, and things were ready to go?

Your communication strategy makes you look disorganized, unprofessional, and illustrates that you do not understand your customer base. 

Sincerely,

Sarah Bauer
a soon-to-be Qwikster customer, I think