The Netflix email and attracting top talent
Yep I got that email yesterday. You know the one, the one from Netflix. In it I was told the service I now get for $9.99 a month will go up to more than $16 per month starting on Sept. 1st. Was I furious like others are? No. Am I going to write them a note to complain? No. I am simply going to take my business elsewhere. I knew it was underpriced…but hey I rode that wave. They allowed me to. They told me I could have lots of content for not a lot of money. And I partook. They didn’t lie exactly. They simply decided it was better to increase their customer base first, before actually charging what it costs for their service. You know the old bait ‘n switch.
And it worked, right? After all with the cheap price for both streaming & DVD they increased their customers from 6 million in 2007 to 23 million now. And after yesterday’s announcement the stock price went up .53 per share. So maybe they were right.
We’ll see.
I’m interested to see if the ire that the email has generated – 5000 comments on yesterday’s Netflix blog – will actually lead to a loss of customers. So many of us just don’t walk the talk and the internet makes it easy to talk without anyone even knowing who you are.
But I think the long-term damage may be more substantial. And not just for their customer base. But also their employer brand. I don’t know about you, but I feel:
1) Lied to – I think they knew all along they couldn’t sustain the price, but figured we’d get hooked and then where would we go as customers.
2) Brushed off – the email simply said we’re changing our pricing model. It didn’t say why. I happen to know their content costs are rising as it’s been in the news but wouldn’t explaining a little of the business reason why and giving me more than a couple of paragraphs made me feel a bit more valued? I think so.
3) Not sure I can trust them in the future. If I agree to this, what next?
4) Honestly I think the value of what I got for the streaming portion of Netflix was worth about what I was paying for it. Not a penny more. It’s not like they’ve got the hottest new releases. Much of what they have is on Hulu for free (for now)
Now how does this relate to work/life and HR? How do you think Netflix employees and potential employees are feeling about the company they work for right about now? They probably are feeling some of the same concerns as I am as a customer. And that’s the rub with employer branding. Everyone is a potential customer and everyone is a potential employee. What happens to one affects the other.
Similar Posts:
- Would You Like Some Dog Food With Your Diapers?
- How To Be Successful At Telecommuting
- How To Be Successful At Telecommuting
- Emirates to use Spotify and Facebook to recruit
- Knowing Your Rights in the Workforce
