PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

Several years ago I used Quicken as my bookkeeping program, but due to various factors I have moved to another program.

Quicken diligently sends out newsletters, but as i no longer use the program I have no desire to receive them any more. So I clicked on the unsubscribe link at the bottom which takes me to their Quicken - Your Communication Preferences… page.

All is well and good when I am asked for my Customer ID, because that is at least buried at the bottom of the email.

But the user-friendliness of the whole exercise falls apart when I am asked for my PIN.

PIN?!! - It has been two years since I used Quicken - I have changed computers since then and have no idea what may PIN is, much less care. I guess the bottom line is; why is Quicken making it so hard for me to stop getting their newsletter? They will be asking for my cousins birthdate next….

The point of this rant is that in any relationship with our customers we should not be making life hard for them to do any sort of business with us. Want to unsubscribe? - make it easy. Why antagonise someone who does not want to continue the relationship?

By making it easy, you are likely to be able to politely ask why they are leaving (via a web form in this instance) which they may or may not fill out. But at least they will go away with at worst a neutral perspective about your business.

Of course there are many examples of businesses making it hard to continue doing business with them. Like my plumber - waiting 6 weeks now….