What do you think of 'new customer intro deals'?

[warp9]

Hi. We operate in quite a competitive market and are about to launch a new product. I've got an idea for quite a cheeky new customer intro offer to try and shake the market up a bit and generate new business. While we will take a hit on margin (we'll still make money) in the first year, we'll get it back in future years as we work on an annual renewal based business model.

My issue is that some of our existing customers will see this offer and will be pissed off that they haven't got the deal.

So what are your thoughts on this type of promotion and what would you do?
a. Come up with some other promotion which won't annoy existing customers as brand loyalty is key and this could damage it.
b. Screw our existing customers, this is about getting as much business in as possible.
c. Let our existing customers also have access to this deal.

Cheers

[jonamv8]

For me it depends. First instinct is to allow existing customers access but it depends on what you do. Also if your customers are really happy then they should be happy to keep on at their current rates. Maybe on an ad-hoc basis just dont publicise it to existing

[xjay1337]

I'm all for new customer introductory deals but it hugely irritates me when loyal, year after year of loyal custom, you cannot get a better deal than a new customer....

[rog007]

Do the right thing; offer it to existing customers too. That way you not only keep existing customers but you'll hopefully improve market share with new ones too.

[KarlMac]

Depends on size of market. Mobile phone companies did what you propose for years and relied.on user churn. I think this was during the boom of telecoms started and companies always reported 'new subscribers' as part of the periodic reports.

They soon found out its cheaper to keep a customer than win a new one.

[surveyor]

how much does it cost you to keep a customer vs getting a new one?

[technodup]

xjay1337 said:

I'm all for new customer introductory deals but it hugely irritates me when loyal, year after year of loyal custom, you cannot get a better deal than a new customer....

When I said the same to Vodafone he reminded me I was a new customer once and would have had a new deal.

Depends on the product but I'd do it, and give existing customers something else (less expensive) to keep them sweet. They're already happy, otherwise they wouldn't be customers.