I really have a problem with companies that don't know how to market themselves well. It particularly bothers me when they could do some simple, relatively inexpensive things to convince me that they are not idiots. Take Blockbuster for instance.

I have an account at my local blockbuster - we rent things there for the kids from time to time. They have this nifty computer system that keeps track of the balance of my account, what I have rented, when it's due and how much I owe them in late fees. (We are almost always late returning movies.)

Included in my account is my email address. I know they have it because I gave it to them when I signed up. They've sent me a few promotional things and even a coupon for a free movie every now and then. What I don't understand is why, if I have a movie due back on Tuesday, I don't get an email on Monday to remind me to look for it under the couch. It's not like one of the pimply faced kids at the store would have to sit down and type an email and send it to me. All of the information is right there in the database. The computer could do it all by itself.

That they don't do it, makes me think they would rather have me paying them late fees than bringing movies back on time. This is not a healthy business model. When I have to pay late fees I get annoyed. I get annoyed with the kids for misplacing the movie in the first place. I get annoyed with myself for forgetting to look for it sooner. I get annoyed with them for charging me late fees. When that annoyance level reaches a certain point, I stop renting movies for a while.

Given our track record, there's a pretty good chance that even with a email reminder we'll be late at least a third of the time. But if I didn't have the feeling that they were hoping we'd be late because their quarterly earnings report hinges on late fees, then I would probably be a lot less annoyed.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 05:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment