Treat Me Right (If You Want My Business)

As some of my loyal readers (both of them) may recall, three weeks ago, my blog entry did not get delivered. I ended up manually sending it the next week. Soon after I manually sent the blog entry, I tried to invoice a customer through my website. The invoice would not send, but the website helpfully offered a number of upgrade options.

In incredible frustration, I texted the service representative who responded relatively quickly . Without recounting the entire conversation, here is the gist of it:

• Wix (the company that hosts my website) raised its prices and if you do not upgrade you will be unable to automatically mail blog posts or send invoices.

• The increase in prices was effective immediately, even if you were in the midst of a current year long contract (which I was).

• One notification email was sent to users notifying them of this change. (Not two, not three, not four, one and I missed it)

• And Wix did not let you know certain services would not work if you did not upgrade when doing the work; it just asked (demanded) that you upgrade.

When I pointed out to the service representative, who I can confidently assert had nothing to do with the price change and how it was rolled out, that such a change in the middle of a contract period seems shady at best and illegal at worst. She replied, as she was no doubt trained to do, I am sorry you are upset about this change. It did not appease me.

Now, I am left with a choice. Stay with Wix or leave. I will probably stay because the psychic cost of moving, including the time and effort to make a new website, is heavier than my dissatisfaction

However, I transformed from a totally satisfied Wix customer to a dissatisfied one. Instead of recommending people to use Wix over Squarespace, I now advise them to avoid Wix. Instead of looking to increase my presence and the amount I pay to Wix, I am looking to minimize it. And this is all because of (1) a lack of communication, and (2) changing the rules in the midst of a contract period. (An additional irony here is that my contract expired on December 5. All of this displeasure for less than a month of additional revenue.)

You should evaluate all changes from the customer’s perspective. Just because you are keeping customers does not mean they embrace the change; it may mean they are not upset enough to leave. It certainly does not mean they are happy. Happy customers are what you need for positive word of mouth and positive word of mouth is how you organically grow your business. (And if that works well enough maybe you would not need a Wix website at all.)

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and remembers all they have to be grateful for.