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Why I Pirate - An Open Letter to Content Creators
40hz:
Make it as easy to buy as it is to pirate.
-wraith808 (March 08, 2012, 12:43 PM)
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I run into this problem in stores, online, and on the phone. Over and over, it never ceases to amaze me just how difficult some businesses make it for you to pay them your money.
I was always taught by my business mentors that the stupidest thing you can possibly do when a customer has made up their mind - and is handing you their credit card - would be to introduce anything into the equation that hinders the sales process.
Why do so many businesses not realize that? If you're buying something why do you have to:
* Register and open an 'account' before you can use an online shopping cart.
* Put up with one or more "upsell" attempts
* Be forced to subscribe to a mailing list in order to register a product to protect your warranty
* Provide personal information not needed to process a transaction
* Get last minute "bad surprises" (ex: ridiculously high shipping & handling fees, etc.) when you're finalizing your transaction
* Use PayPal - even when you don't want to
* Find out they don't take _______ (fill in the blank)
* Discover they only ship to the USA and its territories
* Discover they don't ship to the USA and its territories
* Have the shopping cart crash or refuse to finalize the purchase
* Learn they're never open evenings or on weekends
* Discover (the hard way) that there are no provisions for communicating by human voice for service issues or pre-sales questions
Drives me nuts when companies behave like this. There's enough quality competition out there. Why does any business in it's right mind do anything to give a potential customer an excuse to walk...
Oh.
Guess I just answered my own question didn't I? :-[
rgdot:
But I've heard it's insanity to continue to do the same things and get the same (or worse) results. Their current tactics are *not* resulting in increased profits. The amount they spend on lobbyists and the amount of ill-will they create far outweigh the few results they do get.
Even when shown the truth, they still fight against it. Case in point- Apple wanted to increase the length of the samples available in iTunes because research had shown that this increased purchases. [1], [2]
Even given this, the music industry fought against it, first saying no, then attempting to get performance rights for a 60-90 second clip. Greed is the only explanation for something that's better for the consumers and the publishers to be held for ransom like this.
-wraith808 (March 08, 2012, 02:09 PM)
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One possible explanation:
Protecting their way is part of the "profit". How? they will go down in flames otherwise so lower profits for longer time is better than conceding.
40hz:
Living in a society/system where in some jurisdictions public companies are required by law to maximize profits it is almost naive to expect less from them.
-rgdot (March 08, 2012, 02:00 PM)
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@rgdot - I often hear the argument that there are places where public businesses are legally required to maximize profit as opposed to acting in a fiscally responsible manner. These two things are similar in goal - but not the same thing under law.
Are you aware of any place in the western world where a business is required at all times to maximize profit under penalty of law? I've been searching for such a thing for a long time (more out of personal curiosity than anything else) and I haven't ever been able to identify such a jurisdiction or law. Not surprising when you're as ignorant about international business law as I am. ;D
Any input would be greatly appreciated. :)
Anyone have the answer? Anyone? Anyone?
rgdot:
They might call it "shareholder value" or "the interests of the corporation" and just because it is interpretable in a court (many 'higher' laws are challenged in court too) doesn't mean it's not being practiced.
One read:
law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2238&context=expresso 1.4MB PDF
wraith808:
Protecting their way is part of the "profit". How? they will go down in flames otherwise so lower profits for longer time is better than conceding.
-rgdot (March 08, 2012, 02:19 PM)
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How do they know that? And if they go down in the process because they hung on to the old ways in the interest of protecting perceived profit instead of adapting to change their business model to keep up with their consumers, then don't they lose out in the end? Because that's the way things are going...
Even the language- conceding instead of serving. In the end, if you depend upon a consumer for your livelihood, you are in the business of serving, not competing with your clientele. So in order to serve them (and in the end yourself), it would seem to behoove you to listen to and work with your customers instead of digging your feet in an alienating your client base.
Thoughts?
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