How Borders made me into a regular customer August 11, 2007
How Borders made me into a regular customer
or How Barnes & Nobles Screwed up and lost a loyal customer.
Let me set the stage. Up until roughly one year ago I was a Barnes &
Noble shopper. The only reason I’d go into a Borders was if there didn’t happen
to be a B&N around. And then, while I was checking out at a Borders one day
the cashier said “Do you have a
Borders Rewards
card?”
“No” I said, intending to blow it off like all the other useless “customer
loyalty” cards that get pushed on you until she said something along the lines
of “All I’d need is your e-mail address and you’ll get discounts and coupons.”
It was the just asking for an e-mail address that did it. It free. It’s fast, so
I won’t annoy the people behind me in line, and worst case scenario I could
always just filter their e-mails into the trash. So I signed up. Now, every week
they send me an e-mail with a coupon (usually 20 - 25% off), some discount, and
announcements of large new releases. You can get the e-mail monthly or only when
you’ve accrued Borders Bucks if you want. If I forget to bring in the coupon
they usually have one behind the counter that they’ll scan for me when I present
my Borders Rewards card. And, for every $150 I spend they send me $5 in “Borders
Bucks”, essentially a $5 off coupon. Considering that programming books are
always $40+ and I read a lot of sci-fi / fantasy I actually get them. Plus,
since I know that the prices are essentially the same at Borders and B&N but
shopping at Borders will get me coupons my shopping has totally reversed. Now I
only shop at B&N if there isn’t a Borders around. Oh, and in case I’m really
screwed for a good book store Borders happens to own Waldenbooks and my Borders
Rewards card works there too.
And that happened about a month ago. I forget what I was looking for but my
local Borders didn’t have it so I went over to B&N and when I went to check
out they asked me if I had a B&N Member Card. “No” I said, thinking maybe
I’d have an excuse to start shopping at B&N again, “It’s only $25 ,” he said
“and you get ….”
Twenty Five Dollars! Twenty Five Dollars! Now… let me think. Borders = Free
& gives me discounts. On the other hand I could give B&N $25 and get the
same discounts and… well… nothing. I’d just be giving the $25. Needless to
say I didn’t take the offer. But there was another side effect that I don’t
think B&N thought about. Now I don’t want to shop at B&N because I know
that B&N is trying to screw it’s customers out of $25 for something Borders
was happy to give me for free.
Borders wants my business and is willing to give me discounts, and an occasional
$5 in exchange for my patronage. Barnes and Noble wants to charge me for the
privilege of getting discounts. Given those two options which would you choose?
Now I don’t shop at Borders just because of the discounts, now I shop at Borders
because they know a good deal more about
Treating
Customer Right than B&N does.
If you don’t have a Borders Rewards card I highly recommend you
go get one
now. It’s quick, easy, free, and the e-mails aren’t obnoxious.
P.S. I’m not opposed to paid membership / discount programs. There are some
businesses where they work well. Costco is a great example. I even did it in an
old online business. We charged $10 for membership and I made damn sure that the
average customer would get way more than $10 in savings. But, in the case of my
old co. and Costco there wasn’t another company out there offering the exact
same discounts, or better, for free. To try and charge people an annual fee for
something they can get from an equally placed competitor is bullshit and shows
that you don’t really care about your customers, just getting into their
wallets.
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