Bundling Worst Practices: How to Lose Loyal Customers and Influence People

When it comes to bundling, the worst thing operators can do is lose a multiservice customer, yet it’s happening as we speak.

Double- and triple-play customers are beginning to report that operators are making it so difficult to add another service, say wireless, to their bundles that they’re angry and considering leaving altogether.

Losing someone that only uses one of your residential services is painful, but imagine multiplying that by two or three. And to have your high-end TV service be one of those to be dropped – ouch. Apparently many operators have no imagination at all.

With residential competition from all sides, and free HD TVs, digital cameras, programming packages and hundreds of dollars of cash back, we’re clearly in a very high-stakes customer-acquisition game.

But what are carriers really doing (giving to/spending on) current multiservice customers to keep them in place? Instances are building of service providers doing just the opposite.

Consider Comcast Corp.. I use two of its services and have for years. I was thinking of adding a third when the cable colossus dropped its $5 monthly multiservice discount, without explanation.

This annoyed many local customers as we don’t (yet) have wireline competition for video, and it became something of a topic of conversation.

To make matters worse, Comcast didn’t drop the multiproduct discount line item from my monthly bill, even though there’s no figure now across from it. It’s a reminder of the perplexing action.

Thinking outside the set-top box also would lead people to believe that anything you do to alienate customers is something you don’t do to keep them. Right?

Back to Comcast TV. Last year they decided to swing against the tide and charge subscribers for NFL Network as parts of a special new premium sports package that costs $7 or $8 a month.

Sure, it contained other sports programming from regional college networks. But it also contained “sport programming” from Turner Classic Movies and BET. That got, and kept, the region’s customers annoyed and talking again. And with NFL training camps all underway, the noise should be building again.

The bottom line here is that – unless the cost of multiservice customer retention is sooooo much more than acquiring new ones – carriers of all types should be doing a hell of a lot more to keep current multiproduct users happy.

I’ve heard of zero such actions. Maybe they’re soooooo happy they’re speechless? Maybe there aren’t any.

If you know of any operators taking cool steps to retain, or at least not anger, multiservice customers, please let me know.

It’s really quiet here except when Comcast is the topic.

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