We recently received notification from MasterCard that our yearly card fee was increasing from $49 to $79 — a 60% increase. The notification went on to explain that the new fee also included a number of new features. However, none of the new features had been requested, and more importantly, we saw no value in receiving any of these additional features.
Possibly if this had been our primary card, there may have been some value, but we used this card as a secondary card. So the only feature we were interested in was a low yearly fee.
But they never asked how we used the card or what features we wanted — they just assumed we would find these features of value and raised our fee.
My Perspective: Do you ever assume things about your customers?
When looking at your product or service, how often do you assume that because a feature is valued by some customers it will be valued by all customers?
Do you review new product features to see how that feature might be used or valued differently by different target segments, or do you just assume everyone will use the feature the same. Many companies develop personas to describe their customers, and use these to test new product features.
It’s an easy trap to fall into when we assume — but we must be vigilant that we are not overlaying our own assumptions of value onto the customer.
And last but not least, don’t make the customer work to undo your assumption. I had to call MasterCard to have the features removed and revert to the basic card pricing to get my old price back. That just highlighted their error and didn’t build any desire to use their card more. They had just reinforced how little they knew about me and how little they cared to find out.
