New Payment Plan Timeline: Extreme Client Care Fail or Marketing Genius?

ECC Fail

ECC FailYou’re considering investing in a program.

You watch a video and read through the sales page.

You get down to the section on cost.  You can pay in full or you can take advantage of a 3-installment offer.

Nothing new, right?

But wait. . .you take a closer look (always read the fine print!) and notice that the installments are not charged every 30 days.  Heck, they’re not even charged every 20 days.

They’re charged “biweekly”.  That’s every two weeks.

So. . .in this example let’s say there are 3 installments of $397 (which is close to the offer I saw).  That means you’ll be charged:

  • Today: January 22
  • 14 days from today: February 5
  • and 14 days from Feb 5: February 19

That means you’ll be charged 3 installments of $397 in 5 weeks.  Online shoppers have been conditioned to *see* installment plans as monthly, so a 3-installment plan is typically 3 installments in 12 weeks.

Is this an Extreme Client Care™ fail?

Or, is the implied promise — that you’ll be making so much more money quickly — marketing genius?

Personally, I think it’s a little of both and would have done it differently to put it squarely in the “marketing genius” and “Extreme Client Care” categories.

My recommendation would have been to:

  • provide *the usual* “every 30 days” for the installment plan AND offer a special bonus if they pay it off early (for example, the 5-week biweekly plan),
  • ask for feedback with the “pay it off early” request as a way to gather potential testimonials and
  • update information (“sales”) page as the testimonials come in to show fast results from current clients.

If you were looking to do something similar, how would you have handled the above (and “yep”, there already was a full pay offer as an option)?  We’d love to hear what you think of the above — please share below.

My job, my passion is to help you succeed in creating your definition of success in business. I have more timely tips and tricks to nurture your community, increase your engagement and incorporate Extreme Client Care throughout your business as it increases your profits – so be on the lookout for more strategies and insights!

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