The new iPhone is a great product and I have waited until now to buy an iPhone with some features I wanted. Thankfully, I am not the type to stand in line for 5 hours to buy anything, so I didn’t. I did however try to order a phone (to be delivered whenever) but was told that my contract was not up until August 21st so if I wanted one I had to pay $399.00. That is $399 for a $199 phone!
Now, a new customer to AT&T gets the $199.00 price and de facto is treated better than a long-term customer. I have three phones and have been with Cingular (AT&T) for a number of years. One of two things could have happened that would have shown me AT&T cares about existing customers:
1- Corporate policy makers could have offered long-term customers the opportunity to upgrade by taking a new two-year contract, which would have shown some loyalty to current customers. I understand the churn and burn mentality of many mobile suppliers, but one would expect AT&T to be above that.
2- Corporate policy makers could have made it possible for an existing customer to place an order (pre-paid by the way) and take possession when their contract was up. Perhaps a 2 -3 month limit on that. In my case, it is one month. I was told however, that I could not even place an order. Again, something as simple as this gives new customers all the advantage.
I understand the need to generate new customers, but statistics tell us it takes about 5 times (maybe not with a product like the iPhone) the cost to generate a new customer than to keep an existing one.
Back in the mid 80s I wrote a customer service program called “Through the Customer’s Eyes” and was lucky enough to have companies such as Bellsouth, IBM, Harris and others use it. Unfortunately, in those 20 something years not much has changed in corporate America. Companies are keen on talking up CUSTOMER LOYALTY (the customer being loyal to the brand) but are not doing a lot to be loyal to their customers.
Needless to say, I am forced to wait and forced to continue to use AT&T if I want an iPhone. I do, as I feel it is important for my line of work (social media consulting). I cannot say I feel very loyal to AT&T right now and if a viable alternative existed, I would take it. How long AT&T will feed off of Apple’s innovations I do not know. I do know that once Apple allows other carriers to sell the iPhone there will be a shift for sure. Obviously, I am not the only AT&T customer who is not happy with the current restrictions.
The good news is that it reinforces my belief that social networking for companies must be about building relationships – 2 way relationships. Now if only AT&T would realize that the world they knew is changing and now it is about providing more than just a great product.