My general experience with people asking for discounts on our $30-50/mo product is:
1. Some people ask for a discount, saying they're going to be long-term customers, they're going to blog about us all the time, and it's going to be great. 95% of these end up not being long term customers, and do not end up blogging about us all the time.
2. Some ask for a discount, and say (or imply) they'll go elsewhere if they don't get it. My thought is if a few bucks a month is the deciding factor, it's going to be hard to retain them in any case.
3. Some are polite about it, and just ask if there are any discounts available. They're going to subscribe anyway, but wanted to make sure they're not passing up a good deal.
I almost never offer one-off discounts any more, and very rarely offer any kind of public discount offer (and it's always for a limited time when I do). When someone asks I point them to our referral program, and to out partners who may offer a bundle discount on our product if you subscribe to _their_ product.
The benefit to this approach, in my mind, is that no one ever feels like they got ripped off because they had to pay full price - there aren't any public discounts available, so pretty much everyone pays full price.
Jason Cohen proposes an interesting idea for customers asking for a discount: give them two months free if they prepay for a year. He makes the case that if you're a bootstrapper having the money all at once upfront is worth it.
I watched that video recently. He raises a good point about the value of having cash up front, but my worry there is the liability it creates. There is a 1-year period when you might have to refund some or all of it, which is a long time IMHO.
Prepay for a year doesn't imply that they will get money back if they cancel. Unless of course that is the way you make the offer.
But even if there is a liability you have to calculate the percentage of people that will want a refund. If it is "high" (whatever that is..) you have a much bigger problem (people don't like your product or service).
We get this ALL the time in my business (which is much more expensive and a brick-and-mortar service). My answer is generally along the lines of (in a much less snarky way):
"Great, if you become a regular customer we'll give you a discount on your 3rd visit."
The ones who are serious go for it. The ones who are not (which is most people) say something like:
"Well, I don't know that I'm going to be back 3 times."
Well, then I don't know that I want to give you a discount.
1. Some people ask for a discount, saying they're going to be long-term customers, they're going to blog about us all the time, and it's going to be great. 95% of these end up not being long term customers, and do not end up blogging about us all the time.
2. Some ask for a discount, and say (or imply) they'll go elsewhere if they don't get it. My thought is if a few bucks a month is the deciding factor, it's going to be hard to retain them in any case.
3. Some are polite about it, and just ask if there are any discounts available. They're going to subscribe anyway, but wanted to make sure they're not passing up a good deal.
I almost never offer one-off discounts any more, and very rarely offer any kind of public discount offer (and it's always for a limited time when I do). When someone asks I point them to our referral program, and to out partners who may offer a bundle discount on our product if you subscribe to _their_ product.
The benefit to this approach, in my mind, is that no one ever feels like they got ripped off because they had to pay full price - there aren't any public discounts available, so pretty much everyone pays full price.