Support Contract Renewal Incentives
Hi Team, as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to impact our customers business, we experienced an increase in support contract cancellations in specific customer segments. Some of those businesses are now beginning to return to the "new normal".
I am curious if other support organizations have experienced similar cancellations and considering a "pro-active" approach to reach out to those customers and offer targeted "incentives" to return to support. Ex. waive pre-contract inspections for hardware, first year at a reduced rate, discounts, etc...just curious if this is being considered and any thoughts on offering special "C-19 Incentives".
Regards! Darryl
Comments
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Hi @Darryl Benjamin. Great question your asking. Not sure if you're a member of the Service Revenue Practice, but I wonder if @Jack Johnson might have some insights he could share on this. Thanks, Doug
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Darryl, Great question @Darryl Benjamin. While our software members experienced a temporary blip in business they ended the year with no real impact. Our HW members, however, did see an impact on renewal rates. (2-3 point decline was common) I've had a number of conversations with members that are going through similar thinking and deploying winback plays utilizing winback specialist is one of the strategies being used.
Incentives are being discussed and as far as I can tell a this point are custom and unique to each company. A short term "amnesty" program or similar could be effective in giving the customers the boost they need to get back on support. Waving inspections and cancelation / reinstatement fees can also be effective in supporting this play.
I'd also think about including this strategy in any potential tech-refresh or tech transformation play you are running. The path may be to regain the customer by way of new technology or a subscription version vs reinstatement of a maintenance contract. Regardless - the cancellation list from last year is a great lead list to pursue for this year.
Best wishes ,
Jack
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Thanks Jack! I appreciate your ideas! I do the like the "amnesty" program, maybe a 90 day "Welcome Back" with incentives. This activity/program would be for our smaller hardware customers (including Hospitality). We are addressing our larger customers with tech refresh including migrating to Cloud which has been successful. Appreciate the recommendations. Darryl
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