Why do I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz after the wicked witch was turned into a puddle? Because AOL, long bleeding subscribers from their paid services, has turned to an advertiser supported model and is now offering e-mail and content for free to all.
So if you, like I, were paying AOL — in addition to your high speed Internet provider — merely to have access to your AOL email account then rejoice cuz ding-dong the wicked witch is dead! To cancel your AOL account but keep your email service call 1-800-984-6207. You may be faced with a long wait but if it saves you $25 a month, then hey, it’s a good deal.
Don’t worry, if you still need dial-up occasionally, AOL offers a $4.95 plan that gives you 10 hours of dial-up a month. And AOL is still offering their dial-up access and broadband access plans to those who need them.
Why is AOL doing this? Because they’ve lost 10 million subscribers in the last 4 years. At that rate, they’d be out of business by the end of the decade if they didn’t do something like this. They had already freed (most) of their content now they were taking the next step by acknowleding that a captive audience ain’t necessarily a good thing particularly when you’re making them pay double for what they can get for free. It’s a good decision and, if they’re smart, it will pay off for them in the long run.
Lessons for marketers? A customer who does business with you because s/he wants to is a heckuva lot more valuable than who who does business with you because s/he has no choice.
