Free your customers

A business whose value proposition is based on being the only option on the market is doomed to be abandoned by its customers.

In the last few months I have discovered the fascinating world of laser hair removal, one of the techniques that have most revolutionized the beauty sector in recent years, eliminating body hair almost definitively after about 8 sessions.

A few months ago, I learned about this technique in one of the best-known beauty centers . Thuisted (being almost aggressive) that I should choose an "exclusive" 12-session bonus that I obviously had to pay for in advance. I turned down the bonus and preferred to pay for each individual session, even if it was more expensive.

The first session gave good results, but it was so painful that I even regretted it.

A month later, I read an article about a new technology that was virtually painless. I found a center that applied this new technique and I decided I wouldn't go back to the first center anymore. And I was glad I didn't buy the bonus.

When all beauty centers had the same technology, the most efficient way to differentiate and retain (kidnap, rather) customers was through a discount bonus. However, customers don't want a discount. They want an effective and comfortable system (convenience) with which they can forget about hair removal forever. When a disruptive technology that improves the customer experience appears, the centers that had not innovated -because they retained customers thanks to the bonus- are mercilessly abandoned.

Having the only technology available on the market can never be a reason to retain our customers. We must become our own competence. We must disrupt ourselves before someone else does it for us.

The question we must ask now is: What is our bonus?