The leaked documents reveal the implementation of a plan by the American giant to reduce the departures of subscribers.
Layers of questions, new offers… Everything is done to keep you an Amazon Prime subscriber. BusinessInsider has indeed got his hands on internal documents from the firm of Jeff Bezos concerning a plan called “Iliad”, to maximize customer retention.
Several processes have been tested in this project and one of them remains active, in several stages. Questions will thus be asked to the subscriber and other offers will be proposed, with regularly a clear request: do you really want to leave Prime?
First of all, it will be necessary to open your eyes wide to find the unsubscribe button, quite discreet even if the procedure to reach it is in itself quite logical: My account – Prime – Cancel. You will have to deal with several clicks and reject several reminders of your activities on Amazon. For example the number of orders made or films watched over the last 12 months…
You will also be offered to switch to the annual subscription solution, to benefit from a reduction if you have opted for the monthly payment. To leave Amazon Prime, you will therefore have to continue the procedure despite these various attempts to hold you back, to finally see you actually offer to delete it. Easily discouraged.
The results proved to be convincing, since the firm recorded a 14% drop in its unsubscriptions following the implementation of the Iliad plan. The issue had already been raised by the Norwegian Consumer Council in January 2021, which stated “Throughout the process, Amazon manipulates users through wording and graphic design, making the process unnecessarily difficult and frustrating to understand.“.
Amazon contacted BusinessInsider stating that the registration and cancellation process for Prime are “simple and transparent and clearly presents choices and the implications of those choices to customers“. As a reminder, Amazon Prime is included for Freebox Delta subscribers and offered for 6 months to Freebox Revolution subscribers. The service is also offered as an option for other Freebox subscribers.
