Harry Potter
May 9th, 2007
Okay… I am a giant Harry Potter geek. I don’t do the whole dress up as a witch and wait in line at midnight for the book (I hate crowds), but I LOVE Harry Potter.
So, of course, I have pre-ordered my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Amazon already. It’s cheaper, I get it on July 21st delivered straight to my door… it’s awesome.
Even more awesome? I got an email from Amazon.com today that they had lowered the price of the book since I had ordered it… and that they were adjusting my payment accordingly. Now, this was a gesture that cost them 90 cents… but it was a gesture that made me feel good about being early. I didn’t check back later, see the lower price and get grouchy that I had ordered at the wrong time. I was rewarded for being faithful enough to step up early.
See where I’m going with this?
Early adopters - though they love whatever they’re early adopting - often end up with the short end of the stick. A lot of kinks get worked out as a thing gets more popular. The cost might even go down. But if they were the ones who took a chance on you from the beginning, make sure to stay in touch with them and make them remember why they loved you so much to begin with. It doesn’t have to be price breaks. It just has to be some small thing that shows them their extra time, money and love is registered and appreciated.
Now get back to work, you crazy Muggles.
P.S. This week is the final week of The Warehouse Theatre’s season announcement online/offline game. The guesses are starting to come in. So check it out!
Other posts by Jennifer.
maria says:
Its an interesting post, however you are not an early adopter of the Harry Potter franchise by any stretch of the imagination. You are a core and loyal fan, perhaps the most important customer segment where rewards pay off in spades.
Early adopters tend to have high price elasticity. A much more appropiate reward for them would be early release of the anticipated and unknown product/book or extra useful features/stories not announced.
They are very different segments.
May 9th, 2007 at 5:00 amkamran says:
All this quibbling about price and freebies- what about the content? That’s what drives the whole deal! The 90 cents didn’t drive the sale, the story did. It is a compelling tale, told with enthusiasm- at full retail or at cut rate.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:26 amAs I will tell anyone who will sit still long enough to listen to my rambling- in
issue 7 they all die. Perhaps a few will slip through, but imho, it will be a flippin’ bloodbath. HP. Snape. Voldemort. A Weasley or three. Dead. Bereft of life. Slipping the mortal coil. FUBAR. Gonna be a real nightmare. Reality check time, folks. Jo patterned the whole series after Narnia, and is a big fan of CS Lewis. How did he end that group of 7 books? Train wreck, everyone dies, some choose to go to heaven, others choose hell. Wake up. Choose a side.
And we will all be at the grand unveiling part at our local bookmonger, midnight. In costume. All 5 of us!