My colleague, Graeme Codrington, beat me to the punch with his post last week (Incomprehensible business decisions that alienate customers) about Constant Contact and their decision to put Bantam Live on ice for a period of time (a long period of time) while they re-developed it.
Here’s some background to the story. When Constant Contact purchased Bantam Live (apparently for $15 000 000) we recieved an e-mail to let us know. In the mail (16 Feb 2011) was the following…
Effective immediately, you and your organization will be able to use Bantam Live free of charge as we determine new plans for integrating the Bantam Live technology into Constant Contact. We’ll soon have more to say about product plans as we integrate with Constant Contact, so stay tuned. Rest assured you will continue to receive the same prompt, quality support as you always have.
The first and last sentences had us smiling. Bantam Live had truly revolutionised how our very virtual company did business. We’d never had such a great platform to use, that for the first time had us talking, sharing and tracking clients and deals like Bantam had.
But then on 4 April we recieved this:
As part of that transition process, our plans call for a phasing out of the current version of Bantam Live by July 1, 2011. Your account, of course, will remain free to use until then. And because you’re a valued customer, we intend to provide you with a significant discount when we release the new product in the first half of 2012.
And this….
In the days and weeks ahead, you’ll need to export all the data from your Bantam Live account. But don’t worry.
We apologize for this short-term inconvenience. And we look forward to delivering a powerful new product set next year to help you connect with your customers and grow your business.
There’s no other response to this than WTF!!!!!
Bantam Live had become a central part of how we did business. We were being told that the new handlers (Constant Contact) were putting this platform on ice for 12 months while they integrated it into their system. And that we shouldn’t worry. And that we could look forward to a substantial discount when they re-launch.
As Graeme asked in his post:
Are they joking? Or are they just insane?
And we’re not the only ones who are feeling the pain. Rich Mulholland put a great post together, ‘How to lose customers and Infuriate people – The danger of the cloud‘. And you can search BantamLive on Twitter to hear the pain and anger of others like us.
The only reason I’ve been able to work out that Constant Contact has done this is that they have around 400 000 customers and Bantam Live had just a few hundred. I’m sure they could have integrated the two systems without taking Bantam Live offline, but when they balanced the needs of just a few hundred with their current database of 400 000, I guess the reputational risk and fallout that may happen, was negligible for them. Hence the decision they’ve made. I’m guessing it’s a money decision. Cheaper to integrate offline than online.
Of course the story isn’t over. Here are things to watch for in the next 12 months:
- Will the noise generated by a few hundred be a bigger risk than Constant Contact anticipated? (personally I hope so)
- Will Constant Contact lose clients because of their clearly ‘We don’t care attitude’? (personally I hope so)
- Will competitors to Bantam Live be able to integrate what made Bantam Live amazing and therefore step into their space? (I’m really hoping so. They’ve got 12 months to get it right)
- Will TomorrowToday be able to back the right horse in the next month or so and find another amazing platform? (my jobs on the line)
Barrie, you’re exactly right about this. Constant Contacts current customers should be warned about their cavalier attitude to customer service and support. If they’ve done this to us, it illustrates a deeply held belief system that could easily cause trouble for their existing customers. You can be sure that I’ll be using the 12 months to tell Constant Contact’s customers to look elsewhere.
Of course, if Bantam Live’s staff are watching, they still have time to reverse their decision. If they don’t, it will be an even BIGGER signal to Constant Contact’s customers about what CC really thinks of customers!!
Here’s a letter I just sent to the Bantam Live team. I am very serious about this:
My company has come to rely on Bantam Live heavily. You’ve made our lives a joy, and we’re raving fans of your system. Your decision to switch off Bantam Live on 1 July is not just an “inconvenience” – it is a body blow. We will NOT be waiting around for a few months until you’ve integrated into Constant Contact. In fact, worse than that, we’ll be actively campaigning against Constant Contact if we have to find another solution for the rest of this year.
I know that Bantam Live’s customer list was small. But we all rely on you (yes, RELY on you). Using Bantam wasn’t just for fun for us. It helped us shape our business, and we have adapted our systems and processes around Bantam’s functionality.
We don’t mind if you don’t support the product for a few months. We don’t mind if you don’t add any features.
But we do mind – A LOT – if you just disappear.
If you do, you’ll NEVER get us back. And you’ll become the stuff of legends in the history of cloud computing. You’ll be the guys who made a huge mistake, and handled a cloud-based integration VERY BADLY. Our company will use you as a wonderful case study in our talks (to over 250,000 people all around the world every year), in our books, and on our blogs (here’s one for starters: http://bit.ly/i3Ludb – follow the links provided to other ones).
Please, please reconsider. Please keep Bantam Live going.
By doing that, you could build on your legend, and be the guys who decided to listen to their customers. Not because it necessarily made short term business sense, but because it was the right thing to do. AND because it makes long term business sense.
What you decide to do right now will show us all very clearly what type of company you are, and we’ll be sure to let the 400,000 Constant Contact customers know about it. Either way…
Yours (very) sincerely, and with hope,
Graeme Codrington
Founding partner and international director, TomorrowToday
Sounds like an ‘interesting’ strategy to shut it down… I’ve been using Podio for a while. Might be a worthy substitute in the waiting time – it works really well for this purpose as well as a lot of other areas also.