Monday, December 22, 2008

Subscriber who cancelled Star-Telegram pays for Dallas Morning News subscription after getting $85 gift card bonus

It's tough out there for newspapers trying to get new subscribers. But offering gift cards worked for the Dallas Morning News.
So, the deal was, if you paid for a year's subscription you got a big discount plus $85 of Sprouts gift cards. I said, I would not want to pay a year in advance for a paper that might not get delivered on time. So, he then offered me 3 months for $47.25 plus a $20 Sprouts gift card and another $5 gift card just for giving them another chance.

Sounded like a good deal. So, starting Thursday I'm back in the paper reading business.
Sure, it's nice to get new subscribers, but customers who are enticed with gift cards and gimmicks won't stick around over the long run.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah yes.. the "I'll give you $15 if you give me $10" theory of economics taught at most journalism schools.

Maybe that's why all of the Marxist professors feel so comfortable, firmly affixed to the public teat provided by the public they distain.

Anonymous said...

McClatchy does a fine job of training readers that the product has so little value.

In fact, value must be added for the reader to agree to filling the recycle with still-banded newspapers.

Anonymous said...

The Star-Telegram has gone from being one of the best customer service friendly business's to one of the worst.

Try to cancel your paper, you can't. Try to pay your bill - you can't.

Durango said...

Actually, if you would re-read what I wrote, I paid for 3 months and got $25 in gift cards. Not a fully year and $85 worth of gift cards. I wouldn't go for the year deal, telling the guy that when I tried the Dallas paper previously, delivery was erratic.

So far, I am happy with it, the Dallas paper, I mean. Way more content than the Star-Telegram. I had no idea so much new stuff was going on in Dallas.

The production quality of the Dallas paper is way better than the Star-Telegram. Way easier to read.

Unless they muck it up, I'm likely gonna be a longtime subscriber.