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Transparency means "Hey, we totally pooched this!"

February 15, 2012 by Jared | 13 Comments

Ideas are neat. They are the foundation of all great things; the seeds to a bounty of treasure and success. They are also the the upside-down launchpad to failure. Long story short: Instead of simply releasing our promo code to the public as we do the first of every month, we decided to see if we could get 1500 more people to "like" us on Facebook before we let our latest coupon fly. It didn't work. People are used to waking up to a domain deal on the front stoop of a bright new month, and so instead of people "liking" us, they "flipping despised" us. Luckily there's no button for that.

With no physical challenges, bureuacratic stipulations or unwieldy demands, here's the promo code:

"FEELTHELOVE"

And the goodness it brings:

Use it through the end of February, 2012 for $9.99 Com/Net reg/renew, $29.99 .TV renewals and 50% off any of our hosting plans (that's monthly OR YEARLY!)

Like any good company though, we weren't totally sure we were wrong until a high-powered consultant could confirm it.

We've learned our lesson. We hope you feel our love (and any in return would be nice.) And if there's anything we hope you take away (other than a hunger to shop like a beast) it's that at Name.com, we're open, honest and transparent. Even if it means just a tiny bit of awkwardness and embarrassment...and having the CEO's mom rush the CEO's daughter over for a quick reality check.

  • http://twitter.com/tajim Mohammad Tajim

    Haha, When i first saw you guys asking for Likes in return for Promo Code, i was like WTF! Why is Name.com acting like Godaddy...

    Thank God. you guys realized it was a mistake.

    • Anonymous

      Oh man...I had no idea it was THAT bad. Thanks Mohammad!

    • http://twitter.com/owenborseth Owen Borseth

      At times, the DB fever creeps up on even the most unlikely of victims.

  • http://twitter.com/LeistoCompany Leisto Company

    the promo code doesn't work.. and the one on twitter only saves $1.

  • http://davezan.com/ Dave Zan

    Actually, NameCheap has done this at least twice IIRC. Both times they did well.

    Perhaps you can learn a thing or two from them.

    • http://twitter.com/hybriddomainer 94 Media

      I don't think Namecheap has anything over Name.com far superior registrar IMO.

    • Anonymous

      Yah, NC does this well, but they go WAAAY low, like 1.99 .coms for a day or something. We just didn't go far enough, and absorb the loss as an advertising cost.

      • Anonymous

        ...to continue...We're just so customer focused it seems that's our direction--not suck people in for cheap and nail them with fees, etc, but stay steady with our strong support and accessibility.

        • http://davezan.com/ Dave Zan

          Oh that's alright. Like everyone else, you just do what you believe works for you.

          Cheers. :)

  • http://twitter.com/ntwos NTwoS

    A Facebook "like" promotion seems to work if the pending coupon's value is clearly specified and greater than normal monthly deals. The promotions that Dave Zen refers to where both below cost offers. Name.com rocks!

    • Anonymous

      That's right. Thank you!!!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/JEB74EDDSFOH3S45JCRLBGP7Z4 Steve Hagerman

    I would not worry about that snafu at all. You have bigger issues. Like forwarding failed DNS lookups to your advertising pages. This is done without the customer every knowing it is happening unless they find out accidentally. The domains are the property of the customer not Name.com. I have heard the comment already "but everyone else does this to" actually not everyone. There are registrars that respect their customers more than hijack failed lookups to put an extra penny in their pockets. If you want to be like everyone else then don't be surprised when you loose customers to everyone else.

    If you were to make this an opt in or opt out situation and do profit sharing on the parking page then that would sound quite respectful and reasonable.

    Another I can't believe I am reading this moment was when I read that you actually charge customers $25 to unblock their account if they have more than the allowed failed logins. This is just typical support. Users make mistakes and you have to provide support to help them out. Looks like you would be more concerned about protecting their account than giving them a tool and telling them if it works we charge you $25 to let you back in. I did read that it was applied if you the customer change the settings at all. But to really get the full benefit of the tool you would want to change them to get better security.

    I left Godaddy and moved domains to your registrar service because I got sick of Godaddy being greedy and marketing me to death when I make a purchase. Suggestive selling is one thing but they are like the salesperson that doesn't know when to shut up and get out of your face.

    Focus on offering great deals with great prices instead of trying to see how much more money you can make out of your operation every which way you can.

    I have been a customer I think since at least 2005. So I know a lot about your company. I started hosting in 1999 so I have seen a lot of hosting and some registrars come and go.

    • jaredatname

      Thanks for your comments Steve. Have you been charged 25 bucks to unlock your account? We usually waive that fee and it should be noted that it's a fee only associated with an extra level of security that customers voluntarily add themselves, and it comes with a clear description of the associated costs. But again, I don't think it's ever been levied despite our CS helping those customers who chose to use select IP.

      The parked pages thing is a debate that rages here at the office too. We do make money on them so it's hard to pull the plug. However, we're as honest and open about them as possible, mentioning parked ads in the TOS as well as frequently advertising how people can opt out and/or change their domain settings to have their site resolve anywhere but the parking.

      Appreciate the voice as it's good to have the feedback.

      Jared