WWE's Smackdown - Is it Okay to Insult Your Customers?

Aware that a customer’s long-term trust is more meaningful than his spend on a singular transaction, the best, most customer-centric organizations never hesitate to communicate value. If they feel they can enhance a customer’s experience or limit the cost he endures in pursuing that experience, they work excitedly to do so.

But is there such a thing as "too relentless" when it comes to enlightening customers about new, more beneficial opportunities? Is it possible that letting a customer know of a cheaper, more valuable service could undermine the business’ quest to garner increased loyalty?

WWE put those notions to the test Sunday when it mocked customers who purchased its "Night of Champions" event through traditional pay-per-view platforms. While its intent was clear—to inform customers of a better deal and to build subscription interest in its over-the-top streaming network, which offers access to its monthly events and content library for a small recurring fee—its execution garnered significant criticism.

$9.99

In an effort to hedge against the declining pay-per-view market and rally enthusiastic investors around a growth opportunity in an era of inert traditional television interest, WWE has spent the entirety of its 2014 aggressively hyping its streaming network.

Available via online and mobile applications, certain Smart TV platforms and on Roku and Apple TV streaming boxes, the WWE Network grants users on-demand access to a deep content library and 24/7 access to a broadcast feed that includes original programming and all of the monthly pay-per-view events.

Priced at $9.99 per month, the Network offers irrefutable value for those who previously purchased the monthly events on an a la carte basis. Insofar as each event lists for a minimum of $54.95 on traditional platforms, a pay-per-view buyer would benefit even if he had no interest in anything else offered by WWE Network.

If he has access to a high-speed internet connection, an optimal streaming setup and orders three or more pay-per-views each year (and two or more if one of those is the higher-priced WrestleMania), his decision to subscribe should come without hesitation.

By offering such obvious, significant value, WWE’s Network should sell itself. And it has certainly not failed to attract a user base. Through the end of Q2 2014, the Network had amassed approximately 700,000 subscribers.

Not insignificant, the number was nonetheless disillusioning to those who either recognize the service’s obvious value or bought into the excitement driven by the WWE hype machine. And based on the slow rate of growth in Q2, significant pessimism now exists regarding the Network’s ability to reach its targeted subscriber base of 1 million by the end of 2014.

Even more noteworthy is the fact that tens of thousands of North American customers (hundreds of thousands in the case of WrestleMania) are still buying the monthly shows through traditional pay-per-view platforms. Despite all the hype and the obvious value, the WWE Network has not convinced customers of its superiority over the more conventional viewership avenue.

Immensely aware of its need to build additional excitement, WWE is now almost exclusively marketing its Network on cost savings. The $9.99 price point appears prominently in all marketing material. Popular wrestling characters like Triple H and Hulk Hogan have worked to turn "$9.99" into a catchphrase and audience chant. WWE even developed a commercial jingle with "$9.99" as its hook.

Positive vs. Negative Marketing

Undeniably appealing, the $9.99 price point fits logically into the Network’s marketing mix. It should resonate with any WWE viewer who possesses both a sense of rationale and an ability to comfortably watch a streaming network (or awareness that he could invest in an Apple TV or Roku and quickly recoup his cost through monthly savings).

Fun, tacky and attractive, the use of "$9.99" constitutes positive marketing. It touts the significant value associated with the network by revealing that one can get at least $54.95 worth of monthly material for less than 10 bucks a month.

During Sunday’s Night of Champions event, the WWE team took a different approach. Play-by-play announcer Michael Cole mockingly reminded pay-per-view buyers that they spent $54.95 for something that actually costs $9.99.

Seemingly a mere game of semantics—in both cases, WWE is ultimately informing viewers that they need only pay $9.99 to watch the big monthly shows—the transformation in tone was anything but insignificant.

Instead of praising the WWE Network for providing so much value at the low $9.99 price point, Cole condemned the pay-per-view providers—and thus the pay-per-view buyers who indulge—for ascribing a $54.95 price point to a product worth $9.99. Blatantly degrading toward its own offering and needlessly confrontational with the pay-per-view providers that create a key WWE revenue stream, the messaging also functioned to insult customers.

Customers, under this new marketing approach, were insane for spending $54.95 rather than $9.99 for the show. Customers, under this new marketing approach, unwisely overpaid for the product they were still in the process of consuming.

Alerting customers to potential savings ahead of a purchase is positive, helpful and customer-centric. Ridiculing them for overpaying as they are consuming the product is needlessly negative. Unless WWE planned to refund the $54.95 pay-per-view price to any customer who switched to the WWE Network during the broadcast, how does spotlighting the customer’s lack of financial savvy do anything but undermine the value of what he is currently experiencing?

Beyond its negative tone, the messaging also reflects a simultaneous lack of customer empathy and customer awareness. By treating the over-the-top streaming network and pay-per-view product as exact and obvious equals, WWE non-responsively ignores very real concerns a customer might have about recurring business cycles, video quality and network reliability.

That WWE is confident in the quality of its Network does not guarantee a similar level of confidence from buyers. Rather than dismissing or even mocking customer reluctance, a truly customer-centric organization would work to figure out why customers are abstaining from the Network and work to directly overcome those objections.

And insofar as some customers lack the Internet speed, media players or even access (the Network is still unavailable in some markets) required to optimally enjoy the Network, chasing the $9.99 price point might not even be an option. To act with obliviousness to that reality is to prove that the business does not truly know its customers and to hold customers accountable for shortcomings that might be out of their control.

Ultimately, the messaging risks turning non-Network subscribers off to the concept of spending $54.95 on a monthly pay-per-view. WWE might really want its Network numbers to rise, but wouldn’t it rather take its cut of a customer’s pay-per-view fee than nothing at all?

What Did Customers Think?

To one with a scrutinizing, analytical mind and a need to publish a customer experience blog on deadline, the harm of WWE’s Night of Champions messaging is abundantly obvious. But did its negative ramification also resonate with lay customers whose only priority was to enjoy the show?

In short, yes.

"‘you paid $54.95 for this YOU FUCKING IDIOTS’ – WWE," cracked Twitter user @shimaru.

"[WWE announcer Michael] Cole basically called everyone idiots for buying #WWENOC for $54.95. @WWE is pissing every cable co. off by promoting the Network this way," said @bdshores of the dual-pronged consequence associated with WWE’s marketing message.

"There goes #WWE again insulting part of their PAYING CUSTOMERS FAN BASE when they say they R idiots 4 paying 54.95 4 this PPV," wrote @Mugsysam in response to the comment

"@WWE @TripleH way to indirectly slam your product, ‘Just remember you used to pay 54.95 for this,’" added @TWgolfer90 with reference to the fact that WWE’s marketing tone transformed from touting cost savings to condemning overpayment.

"80% of Canadians had to pay $54.95 and they had no choice, @WWE. #RAW," commented @jamieleemac regarding WWE’s failure to recognize that some customers do not even have the option of subscribing to the network.

"@WWE BUT at least when you PAY 54.95 it doesn't FREEZE #justsaying," contributed @jimmiehcakes to illuminate the fact that some customers have rational reasons for passing on the cost savings.

Inherent to the logic-driven arguments about WWE’s marketing mistake is a prevailing sense of animosity toward the world’s leading pro wrestling company. Customers are not simply declaring WWE’s statement as flawed from a logical standpoint; they are accusing it of being combative.

In a world in which customer loyalty is everything and the sharing of negative customer sentiment can be devastating, WWE’s strategy of insulting its customers found it bound by the prison of the latter.