Dear Harvard Business Review

Thank you for your recent requests for me to renew my subscription. As you know, I’ve been a faithful subscriber for many years.

I find your content valuable, interesting, and certainly authoritative.

However, that is no longer enough.

I used to read HBR from cover to cover every month.

But in the past couple of years the amount of information finding its way to me has increased dramatically.

At first, I started to use the article synopses in the back of your issues to select articles of interest to me. I would only read those articles but I still read every word.

As the amount, brevity, and quality of information I received from multiple sources increased still, I found myself picking up my HBR less frequently. When I did, I would skim articles, occasionally reading one if it was immediately applicable to my situation.

As of today, I have not even picked up an issue in almost a year (other than to move it to my overflowing bookcase).  

I must commend you for your move to get your articles and full text online. I appreciate it. However, I rarely feel compelled to visit your site.

The bottom line is that I’m not getting what I need from you.

If you’d like to keep me as a customer, here’s what you need to do. 

Charge me the full subscription price you currently charge me.

Do not send me a print HBR.

Give me unlimited online access to search and read the full text of all HBR articles past and present. 

Enable me to manage my views of your content according to my interests (I need some tools).

Permit me to download a set number of full text article pdf’s during my subscription period (I would be happy with 12).

Charge me, or allow me to upgrade my subscription, if I want more downloads.

You don’t need to worry about cannibalization because I’m leaving.

You aren’t cannibalizing anything. In fact, you might just retain me and attract new subscribers with this model.

Please send me the sign-up email for this service and I will gladly continue to send you my money.

Thank you.
Ann Michael

Comments

[Karthik Bangalore India]

Ann,
Wow,
What a great example of meeting the customer requirements. I am planning to Subscribe to HBR taking advantage of the introductory discount to HBR South ASIA edition in India. This post has made me more stronger to Subscribe.
However, the other side is I have issues with the type of Credit cards which I want to use for subscription. I am struggling with customer service of HBR in New DELHI for me to contact and resolve so that I become a subscriber. Wonder whether it is also local cultural issue???

Any way this post kind of lifted the feeling of a bit of helplessness.

Regards
Karthik
Bangalore, India.

[ann michael]

Hello Liz -

Isn't it funny how your whole perspective as a consumer changes when you see that someone is out there paying attention!!!

Ann

[ann michael]

Eric –

Thank you so much for your response. I can’t tell you how excited I am that you showed an interest and took the time to comment here.

I love HBR and had been a subscriber for about 7 years.

I had found your blogs (through Bob Sutton’s personal blog) and I do find them very informative.

Any plans for more general (yet moderated) user generated content?

Do you work closely with the editor of the print publication? Might any of the online originated content find its way into the print?

Any plans for video? You could create “snippets” of good presentations (from your conferences or even classrooms!) around certain topics (you could even integrate that into HBR Answers).

What’s the average age of an HBR subscriber? Is it increasing, decreasing, or staying the same?

I spent some time last night and this morning going through the site again in more detail. I wrote up some notes that I will email to you privately.

What’s exciting to me about HBR Online is that there’s so much potential there!!!

I do wish you luck (and I might just subscribe again just to watch your progress).

Ann

[Liz Strauss]

Congratulations, Ann. It's great to see that you have made a difference. Congratulations, Eric Hellweg, for listening to an intelligent reader.

[Eric Hellweg]

Hello Ann
I'm the executive editor of Harvard Business Review online. I found your post during one of my regular blog searches for our publication and was struck by your letter. I forwarded it along to the editor of the publication as well, and it spurred a constructive conversation.

We're in the process of radically redesigning our Web site to allow some of the features you mentioned. You can visit us now to see our first steps; the others will arrive starting in the fall. We're exploring things like online-only subscriptions and definitely plan on rolling out much more personalization for the site (the ability to store the articles of interest to you). We've already unveiled the ability to search and read all articles past and present, depending on your subscription level. And we've created our first online-only tool- HBR Answers, where we answer managers' most pressing business questions.
We're sorry to have lost you as a subscriber, but wanted to let you know that we're working diligently to improve our online offering. Hopefully, when these new elements are ready, it'll be enough to draw you back into the fold. In any case, we appreciate your letter and welcome any of your future feedback on our online efforts.
Best,
Eric Hellweg