Whether you’re a DIYer or full service customer, Web.com wants to make a mint selling you more than just a domain name.
If you’ve ever registered a domain name at Register.com or Network Solutions, then you’ve undoubtedly received their follow-on sales pitches. These pitches cover everything from Facebook services to premium domains.
Web.com CEO David Brown gave a good, succinct description of how this works on the company’s earnings call yesterday.
…let’s take an example of do-it-yourself customer who came to buy a domain name. The sales process actually begins at the instant that they come to the website as they pick their domain name. They then go through a process where they’re offered other services that would make that domain name really valuable, things like privacy for the domain name so they don’t get spammed by the rest of the world and then a website so they can get some value from it. And then periodically, thereafter, they receive e-mails from the company, and they’ll also receive a welcome phone call from the company, making sure that they’re having success with their new product and offering them additional things. That’s a DIY customer, domain customer. If it was a customer calling us, who bought — who saw our TV ads, they would be buying our new custom website product, which has almost 10 different products bundled together and it gives them everything they need to get found on the first page of a local Google search. And so then they’re going to get follow-up phone calls talking about things like Facebook and some of our other enhanced products. So it is an ongoing marketing effort and customer service effort, whether you’re a DIY customer or a do-it-for-me customer. And it starts from the instant you make contact with us.
“Web.com wants to make a mint selling you more than just a domain name” OR you could say, “Web.com wants to make sure customers needs are met so their small business succeeds online”
Follow-up phone calls? Run away!!!
I suspect more companies will start calling due to the new RAA requirement that they verify whois information. Why not turn that additional cost into a sales opportunity?
Networksolutions has turned into a complete nightmare to transfer domains away so I have stopped bidding completely on namejet.
Just from my bidding Namejet/Networksolutions is losing thousands of dollars because I do NOT want to wait 3 days for an auth code after clicking through page after page to request the auth code in the first place and to top their total nightmarishness they many times just decide to NOT to send the auth code at all and tell me to call USA to sort things out.
It seems Web.com has decided to turn Networksolutions into the same kind of total nightmare as register.com was previously in holding their customers hostage and running upsell after upsell.
Running overly aggressive upsell strategy works in the short term but in the long term it pisses people off and this is what is happening with networksolutions.
Demand Media should demand that Networksolutions and register.com stop holding domains won at namejet as hostage because scaring away bidders will lower demand media’s profitability.