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Comment by charlieflowers | Hacker News Reader

I came here meaning to be all snarky and cynical. I was going to say there's no way Apple trained him to do that, and they'd probably fire him when they caught on to what he was doing.

Thanks for posting this and letting me know I was wrong. I still am puzzled. Apple is not shy about squeezing the bucks out of consumers. But this shows a level of customer-orientation that I didn't expect to see.

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You can make more money from lifetime customers than you can one-time customers.

One thing Apple has excelled at over its history is building a base of lifetime customers.

> You can make more money from lifetime customers than you can one-time customers.

Exactly. And not only that, as TFAA did you may well get free advertisement to friends, family and the internet at large about how nice and human the experience was likely bringing in multiple lifetime customers.

That is why it is annoying that people used to say that the only reason Apple is popular is because of marketing. Apple does so many things well.

Yes, it's similar to how some people claim Android is just a cheap knock-off of iOS despite the obvious philosophical differences. There's always a very vocal minority that put so much ego into their tech choices that make it very unpleasant to try to have a public discussion about the pros and cons of various platforms.

Yeah, unfortunately, it's just tribalism, a natural human inclination. Much of the discussion space of the internet seems to be devoted to this same sort of investment = identity problem; "fanboyism" is a common label for it, but it stems from the human need for group identification, and is alas a very easy, though shallow, way to achieve it.

Like customer service such that customers perpetuate said marketing.

People say this? Apple's products are clearly well designed and engineered.

I think Samsung is doing phenomenally well because of marketing and getting the telecoms to push their phones hard (financial incentive?)

I'm not sure about this. I think Samsung is doing well because they have great products for fair prices, but I'm continually let down by their marketing. They could take a page from Apple in this dept.

Example: Their Smart TV can be controlled with your hand in the air! I've been dreaming of this since I was 5 back in the 80's and when I saw the commercial they put out the only thing I could think was 'meh'. Even when Apple does something incremental like the iPhone 5 their marketing still leaves you with a sense of awe.

To be fair, their smart tv's motion controls were pretty tetchy when I tried to use it (at a Best Buy, so clearly not the intended scenario, but at least a foreseeable one).

I've not had a chance to try it out, shame that it's not as good as it could be. All the more reason to market it effectively :)

> Shame that it's not as good as it could be.

This describes my thoughts on all Samsung phones... littered with half-working, buggy features that would not be put into production at any other company who's primary goal isn't to check off a slew of features.

There's a common refrain below the fold on tech websites that people who use Apple products, or even like them, have been brain washed by a mass marketing campaign and that's the only reason why. 'Sheeple', 'iSheep' etc are often thrown about. Mac fanboys don't get a reprieve on that, but in general there's a theme that Apple only does well because of marketing.

This is marketing.

[not trying to detract from your wider point]

Apple really gets that in their stores. too bad they also try to hold you with non-standard things and lock-in tactics.

maybe they now that too well.

But for people that research before reaching for the wallet, it's all the same.

"You can sheer a sheep many times but you can only skin it once."

Great point. Give your customers something of value and make sure it is what they need, not just what you want to sell them.

When people feel they have been treated fairly they will come back over and over. Not being taken advantage of as a consumer is such a unique experience that it will stick out in their mind!

Google does this as well. My dad's small business was shelling out thousands on AdWords per month. Their rep reached out to us, without solicitation, and offered to optimize our ad campaigns. They did so, and saved us at least $1,000 a month. This was a few years ago but I hope they're still the same.

So does Amazon, someone reached out to us and told us that we could save around $10,000 on our hosting costs if we went with reserved instances

My bank did this to me.

Called me to say if you close and re-open your internet based savings account you will get the higher "intro" interest rate for 4 months. I explained that I had always wondered about this loop hole... Before I even got around to visiting a branch close/re-open, I read on my statement that the bonus interest rate has been applied.

This sounds more like someone boosting their personal numbers than company policy.

This can go both ways, often the reps don't have enough domain knowledge to offer you anything that will actually improve ROI. Assuming you already know your way around the adwords basics.

They may actually suggest broader terms and higher bids which will cost you more.

Apple is most definitely shy of squeezing the bucks out of customers and they've proven that they have been willing to go to bat for customers to get a reasonable price. Not the lowest, not the best, but reasonable enough to keep things within reach of as many people as possible. They've even fought tooth and nail to create whole new economies that might not have existed at all even if it means kicking the doors open for competitors. Not just for you and me, not just because there's competition, but because their strategy as a whole demands it and I think it's proven very effective for them. If they really wanted to bleed customers to maximize their profits you can bet that we would have seen SIGNIFICANTLY higher prices for things like music and iPods etc. They work hard to keep prices as low as they can without sacrificing quality.

It's not like it's some nefarious plot to create lock in either. It's simply a long term business strategy that I don't think the industry as a whole ever truly understood or appreciated until things really got tight. Apple's not the only one playing the satisfied customer game either, nor is it some novel concept, which is why it's always baffled me that folks who are interested in the long game don't bother to do the same thing on a consistent basis. Looking out for and providing customers with the best/most cost effective solutions you can offer to solve their problems creates a virtuous cycle. Sure, you may never see them again, but treat a person well and chances are very good, especially in a market like hardware and software, that you will and/or you'll see their friends.

It also gives the sales person a genuine feeling that draws customers to interact with them for help instead of the typical kind of confrontational relationship in a customer/sales person interaction.

Across the entire customer population it probably sells more stuff in aggregate than if the confrontational approach is used...

Actually it's a long-term strategy. Happy customer is returning customer.

Likely a long-term customer satisfaction thing. Someone who buys a Macbook Air and comes back and buys another one two years later is worth more than someone who buys a Macbook Pro, and, feeling ripped off, gets a Dell next time.

"Squeezing the bucks out of consumers" leaves them dry.

Apple wants them to stay customers. There are a lot more bucks in the long term.

Really anything else is an extremely short-sighted business model.

Happy customers are repeat customers. Apple understand that perfectly.

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