Customer focus at XING?
What XING means by customer orientationCustomer orientation at Xing or what is meant by it? Recently, a wave of indignation went through social media Switzerland after Xing sent the following message in a newsletter to all Swiss Premium members: "As of April 24, 2014, we are responding to the popular request of our customers and are switching XING membership fees from euros to Swiss francs. At the same time, we are adjusting the fees for your Premium membership."The anger was directed at the massive price increase from 77 euros to a new 155 francs per year, but also at the way it was communicated. To wrap this up in a phrase "at the request of many customers" is a bit daring. A justification is provided later and justified with the new functions of the premium service. But aren't these new functions only interesting if as many users as possible use them? Specifying career wishes, receiving references from others, profile visitor statistics, search requests, sending messages to non-contacts, etc. are functions that make the collection of complete profile data and regular use of the platform interesting in the first place. This justifies the question of the strategy to massively increase membership in Switzerland in one fell swoop and thus provoke a veritable exodus. In any case, the wave of protest was massive, with many people venting their anger and writing that they would cancel their membership. What is astonishing about all this is that XING is doing this at a time when it is becoming apparent that there is an exodus in Switzerland towards LinkedIn. User preference has clearly shifted in the last 12 months. This certainly has to do with the more international orientation of LinkedIn. But it also has to do with the fact that the free version of LinkedIn goes much further and that core functions such as the display of profile visitors or references from other users are included there.
Reto Baumgartner is the owner and member of the management board of MySign AG and is primarily involved in digital branding.
