Xing wants to win back Swiss customers

The outrage was huge: The Message from the Xing Fail group was one of the most read and discussed articles on Werbewoche.ch in recent months. As a result, numerous angry users announced the termination of their accounts on Twitter. Specifically, the social network was accused that Xing had implemented a hidden price increase for Swiss users as part of the switch from euros to Swiss francs. Depending on the contract, the increase amounted to 65-85 percent. Compared to German users, Swiss customers would now pay almost twice as much.

In the current issue of the newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag, Xing CEO Vollmoeller comments on the federal shitstorm to which his company was subjected after the price increase. In doing so, he regrets not the adjustments, but the communication: "Today, we would communicate more clearly." According to Vollmoeller, the switch to Swiss francs should have happened long ago. The increase in new customer prices for Swiss customers "by around 25 percent" was a normal adjustment. The reasons for this are the renewed product, the costs and the price structure in the competition.

Swiss prices are now around 35 percent higher than German prices, he said. "Swiss customers benefit from the renewed premium product and additional offers," Vollmoeller said. "The higher price comes about because we have higher costs in Switzerland. We have a team here, we place ads here, we use the infrastructure here." In addition, the product is "significantly cheaper than that of the competition."

Most users were annoyed that they, as existing customers, had been raised to the new price level. Vollmoeller argues that this is common practice - people also pay the current subscription price for newspapers. The Xing CEO does not want to reveal how many Swiss have cancelled their subscriptions. But the company wants to win back these customers. Only time will tell whether this will be successful. (hae/SaS)

Image: ZVG