The Wall Street Journal offers me ridiculous value.
The content they produce is informative and insightful.
The newsletters I get as a subscriber suggest books I should read and movies I should watch.
I like the various contests they allow subscribers to enter and the various discounts on select goods and services to which subscribers are entitled.
I really like the live interviews they do with interesting celebrities, where subscribers can not only stream the conversations live but also send in questions ahead of time for the interviewer to consider.
And I really, really like the fact that every month, as part of my subscription, I get to choose one free e-book and one free audiobook from a curated selection.
Books like Build, Boundless, The Art of Business Wars, Arriving Today, Where You Are Is Not Who You Are, Getting to Yes, and Never Split the Difference to name just a few of the titles I've chosen since I began subscribing. If you were to buy all seven books listed above on Amazon.ca right now, it would cost you $146.92... more than six times what I pay for my annual WSJ subscription.
The Wall Street Journal is delivering ridiculous value to me right now.
Am I a profitable customer? I don't know. I only pay $24 a year thanks to a special promotion I found last year, but as a Canadian, you could argue I'm not the WSJ's primary target and the (very little) revenue I deliver to their organization is 100% incremental. Also, it's been reported The Wall Street Journal is a very profitable business, so they're clearly doing something right.
But in terms of the value I receive? I can't think of many better ways to spend $2 a month than how it's currently being put to use.
And that's the sentiment all businesses should strive to have their customers feel:
"What I get is worth far more than what I pay, and it doesn't make sense for me not to buy."
It's easier said than done, but the positive impact you'll realize if you can make it happen is probably worth the effort.
