An Update on Freaky Friday "Pay What You Can" Campaign

I wanted to give everyone an update on our Pay What You Can campaign that ended on Tuesday.

The campaign ran from Friday, March 13 to Tuesday, March 17.  The idea was this -- In this economy, we wanted to give people for whom our usual $125 membership was a bit steep an opportunity to tap into the resources that AIIM provides -- at whatever price they choose.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was a little concerned after watching The Office last week and Michael's Willy Wonka Golden Ticket idea that I was a bit worried.  Well, the worry was misplaced.

A total of 192 people participated in the offer.  Geographic distribution as follows...

• US – 142
• UK – 7
• Canada – 23
• Other Countries – 20

The prices offered roughly made up a bell curve centered around $50-60 (normal price = $125).  I have to say that end users tended to be more honest in their pricing; those who tried to game the system by low-balling it were mostly consultants (shocking!).  Brings to mind the Claude Rains quote in Casablanca:  

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds? 
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! 
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money] 
Croupier: Your winnings, sir. 
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much. 
[aloud] 
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once! 

But even with that observation, it's a reassuring vote on human nature that 85% or so I think honestly tried to interact and price the offer accordingly.  And most encouragingly, here were some of the comments that we received...

• Just wanted to say thanks and this is a really creative idea.
• This came at the perfect time as my dept is no longer paying for memberships and this has to come out of my own pocket.
• I lost my job recently and so I wanted to say thanks because I wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise and I really like what you guys do.
• Why are you doing this?  I can really name my own price, no strings attached?
• I’ve been interested in you guys for such a long time and this makes it possible for me to join and check out your benefits, thanks.
• You guys really get it, what a great idea.
• Your membership is already worth the $125, but this makes it accessible to me as it comes out of my own pocket.  Thanks.
• You don’t know what this means to me, thanks.
• God bless you guys for doing this promotion.   

So thanks to everyone that took us up on this and helped spread the word.

Might be of interest -- Have you checked out our new ECM and ERM training courses?  Just redone and relaunched -- they are awesome.

Comments

[Bob Zagami]

I want to commend John and the AIIM staff for addressing the financial challenges that many in our community are impacted by today.

I'm delighted to see that 192 people were able to take advantage of AIIM's generosity and are now professional members of our Association.

Bob Zagami
Chair, AIIM International Board of Directors