MoviePass Shows Small Businesses the Power of Membership Programs — as Long as They Work!

MoviePass is a new service that essentially lets customers see one movie in participating theaters every day for just $10 per month. The service creates an obvious incentive for customers. Unfortunately, the service might still have some bugs that need to be worked out.

Business Insider recently tested out the service and ran into some issues, however. First, the app didn’t update with the customer’s information from the website. Then the live chat feature on the website offered a less-than-stellar solution that would have required the customer to actually buy his own ticket then receive a refund later. Eventually, MoviePass fixed the issue. But it wasn’t exactly a seamless experience.

Membership Programs Bring Customers Back

MoviePass can offer some important lessons for small business. First, the idea of the service is one that small businesses could try to emulate in their own unique ways. It’s a low cost way to get people through the door more often. So if you have a local business, maybe you could start a membership club or coupon special where people pay a small monthly fee to get great deals every time they visit your store or restaurant.

But Test Your Membership Programs Before Launch

But the second lesson is about the way your initiative actually works. If people sign up for something like this and it doesn’t work the first time — maybe there are tech glitches or your employees aren’t up to speed on how to handle those purchases — it can turn those customers away from your business forever. So make sure you really test your initiative to work out all the kinks and ensure that your employees know exactly what to do, or all your great local marketing efforts could be for naught.

Image: Moviepass.com

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