Internet platform "membership system" to change the law to cut leeks, pit more than avoided "focus 3 15"

Whether it is retail, takeaway or travel, culture and other fields, the epidemic has accelerated the penetration of online consumption, and traffic determines the life and death of Internet platforms.

For Internet platforms, not only to increase the monthly and daily activities that reflect the size of users and consumption potential, but also paid members are also the focus of their vigorous expansion: this group represents higher platform loyalty and higher purchasing power. Consumers also expect to pay for memberships, enjoy better and cheaper goods, and better service experience.

However, behind the beautiful commitment to membership and various red envelopes and coupons, it may be full of consumption routines. The "China Times" reporter learned that with the "member war" between Internet platforms becoming more and more fierce, the chaos of unstable member services, unprotected rights and interests of members, and arbitrary deduction of membership fees has frequently triggered consumer complaints.

Membership service chaos

At present, more and more Internet platforms have opened paid memberships. But for these paid members, how much will the internet platform give them? The answer to this may be tacit between Internet platforms: consumers who are willing to spend money will let him spend more.

Price differences are one aspect that is often complained about by paying users.

According to the complaint case released by the China Consumer Association in January this year, when a consumer purchased an electric mosquito auction on an online shopping platform, he found that when he used his paid membership account to purchase the product, there was no discount. However, when he uses his family's non-member account to purchase the product, he can receive a 5 yuan coupon. For the price differentiation that occurs on the online shopping platform, after the local consumer coordination, the online shopping platform refunds the consumer's membership fee and gives certain compensation.

But more issues related to paid memberships remain to be addressed. Membership renewal is not reminded or reminded is not in place, and the "automatic renewal" is repeatedly mentioned without the knowledge of consumers.

The "China Times" reporter saw on the black cat complaint platform that in February this year, a consumer complaint detective automatically opened a membership for it, "on the same day, I called the platform for refund, but the platform said that it would not be refunded." "At present, the black cat complaint platform shows that the complaint has been completed.

In addition, consumers also reported on the platform that Zhihu automatically deducted the monthly card fee of their Zhihu Yanxuan members twice in February this year, and the interval was only one day, but the extension time of members was still one month. In addition, the consumer also complained that it was impossible to contact the human customer service, "when collecting money, the action is fast, and there is a problem that cannot be solved." ”

In addition to the chaos of charging, a number of consumers have previously reported to the "China Times" reporter that the cancellation channel of paid members of the Internet platform is too hidden, and the cancellation steps are too complicated.

In fact, in addition to the above problems, when the China Consumer Association took stock of the complaint trend in 2021 in January this year, it summarized the poor economic experience of members, including: under the guise of various names, splitting the original membership rights and interests, recharging paid members, and members becoming "leeks"; membership services are unstable, member benefits have changed greatly; and the price of membership fees on different channels is not uniform, and the consumer experience is poor. Inducing members to join the membership with preferential benefits such as high recharge and cashback is a greater risk.

Behind the membership economy

Behind the chaos of the membership economy, the membership system has become the direction of the vigorous development of Internet platforms.

Zhang Xiaorong, president of the DeepIn Science and Technology Research Institute, told the "China Times" reporter that the paid membership system is a very popular business model at present, and the technology giants in the United States have adopted the paid membership system, so they dominate the trend of business trends. He believes that the paid membership system can achieve refined operation through data-driven Internet platforms, forming stable customer relationships and predictable recurring revenue.

However, in the process of development, some Internet platforms pay more attention to the number of paid members, but ignore the quality, causing dissatisfaction among members.

Zhuang Shuai, founder of Bailian Information, analyzed the "China Times" reporter that technical problems are a reason for the poor service experience of Internet platform members, "Member rights and interests generally include both inside and outside the station, and the rights and interests outside the station need to be realized through technical interfaces, and too many interfaces and insufficient standardization are prone to technical failures." In addition, he also believes that the irregularity of the deduction rules and the lack of ability of the platform team in member operation and service are also the reasons for the poor experience of member services.

The China Consumer Association also said in the above inventory in January this year that the premise of the economic success of members is that operators provide "return" or even "beyond expectations" goods and services for charging members, but many operators pay more attention to collecting membership fees and increasing membership, and do not pay attention to the service to members, causing dissatisfaction among members and being scolded for "eating ugly".

The China Consumer Association said that business operators should formulate fair and reasonable membership service agreements, significantly indicate content that has a major interest in consumers, strictly implement the content of publicity and commitment, effectively assume due obligations and responsibilities, and enhance member welfare and stickiness by improving service efficiency and user experience, so as to improve the competitiveness of enterprises themselves.

China Consumption reminds consumers to pay attention to the qualifications of operators and business places before joining the union, and choose a transaction object with regular channels and good credit; in addition, it is necessary to sign a written membership agreement and not to trust verbal promises; it is also prudent to recharge large amounts, be vigilant against the trap of high cashback, and prevent the risk of merchants closing their doors and running away.

Zhang Xiaorong also told the "China Times" reporter that the core of the success of the paid membership system is to be member-centered, enterprises have profit-seeking, consumers also have profit-seeking, and the two sides can find a balance point in order to achieve benign development. He believes that some Internet platforms only see the interest drive, turning the membership-centered into a platform-centric, subtracting in providing quality services, and adding to the extraction of member value, thus giving birth to a variety of "novel" phenomena that harm consumer rights and interests. "This paid membership system can be stopped."

Responsible Editor: Huang Xingli Editor-in-Chief: Han Feng