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Post by zazzles on Feb 28, 2019 0:53:31 GMT
zazzles Why don’t they ever listen to us? LOL…don’tcha know that businesses, especially struggling ones, always know more about what their customers want and need than the customers do.
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Post by bbbearsmom on Feb 28, 2019 0:55:58 GMT
zazzles, She's blaming this on bad marketing and is going to fix it with better marketing. She's missing the point that the way they are doing the program now doesn't work.
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Post by zazzles on Feb 28, 2019 1:17:44 GMT
zazzles , She's blaming this on bad marketing and is going to fix it with better marketing. She's missing the point that the way they are doing the program now doesn't work. Yep. But the little QA at the end where the last analyst asked about the plan for 2020 was interesting. Without saying they are preparing to introduce program changes for 2020 she did, in fact, virtually say it. And you’d think SOMEbody who’d been around a long time would have clued her in to the fact that if you don’t modify the food plan in SOME way for a new year, you’re not going to rope in the former members who look for the annual “miracle” of the new plan.
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ladymajky
Transcendent Member
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Post by ladymajky on Feb 28, 2019 2:19:42 GMT
Wouldn't a major marketing plan be presented to the CEO for review and sign-off before it goes live? She blames the major financial fail on a bad marketing plan that did a poor job of transitioning from the old corporate image to the new corporate image, yet she would have had to approve the new corporate image, the transition plan and the marketing plan. Now she blames her minions??? Where is her responsibility in this? Where is her ownership of the new direction and plan?
I have been noticing the new tag line "Weight Watchers Reimagined." In my experience, things that are "reimagined" are rarely as good as the first version.
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Post by itsrad on Feb 28, 2019 2:33:43 GMT
WW had three focus groups:
People sitting in meetings.
People using the online program.
People on the old message boards.
They failed to tap any of those resources. This failure goes back years - precedes Mindy.
I sat in meetings 5 years ago and watched the program (not the food program, the presentation piece) change for the worse. Without giving a hoot about what those of us sitting there thought. "Watch the video, listen to the sales pitch, and shut up and pay us."
I used the online program. When I cancelled because I thought it was worthless, I was never queried about why I was leaving.
I was on the message boards. As an enthusiastic member, as an unenthusiastic member, and then as a disgruntled non-member. At no time did any representative of WW express any interest in my opinion. (Unless you count my being "chastised" by a leader for my annoyance at some of the changes.)
Until WW decides to listen to its members, to listen to its resigning members, and act like they might actually care about their customer base, they are doomed to continue to fail. That is the problem with its marketing - it is tone deaf.
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Kitty
Transcendent Member
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Post by Kitty on Feb 28, 2019 7:22:46 GMT
I also found the earnings call transcript fascinating. Of course, they had to try to explain it to people who are just interested in the numbers. They seemed to be basically saying (1) we didn't tell people that WW was Weight Watchers (2) so we didn't get a meetings member bounce like we expected with the new years (3) we especially didn't get former members to return.
Whenever I read these earnings call transcripts I always want to ask the questions because those asking may know a lot about finance but don't really know the right questions to ask.
I do think that the WW thing was lamely done. Mindy did say they are committed to using that term though. They think they need more of a bridge to it but they haven't backed down.
As far as not getting new members to come in -- I wonder why they thought they would get a big bounce. They did nothing new. Sure, they get the New Years people and always have. But, those people have lots of choices now. The people most alienated from WW are the former members. Of course, they are less likely to come back. They seemingly want to have it all. They want the new young online members. But, they want to returning members.
One thing that was clear in the call was that the most negative numbers were in studio+digital business. That is they failed more with monthly pass meeting members than they did with the pure online members. That isn't surprising either. But the biggest problem they have is one that didn't get mentioned directly. That is, a lot of the problem now is that FS doesn't work for lots and lots of people. The product is bad. They did indirectly allude to it be talking about their new plan for next year. I get the idea that it will have some real changes. But -- having gone to 0 point foods for so many things I don't see an easy way to put that toothpaste back in the tube.
The other day I was reading an article (a study) about why it is so hard to keep off lost weight without regaining. One of the things mentioned over and over in the study was the importance of behavior changes. It talked about the importance of teaching people how to handle weight regain and how to handle the behavioral aspect. They mentioned doctors should encourage patients to get help with these things include through various programs and mentioned WW specifically. And -- that is where WW can actually be helpful to people. But, it is that area that gets short shrift now.
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Post by linda72 on Feb 28, 2019 12:28:05 GMT
having gone to 0 point foods for so many things I don't see an easy way to put that toothpaste back in the tube. Kitty,that is so true. It will be interesting to see just what "new" thing they're going to try. I don't think they can tout success with Freestyle because too many people are not having success. Learning how to lose and maintain is much harder but can be done.
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Post by ann1953 on Feb 28, 2019 13:43:10 GMT
Only thing that I want to add is the small church where our meeting is held is freezing cold in winter and never been there in summer so can't say LOL....our 'leader' coach of what have you picks someone to READ the weekly hand out while we all sit and follow along! I now just go once a month to keep my lifetime status current. And as for the 'trinkets' they give out when you have X amount of points? I'll buy that junk at the dollar tree. End of vent
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Post by zazzles on Feb 28, 2019 14:34:40 GMT
Kitty, LOL at the toothpaste analogy, but so true. I’m sure those doing Freestyle who are sticking with it by year’s end would be as outraged as we all were when we lost PointsPlus and the GHGs and incurred the sugar/satfat penalties of SmartPoints. Given that the downturn was with the Studio+Digital, that suggests to me that part of Mindy’s strategy is kind of working—building the digital business. But at $20 a month ($240 a year), how viable is that in terms of long-term retention of members when so many good alternatives are available for free with enhanced premium memberships of $40, $50, $60 a year. I read an analyst blog on SeekingAlpha this morning that predicts WW’s cash flow for the next year or even two will be going into debt reduction. And he mentioned the oddity in the projects at Q3 end that they poohed-poohed in last quarter’s earnings call saying it was an earnings warning in disguise and that this quarter’s results are a 2nd earnings warning. He pretty much summed up with “put your money elsewhere.” I noticed that the trading volume, usually 1M to 4M a day, was 9M on Tuesday and 37M yesterday. Makes me curious why the sell-off started before the results were released after market close on Tuesday.
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Post by borntexan on Feb 28, 2019 15:07:07 GMT
I did receive one of many emails from WW reimagined offering me 1 month free,no startup fee and a bunch of newbie stuff in a box but it was for a 6 month subscription.No way would I go for a 6 months subscription.
Having said that I don't think they can take away the 0 point foods without the usual uproar that went when PP went to SP and I was upset about that one along with everything else but now smart points seems to work for me.Maybe their scientists can come up with a way actually teaching portion control of the 0 point foods.It's a thought anyway.
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Post by zazzles on Feb 28, 2019 15:23:54 GMT
Having said that I don't think they can take away the 0 point foods without the usual uproar that went when PP went to SP and I was upset about that one along with everything else but now smart points seems to work for me.Maybe their scientists can come up with a way actually teaching portion control of the 0 point foods.It's a thought anyway. Or maybe they can hire competent IT consultants to figure out how to program their system to support multiple programs. They have the data in their database; they have the formulas; it wouldn’t be rocket science (for competent programmers).
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irisinnia
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Post by irisinnia on Feb 28, 2019 16:29:57 GMT
Having said that I don't think they can take away the 0 point foods without the usual uproar that went when PP went to SP and I was upset about that one along with everything else but now smart points seems to work for me.Maybe their scientists can come up with a way actually teaching portion control of the 0 point foods.It's a thought anyway. Or maybe they can hire competent IT consultants to figure out how to program their system to support multiple programs. They have the data in their database; they have the formulas; it wouldn’t be rocket science (for competent programmers). Someone somewhere in that company knows that all these apps: iTrackBites, UltimateFoodValueDiary, etc. are using their old programs. How stupid do you have to be to see other people capitalizing off of your stuff and not say "Hmm, maybe I should bring those back?" Not to mention it would be the perfect cover for their "wellness" strategy, they could simply say, "We don't talk about points because every program is different, but we focus on wellness."
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Post by NatureLover on Feb 28, 2019 16:36:12 GMT
zazzles Why don’t they ever listen to us? I was a staffer for 15 years and they wouldn't listen to us who worked on the front lines and knew up front and personal what members wanted and needed.
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Post by jamescat1 on Feb 28, 2019 17:27:54 GMT
zazzles Why don’t they ever listen to us? I was a staffer for 15 years and they wouldn't listen to us who worked on the front lines and knew up front and personal what members wanted and needed. @naturelover I am sure you did. There is such a disconnect between clients and corporate.
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Post by Laura M on Feb 28, 2019 17:32:43 GMT
But -- having gone to 0 point foods for so many things I don't see an easy way to put that toothpaste back in the tube. Agree, you can't go from 0 pts and then back to pointing anything. They could, however, offer some advice with the 0 pts. How about what an actual portion is, and if you eat more than that portion there's a chance a higher portion will get pointed. This handing out a pamphlet and saying "all these foods are 0 and you can eat up until you're satisified, not stuffed" is setting up failure. As we've heard many say "If I knew when to stop eating, I wouldn't need WW." There needs to be some guidance with that list. Remember the good health guidelines that you checked off daily with the older plans? Despite the claim that they keep up with the newest discoveries..... they've yet to realize that a slice of regular cheese is healthier than a slice of fat free cheese (is ff even actually cheese?). They've yet to figure out that there is a difference between sugar and added sugar in a product (yeah I know it's because of the nutritional label that they have an issue there). And they've certainly never have learned that one size doesn't fit all and consider apps like itrackbites....there's proof that you can do them all. Maybe they should hire them!
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