I Don’t Mind Paying More for Netflix

This post from the Harvard Business Review today sums up exactly how I felt when Netflix emailed me to say they’d be raising the price of my current package by 60%. Eddie Yoon provided just the language I was looking for:

But as a consumer, I have no problem being generous to companies that have a track record of being exponentially more generous to me.

He explains that generous companies are those that provide great value consistently and lists all the ways Netflix has become increasingly awesome since it’s inception. And though Yoon, like me and everyone, doesn’t necessarily like parting with his hard-earned dollars, he says he is certainly willing to pay for goods or services that are worth it. He says this:

Netflix’s history of generosity proves to me that they will take my money and invest it in an ever-improving product.

And this:

Sure, I would like my favorite products and services to be cheaper, but I would really like them to be improved to make my life better.

And I wholeheartedly agree with both sentiments. That’s what I mean when I say he provided the language I was looking for.

My family lives on a very tight budget, especially now that I’ve lost my my full-time job and that we’re expecting our first child. We’ve cut ruthlessly into our monthly expenses, but continue to pay $12 per month for The Economist and set aside as much money as possible for food, not only so we can afford to get sustainable, high-quality products, but also so we can afford to go out once a week at least because that’s something we love to do. In those instances, we’re paying for our priorities.

So we’ll pay almost whatever Netflix asks because the enjoyment we get out of our membership are worth it to us. Besides, like Yoon said, we hope eventually we can replace our irritatingly expensive cable subscription with just Netflix and, even if we can’t, we trust that Netflix is going to at the very least continue to provide a great service.

It’s this concept of value that gets lost on the web these days. Even in the wild west environment of the web, there are things worth paying for. It’s great that you can get almost any album or movie for free online somewhere, but I don’t mind paying at least $10 for the latest record from a favorite artist, because that artist provides me with something worthwhile. The least I can do is pay him or her for the trouble.

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