Think of any subscription service you’ve signed up to online.
My bet is all of them, every single one, renews automatically.
If they have your credit card on file, and the renewal date passes, they attempt to take your money.
This behaviour is normalised. We’ve come to expect it as a default pattern. So we, the consumer, are responsible for setting calendar reminders to cancel subscriptions and free trials. The onus is on us.
So here’s what makes Pinboard so special.
I’ve written about Pinboard before. It’s an online bookmarking tool that makes searching and tagging for saved content easy. I also like that Pinboard is built end-to-end by a single developer. He is the whole company.
Today I got an email from Pinboard that said, “This is a friendly reminder that your Pinboard subscription expires on 21 June 2022. If you wish to keep using the site, you’ll need to extend your subscription. If you don’t renew your subscription, you’ll still be able to see and export your bookmarks. But you will no longer be able to save new bookmarks, edit your bookmarks or tags, or use the search engine.”
Firstly, renewal isn’t assumed. This is a breath of fresh air. Secondly, I don’t loose access to my bookmarks; compared with many content-focused companies that threaten you with losing access to all your content once you stop subscribing.
Being a one-person operation, Pinboard can go against the grain in surprising and unorthodox ways. By not auto renewing, Pinboard has built more trust and good will with me in one interaction than many other companies do over many years.
This is an example of going against the grain that, in my opinion, is a masterclass in playing the long game.