On subscription options

I picked up the latest issue of The Atlantic, mostly to read James Fallows’ feature on Google and the future of the news but as soon I opened the issue, as with any print magazine, a pile of those subscription cards fell to the floor.

Glancing at the cards, I soon found myself slightly confused by the different offers each card made.

Now, this one makes sense. Pay $19.50, get the magazine sent to my place for a year.

However, the other cards had different offers:

This one I really don’t get. Pay $19.50 (same price as above) and get three “free” issues. Only thing is, the total number of magazines is exactly the same as the first offer, so how are the three issues free?

I guess the only difference is the ability to cancel after three issues, which someone who is subscribing through a magazine they have already bought would be unlikely to do.

Then…

Twenty issues for $29.50 PLUS a $5 Starbucks card. (that’s enough for what? One cup of coffee?)

This one seems even more odd since the first card (the one that makes perfect sense) is offering 20 issues for $34.50.

Of course, being Canadian, I have to add $8 to all those prices, but that’s still a better deal than other magazines – Wired charges quadruple the U.S. price for Canadian subscribers.

Now I’m all for paying for quality journalism like that of Mr. Fallows, but I find it a little weird to be doing price comparisons on said journalism within the magazine itself, particularly with confusing sales wording (free issues that are only free if you cancel your subscription…)

It would seem to me that it would be easier to gain customers by keeping things simple.