Lovefilm lure back ex-customers with new PAYG service

By Anna König Staff Writer Wednesday, 17 October 2007

LoveFilm Pay As You Go Read our reviews of: LoveFilm DVD Rental Lovefilm Pay As You Go Other DVD Rental News See our other recent related news stories: Is Lovefilm Any Good? IT'S hard to ignore Lovefilm these days, but is Lovefilm any good? Anna König compares Lovefilm to its nearest DVD rental rivals and uncovers some interesting facts.

DVD Rental giant Lovefilm is luring back ex-customers with a pay-per-rental system that allows customers to rent films as and when they feel like it.

Lovefilm's pay-per-rental system – dubbed Lovefilm Pay As You Go – allows customers purchase blocks of ‘credits’, and then use those credits to rent films as and when they feel like it.

The company identified the biggest reason customers were leaving the Lovefilm service was because they simply weren’t using it enough.

"We have found that one of the most common reasons for people leaving our service is they are not using it enough," says Jason Norris, Marketing Manager of LoveFilm.com.

"So we decided to offer these people the chance to rent as they like while still enjoying everything we offer – exclusive interviews, competitions, celebrity top 10s and so on."

Pay per rent

The pay-per-rent model is different from Lovefilm's usual subscription model where a constant stream of DVD’s are sent by mail, watched, then sent back in order for more discs to be sent.

LoveFilm.com currently offers two pay as you go rental packages; Auto Top-Up and Non-Auto Top Up.

With Auto Top-Up you credit your account with a certain number of DVD rentals for a flat fee. After six months, your account will rebill you. This package is excellent value for money, with single DVD rentals coming in at just under £2.

With Non-Auto Top Up, the package will expire after 6 months, even if you have not used up all your credits. You will not be rebilled, however. If you break down the pre-rental prices, films start at around £2.40 per rental.

Aimed at ex-customers

LoveFilm.com is aiming this package largely at ex-customers, who found that unlimited DVD rentals did not fit in with their lifestyles.

"We are offering this to previous customers and we have decided to also see if there is a demand for the service from people that have never tried LoveFilm. It’s more of a response to what we have been asked for, but we think it is also a better option than paying high street prices," explains Mr Norris.

Bruce Stevens, DVD Rental Reviews editor at DVD Rental comparison site ChooseDVDRental.co.uk said: "This video-shop style scheme is a far less stressful way of renting DVD’s, as customers will no longer feel they have to watch their monthly quota of films simply to get their moneys worth from their subscription."

"However this package is not for spur of the moment film viewers, as you will need to rent your film a day or two before you sit down to watch it," he added.

Stelios does it too

LoveFilm.com is not the first online rental company to introduce a pay as you go rental scheme. EasyCinema.com (who is, however, powered by LoveFilm.com) offers a similar package, though they are the only site powered by LoveFilm that do this.

As LoveFilm’s Pay As You Go rental packages are not available from the standard LoveFilm.com website, you will need to sign up from www.lovefilmpayasyougo.com.

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