A few weeks ago, I was helping a customer to move to Taimli.
I have done the same migration dance many times with other customers. It is boringly simple: I send the salon a link to their current software provider's export guide, they download a file, send it to me, and I use it to bring their data to Taimli. The whole ritual takes about 15 minutes of my time, and I do it for free.
This time, the salon told me that they can't find the export button in their current salon software's admin dashboard.
Strange! The provider had offered self-service exports for years, and their help center still has a video showing how to do an export. I helped two salons to move over to Taimli from them just one month ago.
I asked the customer to double-check, they responded:
We asked the company about it. They said "We removed our data export feature because it stresses our system too much".
Maybe that is true, exports can be expensive to run. I do not work for that company, I wasn't there when the decision was made, so I will not speculate on the stress levels of their servers.
But for the salon, it really does not matter. A month ago, they were able to download their own business records, but today, they can't.
Who owns your data?
I read the terms of the platform this salon was leaving.
They say things like salons own their data and salons are responsible for keeping their own backups, placing responsibility for keeping backups on the customer. They also say that the salon's data may be deleted after cancellation and that extracting the data with tools the platform has not provided or approved is prohibited.
The question is, how are you, as a salon owner, supposed to be responsible for backing up your own data without having a reasonable, permitted way to make the backup?
You end up in a situation where you "own your data" the same way you own your favorite coffee mug that's still at your ex-boyfriend's place. Sure, it's yours, but good luck getting it back.
Imagine switching accountants and hearing something like:
"Yes, your books do belong to you. Unfortunately, giving them to you would stress our filing cabinet too much, so we decided to not give them to you. But you're welcome to come into the office and we'll happily turn the pages while you take notes."
It would be a bit silly and you would probably find a different accountant. But somehow, this is how some software operates and we've come to think it's normal.
The two ways to keep a customer
I understand why companies are tempted to make leaving difficult.
It's expensive and time consuming and slow and hard to acquire new customers, and losing customers hurts. Taimli is a small company, and if someone leaves, I know exactly who it was and I have personally helped that person to get started.
There are two main ways to stop a customer from leaving:
- build a good product and earn their trust every month, or:
- make leaving so difficult that they give up.
I believe in the first way.
Making migration difficult turns the years of data into leverage against the salon. The longer a salon uses the software, the harder it becomes to leave, until renewing your subscription is not a choice for you anymore.
If I made leaving Taimli difficult, I would also be admitting that Taimli is not such a good product for my customers.
I do not want to build that kind of company.
Please don't become the bad guy
Taimli is a young company.
I have personally set up all my customers' salons on Taimli and talked with every single one of them. Because I'm the only owner of Taimli, there's nobody showing me some godawful Excel spreadsheet saying that "removing the export button could improve this quarter's revenue by 4.7%".
Maybe one day Taimli will become much bigger than it is today. And maybe the spreadsheets start whispering me very convincing arguments. Maybe someone suggests adding "helpful friction" to the cancellation experience and future Iiro likes that idea.
I would love to say that this will never happen. But money has successfully made fools of people with stronger moral integrity than mine. I like to think I'm above that, but I'm sure many other people have thought the same before becoming Mr. Burns from the Simpsons.
To have a bit of accountability, I'm writing this down today.
So, here's what the present-day Iiro believes in.
Taimli will not:
- remove export functionality to make leaving harder
- require support tickets for basic exports
- charge customers to access their own data
- intentionally have crippled useless exports just for show, or:
- intimidate customers with legalese for accessing their own data.
If I ever change my mind in the future, I can't do that so quietly, and present-day Iiro really hopes that you will call the future Iiro out on the hypocrisy.
I would love it if other salon software companies made the same promise.
Your data should be yours
Your customer list belongs to you.
Your appointment history belongs to you.
Your employees, services, and working hours belong to you.
They are not some bargaining chips that your software vendor can use to twist your arm into not cancelling a monthly subscription.
If you ever leave Taimli, we will miss you. We will also give you your data, help you understand it, and heck, help your future software vendor understand it if something is unclear. We'll also wish you luck with whatever software you choose next.
Your data belongs to you, from your first booking until the day you decide to cancel Taimli and switch to something else.
It belongs to you in the only way that matters:
You can take it with you when you leave.
