PADI Advanced Open Water Question

[Aviyes]

Sorry John, but any software engineer worth a grain of salt will tell you that edge cases must always be addressed,

Unless the company pocketbook and requirements/statement of work say no.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Unless the company pocketbook and requirements/statement of work say no.

That’s going to be some crap software. Never seen that in my years in the industry. Again, we are talking a few lines of code. That’s not breaking any budgets.

 

[jstreetley]

Even if their software doesn't trigger the cert, and they want an instructor/shop involved somewhere, surely it should trigger a marketing email - "Pop in your local PADI 5 Star blah blah today finish your AOW and don't forget if you complete your PADI Rescue Diver, you could earn the prestigious Master Scuba Diver..." type thing.

 

[Aviyes]

That’s going to be some crap software. Never seen that in my years in the industry. Again, we are talking a few lines of code. That’s not breaking any budgets.

Joys of lowest bidder government contracts.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Joys of lowest bidder government contracts.

I can see this happening for demos, but to request quick and dirty for deployments is just not going to turn out well. Anyway, I think we’ve established that this isn’t hard, a huge oversight on PADI’s part, and a missed opportunity to engage divers.

 

[Bob DBF]

Considering the manner the local PADI instructors market their services, I don't think that PADI corporate is losing opportunity by not having that bit of code. I had to stop all the email that PADI sent because of the relentless marketing, I doubt if sending a special one targeted to a diver would not get lost in the volume.


Bob

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Considering the manner the local PADI instructors market their services, I don't think that PADI corporate is losing opportunity by not having that bit of code. I had to stop all the email that PADI sent because of the relentless marketing, I doubt if sending a special one targeted to a diver would not get lost in the volume.


Bob

Bob,

That's just really bad marketing. If someone is deluged with uninteresting emails, they are going to unsubscribe or block. But if they are infrequent enough, and are engaging, then it can work. Some thought needs to go into it. I think it would be best for PADI to notify the shop (possibly via a notification to the instructor who submits the PIC) to reach out to the student. "You just qualified for AOW with completion of your deep diver class" with content that would make the person want to visit a store "as a reward, here's $20 off your next purchase/rescue class/whatever" That's something that should engage some (but not all, of course) people. You get the idea. But shotgun marketing, I think we can all agree, is really ineffective.

 

[Marie13]

They market them differently. SSI wants to sell the specialties up front, where PADI works the progression OW, AOW, Rescue, then go proffessional or do the specialties for MSD. During DM, specialties may be added as a shop requirement to make a more knowledgeable DM. Saw it happen to a friend.

Bob

I'm not really sure how SDI does it as a whole since DRIS does more the Advanced via specialty route, even though I guess they would do the Advanced Adventure Diver (equivalent to PADI AOW) if asked since it's on their list of classes. I did Advanced then did Rescue and since I had at least 50 dives, I got the MSD thingy, which kinda amuses me, but whatever. Did it all in year from OW.

 

[Steve_C]

Bob,
That's just really bad marketing. If someone is deluged with uninteresting emails, they are going to unsubscribe or block. But if they are infrequent enough, and are engaging, then it can work. Some thought needs to go into it.

You should talk to the folks at several of the charities. Give once because relative X is biking/walking/running and you get a relentless stream of email afterwards. There are several charities that I now avoid because of this.

Its like this deluge of emails asking me about my recent experience. I now delete them all since they are not really interested in what I think, they are just trying to generate ratings for the web.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You should talk to the folks at several of the charities. Give once because relative X is biking/walking/running and you get a relentless stream of email afterwards. There are several charities that I now avoid because of this.

Its like this deluge of emails asking me about my recent experience. I now delete them all since they are not really interested in what I think, they are just trying to generate ratings for the web.

Oh yeah, I get that. I was a volunteer and board member for a charity that was fairly hands off. But not all follow that model. I don’t think that people doing marketing analyze the results. They just keep blasting away.