Priceless marketing not too smart
Greetings on this cold Idaho night!
I’m about to go off on a rant again, and I’d love to know if you agree with me – or think I’m just a cranky old woman.
You’ve probably seen me rant before about web sales pages that make you click somewhere else – like to an order page – in order to find out the price. I won’t do it, even if I’m curious, because – well, because I don’t like the practice.
Today’s mail brought something even dumber. A 4 page sales letter, along with a small 4-color brochure and a reply device. These were for a composter, and since I love gardening and would like to have a composter, I read the whole thing.
If I didn’t already know why I want a composter, the letter wouldn’t have helped me find out. It talked about ease of use, but not reasons for use. But that wasn’t the worst sin.
The price was absent! Yep, the sales letter and the reply device both invited me to fill out the card and send it in so they could mail me back more information – such as the price.
When there’s no price my first assumption is “It costs too much.” Is that what you think too? Not only that, but if the sales letter had done its job of making me want this product, I would want to order it right now – not in a couple weeks.
It’s obvious that this company spent some money mailing this to me – and why did they bother? They could have gotten the same results and saved a lot of time, energy, and money by not contacting me at all.
The same thing happened about a month ago when I made a phone call. My husband saw an ad in the newspaper for a hypnotherapist who promised to help people lose weight. He thought that sounded interesting, so asked me to call and find out more.
The woman on the phone was anxious to sign him up for a free initial consultation, but absolutely refused to tell the price. So I asked for a “neighborhood.” I said “Is each treatment closer to $100 – or $1,000?”
Well, I’ll never know. She wouldn’t tell and my husband refused to go if he couldn’t know an approximate cost ahead of time.
I don’t know where these people are getting their marketing advice – but it sure isn’t from anyone who knows anything about psychology or human nature.
That’s just my opinion. Do you agree? Or do you disagree?
I’d love to hear from you!
Marte
P.S. Would you like to have marketing tips in your in-box regularly? Would you also like a report on getting referrals and testimonials? Just send a blank email to my new autoresponder at 1shoppingcart.com
Posted: February 27th, 2007 under advertising, marketing, pricing, sales letter.