Honesty Is A Policy

The Consumerist has a piece about Customers Fight Back Over Fake Amazon Reviews.

A couple of things strike me;

The Amazon review system has a bad reputation.
The comments at the consumerist are an education in themselves.

hewhoroams writes

“Note to self, create multiple accounts when posting fake reviews. Also, always be sure to throw in one seemingly negative thing that isnt’ that bad.”

There’s many a review site that already uses that formula.  But as Frank Kern has often pointed out knowing that the mechanism is in place doesn’t mean it’s not going to work.

Dooley writes,

“I rely on Amazon reviews when deciding on certain types of photographic equipment, but I only take heed when there are MANY reveiws, and I can tell when someone is bullshitting in a camera review, because their claims are usually outrageous (at least compared to other reviews both on Amazon and on other websites like BHPHOTOVIDEO.COM)”

Now there’s a sensible shopper, or as we used to say when I was a kid – a comparison shopper.  So if your potential customer is going to comparison shop make sure they come back to you by having a really great offer of real value.

ElizabethD writes,

“Consumer review features that I actually find useful are the ones on Target.com and Sierra Trading Post. I never even bother looking at reviews on Amazon.com; everyone seems to have an agenda.”

She has written a wonderful testimonial that gives the reader a couple of choices to go elsewhere.  Let’s hope Amazon is paying attention.  Actually I’m sure Amazon is paying attention they are one of the most innovative shopping sites on the web.  Notice she writes she doesn’t bother with the reviews, but the implication is she does bother to shop there.

codepage9 writes,

“What about a competing company that creates positive reviews for their rivals then calls them out using ANOTHER account? The internet is a tricky beast.”

Welcome to the world of “business”.  Novelists have been using this one for about as long as the novel has been in existence.  And then there was Shakespeare with all his plays.  Anyone remember parts of Lear?
codepage9 is one of the new breed of writers and artists, the ones who write serial novels for cell phones.  He has created a novel in comments.  He gave the plot twist and others in their comments begin to tell the story.

So to sum it up, business is business, tools are not the business.

Embedded Video Picked Up By Google

Web pages can now rank in Google Universal Search if you’ve embedded video clips in them.
Read more at digital inspiration

Whose drum beat are you marching to?

Organized marching, singalongs, college sweatshirts and what happens when you tell someone they’re out of step.
Read the NewScientist article

From a marketing point of view we might want to consider using interactive polls that bring people towards a common goal.

Sometimes 100 Cents Feels Like It’s Worth More Than A Dollar

ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2009) — We all know
that $1 is equal to 100 cents.  But a new study suggests that, in some
situations, people may behave as if 100 cents actually has more value.
more

The Coward’s Guide to Picking Up Girls

The Coward’s Guide to Picking Up Girls

Posted using ShareThis

This entry is a classic about trying to do anything.  Ostensibly it’s about picking up girls but if you step back it applies to do anything, to overcoming that initial fear and learning to just do it.

I got to the article because I went to Digg to see what was going on and it was about halfway down the landing page with 450 hits, more than most.  But the truth is it’s the headline that’s compelling, it addresses the needs and fantasies of most men.

I’m reminded of something that Anthony Robbins wrote where he said that in order to anchor a certain behavior you should tie it to a strong emotion in particular the sex urge.  This articles headline captures that dynamic.

The other thing is to notice the ShareThis comment above.  The blog has uses it and made it easy for me to use the article.

The One Time Offer

I have begun noticing that in the Internet Marketing field there is a lot of this one time offer or OTO strategy.  My initial reaction is not positive.  I resent reading a sales page, finally deciding to spend my money on something, and then after I’ve spent the money being made this wonderful offer that I can only buy this one time.

And what makes the offer wonderful is that it builds on the initial sale.  All the reasons you bought it in the first place are added on to, only you have to spend more money.  And that’s where I feel slightly ripped off.

Now I know that marketing is all about persuasion.  Hell all of life is about persuasion; from convincing yourself to get up in the morning, to doing the things you have to do to reach your goals, to ….  Well you get the point.  I don’t mind merchants trying to convince me to buy something, I’ll take a good set of benefits over features any day of the week.  But the OTO is a tad slutty.

I know the argument for the seller is that the buyer is already in the buying mood so it’s easier to get more money.  And the argument for the buyer is that they deserve something extra because they are first in line, or whatever.  Hmm that’s the point.  You are rarely if ever offered the OTO because you were first in line or because you had bought something from the merchant before or ….

The OTO is pretty much a “while you’re excited” strategy; it’s a lot like lap dancing. Establishments that offer lap dancing are up front about it.  Personally I don’t go in for paid lap dancing as I don’t like half-way measures.  But I don’t object to it or to establishments that offer it.  I can choose to walk on by.

The trouble with the OTO is that it’s hidden.  It’s like I went into a store to buy a juicer and after they tell me I’m getting everything I need and I fork over the money they say, “Oh because you’ve already bought this, to ‘really’ make it work well you need…”

I didn’t like prick-teasers in high school and I don’t like them now that I’m supposedly all grown up and I don’t like OTO teasers.

I’m not against the OTO, it’s the teaser part I don’t like.  I guess for me the acceptable OTO is definitely an add-on.  Perhaps it should be something not directly related, or perhaps part of another deal.  How about an OTO where you get the discount now, but if you put it off you either pay more or have to buy other products.

It’s all about how the offer is made.  It’s all about the context.  I don’t mind lap-dancing for money at the strip joint I do mind lap-dancing for money if I’m on a date.