Internet Marketing Traps and How to Recognize them
My series of posts about internet marketing isn’t just about the people who practice them and churn out profits. Nope, as much as possible, this is about you too.
Yes you – the person who purchases online and is lured by consumerism, the person who is being bombarded with advertising and promotion deals everyday, the person who has to watch out for his pocket and make the most of every penny.
Yes, this is very much about you.
The first thing you have to realize is that internet marketing banks on your impulses. Maybe you went to an online shopping store to buy something in specific, say Amazon. But did you know that Amazon regularly updates and improves their shopping system to induce people to buy more of what they actually want?
That’s why you keep on seeing recommended lists, or those under that says ‘people who bought this item also bought…’, or probably there’s the discount and the sale area, or gift certificates that you might wanna use.
See, internet marketing is made to target your impulse. Something that you need to keep in check all the time.
That’s just the basic part. Let’s go to some of the most-practiced tricks that marketers use to lure you to shell out your hard-earned money.
The Review Tactic – “That’s bad, get this instead!”
More and more buyers are getting savvy with online purchases. Especially when it involves digital products (like ebooks, online courses, memberships etc.). So what these savvy people usually do is to check out reviews first (you know, to see whether there’s bad feedback or to verify that it’s not a scam of some sort).
The problem is marketers will always try to outsmart you (yep, that’s pretty much the marketing game). Here’s the counter-strategy they use: say for example you found this ebook about “Rocket Abs- get those abs in less than a Month!”.
If you’re a health buff or is some dude who’s bound to go to a beach trip or something, this ebook will be very tempting to buy. Then again, you’re savvy so you check out by Google-ing about good reviews.
Chances are, you’re going to spot a site that contains a negative feedback about the product. The thing is, negative feedbacks is more believable than positive feedbacks (people easily mistrust than trust). So what this marketer will do is to bank on your willingness to easily accept negative feedback.
The trick happens when a marketer badmouths the product you are currently interested in, and as he implants doubt in your mind, he’ll use it to his advantage by then promoting another product and enumerating why it’s a better over the other. You might wonder, ‘what’s the catch?’. Well, if you study the price difference, you’ll realize that the one he’ll promote at you is actually more expensive and will yield the marketer more commissions. See the logic? 😉
The Buy or Regret Tactic – “Don’t go yet, one time limited offers, here’s a discount!”
Well, this one is something you’re very familiar with. I mean, this might as well be the most used and over-abused marketing tactic there ever existed. Just to make sure though that you know them all (because first-time, innocent consumers will always exist), I’ll run them down and discuss the tactic.
- There’s special discount if you buy now– this is most likely true only if the product has just released and a marketer is trying to hype it. But if you feel that there’s no buzz really about the product (you just stumbled on it through ads or search engines), most likely, that discount has been around since… forever. It’s just there and it never changes. So by default, what you’re actually seeing is not a discounted price but the regular price (they’ll just put a higher price about and slash it with a red line to make it look like there’s a discount).
- Bonuses awaits you– well yeah, this can be an enticing offer. But always remember that your objective as a buyer is to get a useful product. It shouldn’t matter whether or not there are bonuses involved (because honestly, sometimes it’s just repackaged products with reseller rights) as long as the main product is something that you really, really, need.
- Going away? Wait, there’s an even better discount!– these are simply auto-discounts. Remember times when you hit the ‘x’ button and a chat box pops out with a sort of customer representative chatting with you? Then it’ll most likely give you all sorts of reasons to stay- like an even better discount.
‘There’s More!’ Tactic – “Hey wait, you might like this, and this, and this too!”
If there’s one thing a marketer loves more than a successful sale, guess what, it’s getting more sales from you! These are funnel systems- systems that are arranged in a systematic order to get you to purchase… and then do more.
The common style is this.
Sales page –> if you don’t buy –> pop-up discount or redirect to an email catch phrase –> if you enlist, hello more marketing offers.
Or this,
Sales page –> if you buy –> redirect to product sign-up page etc –> then redirect to more offers and bonuses –> this can usually lead to many levels until they exhaust your spending capacity good luck wallet 😛
Be Savvy, Be Very Savvy
Like I said from the get go, internet marketing is all about how to translate your impulses into concrete cash-flowing sales. So really, a marketers’ job is simply to entice you and let your desire to spend and get materials kick in.
At the very least, you have to be very wary about how the system works. So you know the kinds of impulses you’re being directed at. But if (and this is a very big IF), you have money to burn, then why not go for the buy. Just double check you’re not being lead to a scam.
