Hey guys, I've got a kind of controversial question for you today and would love to know your views on this. Seeing as this is a webmasters forum, I assume you've read/seen your fair share of IM sales pages. Many of these pages include a "only 500 left" and everyone knows that these are complete bulls***. Don't get me wrong, I know that a few marketers keep their word on these but the majority are just marketing tactics. I have a script which displays a unique number to each visitor and makes that number go down each time he/she refreshes the page. This was could easily be used as a "Number of copies left:" kind of tactic but I want your opinion as to whether or not this is recommended/looked badly upon etc.? What if I were to use it in a slightly more ethical way. Say there were 500 copies left and keep my word. Still add the counter so the user can see supposedly "how many copies are left" but immediately close access after 500 are sold. What’s your view on this? I would be keeping my promise of only selling 500 but would be using a trigger on the customer by showing the amount of copies go down before his eyes. Every time he re-visits the page, it goes down some more and so this would create an incredible amount of pressure on him to buy. So, what are your views on this emotional/marketing sale trigger? Kind regards and thanks in advance for your views. -LetMeAdvise
That would be an interesting way to force the customer to buy. I would be pissed if I found out the it was a fake counter, though.
These days more and more Internet users are getting smarter. With that said, why not use something that works for BOTH the smart and the dumb users? Personally, when I read something like "500 copies left," I know the Webmaster is full of shit. They would have lost me, and have lost me as a customer.
Give better proof than fake testimonials and you'll have a sale from me. Without good proof I never buy.
Ye? Well, the script i have makes it almost impossible for them to tell. Even if you look at the source code, it looks like the figures are just being pulled straight from the back end and are actually love results! I was just wondering how ethical you guys thought it was? And live-cms_com, this script would obviously be accompanied with a great sales letter full of proof, testimonials etc. -Dave
I think counters turn people off. Internet marketing has changed and people have learned that these types of gimmicks are pure crap. I would just be honest when you make the sales page and forget the counter.
Interesting. Maybe if it was a counter in the top right which looked like a actual statistic. Either way, i'm nt going to use it, but will make it available (for free) for other users. My other question is, is the same view shared for those "date" scripts? The ones which add the date of the previous day to make the page seem more up to date. Do these put you off too?
The date ones are fine. I am sure that will be a good idea because sometimes these offers are not valid so a date would seem like it is current.
Lying to your customers will result in you losing the respect of anyone who finds out. But you may not mind that. At the very least, you probably want to make up something more realistic than saying you will stop selling a product. Who would believe you would stop selling something if it makes you money?
Well if your selling a real product not a virtual product it might work but if your gonna change the amount of products available why not just start off lower. How many poeple coming to your site for this product are repeat visitors. I usually buy it if I want it or don't. The only exception is if it's kind of pricey since I might shop around a bit than come back.
I always keep my word! If i say there are only 500 products i mean it. "Who would believe you would stop selling something if it makes you money?" That's a pretty stupid question as this tactic is used by almost all marketers. Scarcity is a fundamental rule of marketing. Each time i release something i limit the memberships and keep my word. As soon as the limit is reached, i pull the blog. The addition of the countdown would only serve to show the users the amounts going down faster than they are. At this point, i'd just like to clarify that i dont and have not used this technique so no need to "flame".