When Your Ego Costs You Money, Choose the Money.
The customer may not always be right, but he can get back his money.
Here are rules for online marketing.
1. Make it easy to send you money.2. Over-deliver.
3. Never deliver an online information product in a zipped file.
I still find sellers who do this. I always ask for my money back.
I went to a site on Thursday. It was a site that offers swipe files. A swipe file is a file of other people's ads. I love swipe files.
The files were free. When I logged in, I got a sales pitch for more swipe files. I wanted them. I paid $49.99. (I have never seen .99 before. .95 is universal.)
I got nothing. I was not directed to a hidden page. I was not told where these files were.
Dumb. Really, truly dumb.
I waited. About 7 hours later, I received this:
I know you're going to be WOWed by all the great advertising examples in these FOUR collections Great sales copy from Halbert, Sugarman, Schwartz, Carlton, Hopkins, Bencivenga is just a click away. Not to mention Self-help packages from Nightingale Conant AND powerful and compelling copy from some of the best NFP marketers. Here's the link to the download page.(Make sure to login with the usename and password you set up)
When I clicked, I got a message.
Special One Time Offer Download PageI think you're going to be thrilled that you took advantage of this special one-time-offer.
Included in this deal are FOUR of my most popular swipe file collections:
NOTE: You'll have access to this page for 7 Days --
Make sure to download ALL the swipe files before then
So this was my free bonus, not my $49.99 purchase.
The page added this: Click on the links below to download the "Zip" file:
A zipped file. Dumb. Really, truly dumb.
I clicked on one link. I got this.
In January 2008, I wrote an article on anyone who zips a public file. Here is what I wrote.
In the world of digits, the "default setting" is convenient for programmers. A case in point. . . .Tonight, I ordered a package of direct-mail training materials. It looked like a good package. I paid $127.
As soon as the site had my credit card, it began to display poor programming. I was told I could not download the material until I inserted a special code. The code, the screen said, would be sent in an email.
It wasn't. No email. The autoresponder was dead.
I send an email to the site's manager. But the email address was goofy: two strung together.
I waited. Nothing.
Then I sent an email to a friend, who had been interviewed as part of the package. I told him to warn his buddy: dead autoresponder, angry customer.
I got a letter back from the seller in an hour. Personal. It had the code in it.
I pasted in the code and clicked. I was taken to a web page, where I was informed that all the files were zipped. I had to download Winzip. Winzip used to be shareware. These days, you have to pay for it.
In 8 years -- or is it 10? -- I have never learned how to use Winzip.
So, I have to spend more money to read his materials. So, he cheated me. His sales copy never mentioned Winzip. If it had, I would not have bought the package.
I have had this happen before: a surprise "gotcha!" involving Winzip. This was a stupid policy back in 1997, because it made the seller dependent on unreliable, confusing, third-party software. But in our day of cable modems and DSL, and bandwidth so cheap that sites that people post movies, the policy is beyond mere stupidity. It is archaic.
If a site zips a file, it had better have automatic unzipping software that opens the file for the buyer. The buyer should never be told after a sale that he is responsible for the unzipping procedure. It's his money. It's therefore the seller's responsibility to provide the automatic extraction and installation software.
It would be like a new car salesman delivering the car without tires installed. He points to a stack of four tires. "You put them on. That's your job," he tells the buyer. "And you have to pay for the special tool to put them on the car."
You know what this tells me? A guy selling a package on how to sell doesn't know the basics of marketing. He has not learned the basic principle: Keep the buyer happy by making things easy for him. This guy thinks his #1 job is to make life easy for his Website's designer.
This seller lost a sale. He also lost any promotion I planned to do if the package was high quality.
Why are sellers so blind? Because they listen to programmers. The programmers tell them, "This is efficient." It's efficient from the programmer's point of view, but not from the buyer's point of view. But programmers are not interested in buyers' views. They don't work on commission. Why should they care?
I have asked the guy for a refund. I will not read his material. I don't trust his judgment as a seller. I surely will not trust his judgment as a teacher of marketing.
Lesson: satisfy the buyer, not your programmer. Keep buyers happy. Whether a programmer is unhappy is irrelevant. Programmers can be replaced. Unhappy customers are lost forever.
P.S. I sent him this article. He replied, "I'm sorry you feel this way." No he isn't. If he were, he would have said, "You're right. I blew it. I will have my programmer fix the site ASAP."
He did say I can get a refund. Yet what I really wanted was the material.
I still had not received the $49.99 products.
I prepared a screencast showing my problem. Not many people will go to this trouble. I also sent him my 2008 article.
He replied.
Just trying to address all of your issues....I have no idea why - in your video - an ad popped up for a zip utility. Nothing I set up.
The files are zipped to make download quick and easy - because they're smaller.
My intention is that you would download the zipped swipe files to you computer. Once downloaded you'd then unzip them (the actual files are pdf's)
So, he has set up a system that relies on a third-party software. This is always a mistake if there is any alternative. You are not in control of your products.
Second, he says it's not his fault I got the ad. Yes, it is. He zipped the files. (I have tried to get Winzip off my hard drive for years. It is permanent. I hate Winzip.)
He says this is efficient: faster downloads. In an age of cable speed downloads, there is no reason to zip anything.
I got my technical guy to try to access the files. "I can not get access to the files. I registered for free, but the website sends me in a circle trying to get me to login over and over."
How could this happen? Simple. The guy does not regularly beta-test his own site. He assumes it's fine. This is suicidal in the realm of digits.
What about my $49.99 products? He wrote this: "You should have received a link for downloads." I didn't.
"If not, no worries, here's what to do. Once you're logged in, simply click on the "My Downloads" link in the navigation bar. Your product download page will be available there."
I did as he asked. I got to the page. Here is all I saw.
Product DownloadsThis will be the page with links to all product downloads
(Use the wishlist "hidden" short codes)
THEN use each download page in submenu
There is no wishlist. The hidden short codes -- whatever they are -- are indeed hidden. There is no submenu.
Obviously, the guy does not know what he is doing. But he does not listen. It's all my fault.
I asked for a refund. But I wanted the products -- unzipped, of course.
If he wants more money, he will fix his site and his entire system. But I doubt that he gets much money. I doubt that the site has enough traffic to generate feedback from disgruntled customers. Its Alexa ranking is 400,000+. So, he probably will not bother to fix his site.
I look at a marketer like Bob Bly. He sends me a daily ad in the form of an email with a link to a product. I buy twice a year. I never have any problems downloading anything he sells. He does not use zipped files. He prefers money to this explanation: "It's not my fault."
Learn from successful people. "If it's broke, fix it." Otherwise, you will be broke.