What is Your Feeling about Upsells?
While going through your email inbox or around the web, sometimes you come across an interesting offer. The offer becomes more irresistible because they say it’s free or because of its low cost.
You sign up eagerly and receive the promised material.
You go through it feeling good, but out of the blues, (if the material is free) they ask you to buy this or that if you want to “really succeed” or something similar. Already hooked, you “reluctantly” shell out money for the stuff.
But if the initial material costs something reasonable, you buy it. Then the upsell side comes in and they ask you to buy something more expensive.
Not wishing to waste the initial payment, you pay for the “wonder material” to complete the earlier one. And on reception, they may again ask you to buy a much more expensive complementary material.
This is where I abandon the business altogether and fume for some time about how they have insulted my intelligence.
Although I swear never to get into this ever again but the marketing technique is so strong that you find yourself embroiled in it from time to time.
This again happened to me about two weeks ago when a respected affiliated marketer offered to train people in how to obtain leads effortlessly. I signed up eagerly and at the end of the first bootcamp, I was asked to buy an autoresponder which will cost me $97/month!
Of course, without the autoresponder I couldn’t continue the course. Well, I abandoned it reluctantly.
Not quite, because I have bookmarked the course to go back to it when I have the means.
This makes me so angry.
This is why when I propose WA, I don’t say it’s “completely free” but “free to start” and add that after 7 days Kyle will urge them to upgrade. But they can remain free members if they are getting suits them.
Thus, when Kyle asks them to upgrade, it doesn’t come as a surprise. I don’t want anything feeling the way I do with upsells.
Fortunately there are no upsells here at WA.
New features are being added to the program now and then and every 3 years the website undergoes a complete upgrade. But the cost has remained the same.
Now, I want to know if you feel angered by upsells too or if you see it as normal since it is an usual internet marketing strategy.
Recent Comments
15
Ya Akoli, It happened several times to me. That's how I was introduced to WA and I settled down forever.
That's a good thing about WA.
hi Akoli, I find upsells are really annoying because you intend to spend a certain amount to get a particular result, but it my actually cost many times more to achieve what you anticipated. The system work for the benefit of the vendor, certainly, the whole internet world is full of underwhelming offers,Alan
Alan, you really echoed my feelings about upsellsbeing annoying, sometimes even as an insult to your intelligence. Yes, vendors use it to suck more money from buyers. I think upseling is a bit unethical, in that you're not told the whole truth from the beginning.
Itreally gets on my nerves and I hope I don't have the opportunity to use it one day.
Upsells are the one thing where many marketers actually make their money. The lower priced products are often the same as many loss leaders that the big stores sell to get you in the door.
I don't mind 1 or sometimes even 2 upsells but there are those out there that attempt far too many upsells on one product.
I use upsells as do many other marketers, but I will only put one upsell on the original product. After that, the emails take over and do the job of getting further higher priced sales.
Derek
Yes, if you do one upsell and leave the email to do the rest, then the buyer feels that they are not being made to buy something under "duress".
Thanks for your input.
Upsells don't bother me.
Try going to a new car dealer in the U.S. and buying a new car without an upsell at the end. Dealers offer a variety of after-market products to go along with the new car you just bought.
Problem with upsells are the marketers like you described. You should be able to complete the training without buying additional products. You should be able to bring your own autoresponder to the dance.
Yes, myproblem is with the marketers I talked about. I have an autoresponder. For the training in question, it was based on theirs.
Thanks for joning the discussion, Glen. I appreciate your input.
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This happens to a lot of people I am afraid, but whether we like it or not, it is clever and it does what it is supposed to, get more sales.
Stuart
It's quite common but it looks a bit unethical to me. It's like hiding a part of a gift to the child and showing the rest to them when they accomplish an initial act.
While I agree with you, suppose that as long as it works, they will not care about the ethics.
Stuart
Sure, Stuart. The religion of money is a strong one.
Unfortunately it gets stronger.
It's up to the buyers to say no at a point before it gets out of hand.
Totally agree and it can do.