Know Your Audience
Know Your Audience
Last week, I tossed up an article about an online bank that's offering a $50 bonus if you sign up with them and deposit $100 within 14 days. This promotion is going on through August 5th. I was already a member of that bank because I liked the 2.25% APR they give me on my balances, no fees, and I do all of my banking online anyway so I don't need to use a brick and mortar entity.
As such, I knew this bank was legit and the offer was amazing. Who wouldn't want to make a 50% profit on their $100 deposit with literally no work other than signing up for an account, which might take all of 10 minutes to do? Add to that, that you can share this offer with others and, if they sign up and deposit the $100, you get a $50 bonus too!
You can earn up to $10K via this promotion and get entered into a drawing for $50 on top of that. To verify the program actually works I tested it by signing my mother-in-law up for an account. Sure enough, she got the $50 bonus and so did I. Awesome!
I immediately wrote a review post about this bank and the offer and published it on my Small Online Biz website, social media accounts and so on. I even setup several Site Comment requests here at WA, figuring one of our members might read the post and even sign up themselves...
Guess what? Not a single sign up yet. Seriously. I don't know if my readers are just holding off, if my shared link isn't working right, if they're just skeptical or simply not interested, or maybe they think it's too much work for $50, etc.
Yes, the post only went up 4 days ago but I thought I'd get something by now...
This just goes to show you that you may think you know your audience but, in reality, you may not. Perhaps my post would be a better fit for a site about making a quick buck here and there.
So Where Did I Go Wrong?
This is the question I'm asking myself. Here are several others I'm asking as well:
- Is my assumption that my readers would like to make a quick buck wrong?
- Do I give them too much credit when it comes to taking steps to make that quick buck?
- Are they simply not willing or able to transfer $100 to a new account?
- Do they not trust me enough yet to consider my recommendation?
- Are they not even reading my post?
- Am I presenting the information in an offputing way/could I do it better?
and so on.
So, Is it Me or is it Me Not Understanding My Audience?
Now I'm asking you. Please take a look at my article here (I'm not sure if putting it in this post breaks any WA rules. If it does please let me know and I'll remove it.) and let me know your thoughts. What could I do differently/better? How do you feel after reading it? Any advise/constructive feedback is welcome.
I really thought I'd get some conversions on this as it's a no-brainer to me. I was pretty surprised to see that this was not the case.
Thank you,
Scott
Recent Comments
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True. I've only had that experience with one bank and they're no longer around... Washington Mutual.
I need to read your article, as I didn't see it. I am not sure that I would respond because of where I live...why would I want a bank account somewhere else? I imagine they would allow out-of-state memberships, but then I wouldn't use the account, so that seems rather odd. They might not approve of folks just setting up accounts and recruiting if you weren't involved with the bank. What do you think?
The idea is to potentially replace your current bank, save on fees and earn better interest. I'm not sure where you're located when you say out of state...are you in another state or out of the States? It is a US-only option right now.
I actually signed up with them months ago as I do all my banking online and 2.25% is much better than my current .01%.
lol...at this point it IS my retirement plan...come visit when you retire (if I am still on the planet.)
It's Alaska in the summer, probably in the Kenai area and a boat in the tropics during the winter.
So many opportunities and offers that seem so good on the face of it turn out to be a waste of both time and effort, its not your fault, its the current trend to offer something which turns out to be not what you thought it would be, people are becoming more careful, because of their hopes getting dashed. Not your fault, just too many sharks.
I totally understand. I'm just not sure how to convince people of actual legitimate opportunities when I come across them. I think it's a time and trust issue overall. Eventually, I'll build it and they'll consider it just because they trust me.
Scott, I read it. My first thought was it looks too good to be true if thats the case it is then its false so people shy away from these issues due to thinking its a scam. It could have been written better with the intention of explaining its not scam and its real and they could call the bank themselves and find out if its real or not that way you give them credibility that you are genuine in what you say. Thats how trust is build up. Just saying.
Good point...I'll go ahead and edit my post a bit and put in a line saying they can check it out for themselves and provide the number, etc.
Thank you!
I added the following:
Before I get into this I want to let you know that this is a legitimate offer and not some scam, even though it does really sound too good to be true. To that effect, you can call SoFi's customer support at 855-456-7634 (SoFi) and verify the offer. You can also see that this is their actual Customer Support phone number pulled directly from their Contact Us page.
That looks good. Hope that will be effective. Also if you're using email marketing add that in as well and in social media if you use it.
I think most of us has been scammed, and just reading the promotions seems too good to be true, but I think after this post you will be getting some sign up.
I understand this. I guess it's then a trust level issue with my readers. I haven't built it up enough for them to take the offer for what I say it is.
Thanks
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Here is my thought....
I have a local bank account here in Texas and both mine and my husband's checks are auto deposited every week. All my bills are payed online, most of which are auto drafted against our debit card every month.
Even if I knew that was a legit offer, it would be such a pain in the rear to move all that crap over to another account. 50 bucks...even a 100 just isn't worth it...to me anyway.
Now, if the online bank you're talking about had an outstanding savings account that we could have part of our check go to every week....money being deposited that we would never miss and not easily touched.... that would be worth filling out the paperwork at work!
Maybe you could promote somewhere along those lines.
Hope this helps,
Jen
They don't differentiate between savings and checking. It's just an account. That said, do you have a savings account that offers better than 2.25% now?
I, honestly, have no idea what interest rate our savings offers. It has been so long since we opened that account.