Note: Today’s video is a little longer than usual. However, it’s worth watching all the way through, because it contains an example and explanation of an extremely powerful marketing method (starts at [02:38]).
Question of the week:
Let me know your thoughts and comments!
Please leave a comment below.
Note that I don’t reply to all comments, but I do read them all. If I don’t reply to your comment, it most likely means that I agree with what you say and don’t have anything meaningful to add, myself. I appreciate and read all comments and your comments play an important part in what I write about, so keep them coming.
Spammy comments are always filtered or removed. No surprise there.
Note that I don’t reply to all comments, but I do read them all. If I don’t reply to your comment, it most likely means that I agree with what you say and don’t have anything meaningful to add, myself. I appreciate and read all comments and your comments play an important part in what I write about, so keep them coming.
Spammy comments are always filtered or removed. No surprise there.
You also have hidden fees in http://www.gravityforms.com/. There is absolutly nothing the is not an hidden fee fot this plugin.
Great video! My trigger is when the pricing and features are very plainly laid out with simple explanations. If they are up front and plainly spoken – I will buy it. If I feel there are fees down the road – I hit the road.
I can clearly remember the trigger that not only resulted in my first ever online purchase (and many, many more to follow) but also what lit the beacon for which I was to follow several years later.
Around 2000 I was looking to venture into Internet Marketing and one of the first purchases I made was ‘Autoresponder Magic’ (I think that was the title) by Yanik Silver, basically a compilation of approx 300 pages of email autoresponder messages that had been used by various marketers to sell info products online.
After trying several times to buy the product – I think it was about $19 and, being unsuccessful on each attempt (remember this was before Paypal) I eventually gave up and sent an email to Yanik, basically telling him what I thought about his set-up.
Almost immediately I received a personal reply apologizing for the wasted effort and my time and giving me the download link to the product, for FREE!
Of course being an absolute newbie at the time and never having experienced this sort of customer service before I was gob-smacked and amazed that someone half-way across the world had just given me something that I was prepared to pay for!
For years after, that simple action resulted in me buying most of Yanik’s early info products and eventually signing up to his $5,000 coaching program. Not a bad return for him just for providing a freebie $19 digitally delivered info product eh!
A Big Lesson learned – this provided the model and mind-set that I would follow to this day – treat your customers as you would wish to be treat yourself, then just do that little bit extra as a bonus to surprise them. Job done, one very satisfied customer for life.
Sorry if I’ve rambled a little but I frequently think back to this first online purchase and wonder how different things could have been had Yanik responded differently.
Regards
Hi Maurice,
That’s a great example! I believe that always acting in your customer’s best interest eventually pays off and this is definitely an illustration of that.
Very interesting Shane. You have come to the same conclusion I did and for the same reasons when going through this same process a couple months back. You’re right, Freshdesk’s marketing operation must be doing something right.
A tip – I’m not sure what level of Freshdesk you are using but if you are using ‘Garden’ or higher because of the multi-product functionality I know you can make this modification fairly easily. Garden is the level we are currently using and what we did was with a slight mod to our cnam dns record that allowed us to update the URL we provide users to link to our help desk. Just to help with branding a little bit.
So, rather than imimpact.freshdesk.com you would have the ability to use the link help.activegrowth.com or any other sub-domain name you desire.
This branding capability can also be configured on the product level. For example, help.secockpit.com.
However, there is an argument the other way I guess. If you are a smaller operation and your prospects see that you are using a powerful help desk solution like Freshdesk that this may lead them to feel that you take customer support more seriously say that others that have a free solution or just an email address.
Another tip – You have the capability to have users just send an email to a predefined email address or send them to your Freshdesk URL. We have completely removed the email address from our pages and instead always try to send folks to the our help desk URL. There is some added functionality the users get when the actually sign into your help desk, including the ability to add fields which you spoke about in your video, that we feel is helpful in providing better support to our customers.
Anyway, good luck with Freshdesk and many thanks for the post!
Tim
Thanks, Tim!
I saw the multi-product feature, but for now, I think I’m fine with having one centralized place for all our stuff. I’m not sure yet whether I also want to use the forums with feature suggestions and all that, but I’ll probably give that a try. There, having one central place is probably also better.
Having said that, it’s definitely good to have the option of multiple desks all going to one place.
Hi Shane,
I am a newbie and want to thank you for your honest approach. That is what is my “Trigger.”
I don’t like the OTO, and the up-sells, and down-sells that come with so many products. I am on a short budget and it turns me off to purchase a product and then be told that if I REALLY want to make money then grab this OTO.
I understand that is how marketers make their money, but I would rather them add that one time offer price to the original product. If they are up front, and the product seems like it will work for me, I will consider the purchase.
Thanks for your insights in the video. I will continue to look for your updates.
Thank you, Richard!
The upsell conundrum is a tricky one. It’s just such a massively profitable thing to do, it’s no wonder that it’s such common practice.
I think it’s all about the way it’s done.
Some types of upsells make people angry, while others can be welcome.
Of course, the way it’s usually done in IM, with multiple up- and downsells is quite annoying.
The tactic in the video of providing an actual link that that says “hey we are not sneaky and everything is open and above board” is incredibly clever as they are tapping into a massive frustration and annoyance experienced by people with other companies, which as you say will be enough for many to sign up.
Honesty and being upfront counts for a lot, and personally I will even pay more if I trust the company providing the service.
Roger
PS. I hate multiple upsells, one I can handle but after that it just pisses me off, you just feel cheated.
Hi Shane,
Great post, usually when as you said they talk to you exactly about what you are looking for. It is every time I felt “finally this is what I’ve been looking for”, for example I bought hybrid connect some weeks ago and I did it because how everything is outlined…
Shane I want to ask you something out of “theme”, if you whant to answer will be very appreciated.
What are you using for the non-public part of the blog? I see is kind of a complex url and I’m trying to figure this out to implement it in my website…?
Thanks.
Jesús
Thanks for your comment!
The non-public pages are actually really simple. Only two things are required:
1) The pages are noindex/nofollow (any SEO plugin will have these settings as an option) and not linked to from the public part of the site.
2) They are all sorted under a “non-public” parent page. This is not even necessary, I just do it so that I can better organize my content.
That’s it! :)
Hi Shane
What one of the clinchers is for me is when I’ve checked everything through and it’s looking like something I want I’ll go all the way through to the checkout to make sure the price I’m really being charged is same as the one stated earlier. With the exception of the UK’s Viscous Added Tax of course. It would be unreasonable to expect that to appear in the sales figures as it doesn’t apply everywhere.
I’m pretty sure that many of those abandoned shopping carts vendors moan about so much is down to this. The only sure way to know the upfront cost is to go right the way down to the shopping cart. Any differences (other than VAT) flag a warning.
I’m always happily surprised and comforted when the figures match. This usually only happens when the vendor has taken the trouble to explain everything. Including upsells and down sells and whether we need them or what they add to the overall value of the main product.
If I’m looking at an expensive or crucial item then I’ll search beforehand to see if there are any reviews available. These often highlight the odd downside or talk about the upsells. The exception to this is when the product is completely new but I’m buying from a trusted source. Hybrid Connect was one of those. I got in very early.
Not quite a ‘tipping point’ report but certainly part of what confirms my buying decisions.
Thanks for another interesting update Shane.
Cheers
Tony
Shane,
Being upfront on all the costs – is a really good way of attracting customers who have faced issues of hidden costs. But the real issue is, companies love to make profits – and every individual will have their own “reasonable” limit to the margin percentage they want to attach. You might think 30% is reasonable, and your CEO might think if I dont pitch for 50, I might not last beyond this year – the board could kick me out. You see, the marketing division cannot always be upfront, because they are paid NOT to be upfront with everything. They are paid only to get an audience (marketing campaigns are often measured with pipeline numbers first.. before sales revenues) It’s the sales division’s job to ensure they are converted into prospects. Beating your sales division left, right and center usually works for most large companies. You see – this marketing – sales intentional disconnect / fracture works for many companies, because that stops the salesman from evaluating their own product. They don’t want the ground personnel to think that their product sucks – even if it did. So marketing provides them the BS, sales gobbles it up under the pretext of “product training” and are made to parrot it to their prospects/customers. In this english-english translation, the fine print does dissolve away, unless you ask them upfront.
While Freshdesk is a small company, I can understand them being upfront about everything… as they grow, as the pressure to increase profits – increases – it would be interesting to see – if these values are retained.
Thanks, that’s a really insightful comment!
I hope Freshdesk can keep doing what they’re doing and that they won’t succumb to pressures like this. Time will tell, I guess.