I'm a blathering moron! (Why didnt I see this sooner?) FTC workaround!

9 replies
Now the catch here is that you MUST be promoting a quality product. If your not, it will BITE YOU IN THE ASS.

Affiliates can do this to-not just product owners. Simply incentivize your traffic so they come back to your site after purchase (think bonus..)

Anyways to the point-

Add a feedback box. A Results box. Call it whatever you want; and allow USERS to come and submit their feedback. You CAN delete negative feedback; but ideally you wont get any.

I've been testing this for a week now, and in addition to providing a bit of legal leeway to show individual results; it turbocharges conversion-mine usually jump about 17%.

I find alot of interested parties comment just to see if it really works (Alot of bluefarts use fake comments, think google cash offers)-

Anyways once they see that I'm actually letting anyone say whatever they want and even popping in and answering questions they jump straight through the sales funnel and buy.

Just thought I'd share!

Thats it for tonight warriors,

-Jordan

Ps: Be sure to put a disclaimer above, or at the bottom of the page stating that "These comments are contained in a public forum. Company X offers no incentive for users to post here, and does NOT moderate the comments contained herein except to remove spam. We define spam as a crude, offensive statement and any form of solicitation.

Pps: My own legal disclaimer. I'm not a lawyer; you should seek the advice of one if your curious about the new FTC regulations.
#blathering #ftc #loophole #moron #rulings #sooner #testimonial #workaround
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    I wouldn't be so confident you're circumventing the FTC. They clearly state if you provide any examples, you must provide typical results. You have no way of knowing if the results are typical from among those few who submit a response. Additionally, if you're not collecting their real names and contact information for the authorities to verify the "testimonials" are from real people and not just something you made up, they may not even be legal. Lastly, if you're deleting responses that are unfavorable, you're definitely not showing typical responses, you're unfairly weighting things in your favor for the purpose of making sales - that's the way the FTC would view it in my opinion, which I base on interviews I've listened to with FTC officials.

    I'm not telling you what to do, but for me, I believe it's always better to work within the law than to try and find ways to circumvent it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Profit-smart
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      I wouldn't be so confident you're circumventing the FTC. They clearly state if you provide any examples, you must provide typical results. You have no way of knowing if the results are typical from among those few who submit a response. Additionally, if you're not collecting their real names and contact information for the authorities to verify the "testimonials" are from real people and not just something you made up, they may not even be legal. Lastly, if you're deleting responses that are unfavorable, you're definitely not showing typical responses, you're unfairly weighting things in your favor for the purpose of making sales - that's the way the FTC would view it in my opinion, which I base on interviews I've listened to with FTC officials.

      I'm not telling you what to do, but for me, I believe it's always better to work within the law than to try and find ways to circumvent it.
      Thats exactly what I'm doing.

      A comment board is protected by ISP regulations.

      Now you might get into trouble if your deleting unfavourable comments; assuming the FTC goes after you. But the whole idea here is to stick with quality products; since the comment board is public its not realistic to police it 24 hours a day.

      In addition to that, you would have your server logs (Which the FTC would look at) and those would clearly indicate who was commenting from where.
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  • Profile picture of the author Louise Green
    I think this is why the WSO board works so well.

    It's feedback from real customers, instead of the typical kind of testimonials you see on sales pages.
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    • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
      Originally Posted by Louise Evans View Post

      I think this is why the WSO board works so well.

      It's feedback from real customers, instead of the typical kind of testimonials you see on sales pages.
      Louise,

      Any chance you can provide a link to that board?

      The one I'm using doesn't seem to be giving me those same results. :rolleyes:

      KJ
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  • Profile picture of the author Sylonious
    The FTC has no way of knowing that your "honest" comment box is any different than that of any other flog. Especially if you delete all of the negative responses.

    They will just assume the worse.
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Actually, I think you have hit a good workaround. The reason it works is it is real comments, it is not 'I made 5K in a day' in big bold ad copy. This is exactly what 2.0 web is about and what was envisioned it should be.

    I do not think you have to delete a post that makes a big claim if done this way. As said, before you get a post that makes a big claim, you have to have a product that CAN give those results which means you are not making false claims. More than a work around, this is what the FTC would say was how testimonials should be done. As long as all comments remain visible, good and bad.
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    • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
      Everyone is crazy about this silly ruling by the FTC. Some of the top marketers even have it displayed below every post on thier blog or in the sidebar.

      No need for any of this all you need is your links like usual i.e. just like where you always hid your privacy policy.
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  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    Stores like Best Buy and Amazon use a similar technique, displaying comments and reviews from customers. They don't weed out negative comments, although I believe they would edit out profanities or raciest comments. They clearly state that the comments and reviews only represent the viewpoints of their authors.

    If you are doing this I would also not weed out the negative comments, instead reply to them professionally and use them as an opportunity to demonstrate excellent customer service.

    I don't see how anyone, FTC included, could complain about that - and your honesty and professionalism could probably get you a few more customers.

    Bill
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