Is the hype/scarcity email model heading towards the buffers?

Might be on its way out. But it might be that it has been around so long that a lot of people are using it even more than they did before. When folks that are new and even people who are not new to IM read about particular strategies, those strategies don't often come with a time stamp on them to tell how old or worn out they are.

I think that might be why you can still find ebooks about blogging and pinging for sale and at the giveaways.

Could also be that someone promoting an IM product thinks that the product won't be received well if this kind of email is not used. I guess it could also be that the strategy still works on some people, but not you so much.

I would say it is more of a lesson in how others do marketing campaigns.

How one should do them is another matter.

Nope. But there's a growing backlash against it.

The way most people provide a scarcity incentive is to lie, because they don't understand how there can be scarcity on a digital product at all.

Someone says "only fifty copies will be sold," and their subscribers say "Wait, what? Why? You can sell all the copies you want. Why would you only sell fifty when you could sell a hundred? Or five hundred? Or a thousand? I'll bet you're going to sell all the copies people order, whether it's only fifty or not."

The question is, would the seller rather have a few extra bucks in his pocket... or the integrity of honouring his word?

Is there a downsell? "I will only sell fifty copies of product X which is a great deal. Oh, I'm sorry, they are all gone - would you like product Y instead? It is not as good a deal, but it is better than nothing."

Is there a list? "Product X is gone. Join my mailing list and I will tell you if it is ever made available again."

How about just an affiliate link? "SOLD OUT. (some banner ad)"

Any one of those approaches can absolutely dwarf the profits from your initial 50-copy product.

But a lot of people don't investigate that question. They just say "I don't understand why anyone would do this... it must be a lie."

And then they start their own mailing list and make their own product, and just plain lie. Because they think that's how it works.

And the audience is getting more and more fed up with it, because it's not clever marketing. It's just a lie. And more people are getting caught by it every day.

It wasn't long ago that someone sent me a quote from a canned JV mail which said "only 500 will be sold" along with a quote from the vendor's JV partner list saying "we sold 8,000 of these last week; let's try to sell 10,000 this week." The vendor never had any intention of restricting the supply to 500, and indeed hoped to sell twenty times that number this week.

Which is not really a good thing to say out loud when your affiliate program is open to everyone. Lying to your customers is not a market strategy.

My understanding is that the vast majority of those that succumb to this approach are newbies. By definition, newbies have not been around long enough to see this methodology as anachronistic and hackneyed.

It probably will be with us for a bit.

You're just on way too many lists!

Hype sells, Suck up!

I'm not sure why the last thread on Mass Money Makers was closed, it almost seemed like because many members were telling it like it is (lies and hype and plain wrong) that the thread was closed. Many so called experienced and successful marketers were actually suggesting it is okay to lie, or at best were disguising a lie as hype and saying it's okay to do this.

So I'm going to reply here to some comments and hope that this thread isn't closed due to mass disagreement on selling ethics....
@LizTomey
As I said in my email the sales letter is so flippin hyped up. I love Matt dearly. Have learned a ton from him, but this is his style along with many others. I come from the school of here is what my product does, here's who it's for, you should buy it if... No crazy claims.

I don't care if you love him or not, or whether or not you've learned a lot from him, or if 'this is his style'. He's lying and that is plain wrong. How can you defend a liar ?

Is it right or wrong to fill your sales page full of hype? I don't do it, but I wouldn't say its wrong. Is it wrong to lie? Damn right it is...
I wont judge anyone...
You don't lie but you wouldn't say it is wrong ? Maybe you should judge him, some people need to be told that it is wrong to blatantly lie. Knowing you are lying to sell a product is the worst kind of lie. Get real and stop defending someone who lies to make bucks.

@GlennH
'When does 'hype' switch to be become downright lies?
We've all seen more of this stuff it in the past year than ever before.
And it's getting worse.
You can bet someone from the FTC is sitting on the sidelines watching all this, and I have no doubt they'll bring out the 'big stick' and come down on someone with it sooner rather than later.

Absolutely right Glen, let's hope it's sooner rather than later, it has to stop.

@Kyleb
'It has nothing to do with any of that Jason. The fact is they lie on the Sales page.
Are you saying they are not lying about the number of copies being sold?
That's really all there is too it. It doesn't matter if it is the best damn product int he world.
If the copy is full of lies, the marketers are unethical. There is not much more to be said about it. If you defend it, you are casting your lot with them and it shows your character...
A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future. ~Author Unknown
We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad Williams
And who can argue with any of that Kyleb, everything you said is just spot on. Why are people defending these people ?

@Liztomey
I don't promote anything just to make a buck. I promote things because my peeps rely on me to tell them what works and what doesn't, and I wont promote something that doesn't.
How about telling your peeps that the sales copy contains lies and as such the rest of the blurb cannot be trusted ?'

@Vincenzo Oliva
The basic $37 (without upsells) is a steal. Great advice from Alen Saltanic who's a borderline genius.
Truthfully it's really Alen's course with Matt as the big named "host" like Ryan Deiss has been doing lately.
BUY THIS

Why would I buy from a sales page that tells lies ??
And there's a fine line between 'Genius' and insanity.

At the end of the day we all have to agree lying to make a buck is plain wrong, it is not up for discussion, it isn't a trick question, it isn't something we should have to think about..... it is what it is, a lie is a lie. You can disguise it as hype but deep down we all know we are being lied to.
Now if that is part of so called marketing then so be it, not a lot we can do about it because there are people that will continue to lie to get paid. All we can do is make our own decision not to purchase.

But don't tell me because someone has 'taught you alot in the past' or 'this guy is successful' or 'this guy is a genuis' or this guy 'has a massive list' that it is now acceptable for them to lie to make even more money. Remember most of the time these 'successful' and wealthy people generally target newbies and naive people who are broke and just want to find a way out of their situation.

It is absolutely the worst kind of lie.

One day Internet Marketing will be controlled and these people will fall away, then the genuine marketers will make this industry a safer place, a place where newbies can flourish and the experienced can become even better and teach others. The more these liars continue to do their stuff then the quicker the day will come.