Do you lie to your viewers in your videos?

by Chris Thompson

Posted: 13 years ago 15 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I'm curious what everyone thinks about this tactic.

Tonight I got an email from one of the gurus. He starts off his video with the usual curiosity builder, then a very quick intro of who he is and says "In this 17 minute video you'll discover..."

I just looked at the source code and downloaded the vid instead. It's not 17 minutes long. It's 30 minutes long!

So he's lying at the very front of the video, and sure, it's a white lie, but it starts on the wrong foot as far as I'm concerned. It makes me think, "If he will stretch the truth here, he'll do it everywhere else too re: product claims, etc".

What do warriors think? Justifiable lie to get people to watch? Or unacceptable marketing tactic?

#lie #videos #viewers

edwink 13 years ago

Don't believe any of those morons selling $37 clickbank loophole 17 minute videos that will change your life.

All junk.

Should we lie to our viewers? I say no. I think that is not acceptable.

But then again, everybody's perception of what's right or wrong is different.
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- VanessaB 13 years ago
  
  SHOOT! That wasn't me was it? LOL.
  Maybe he's just an absent minded type like me. I had an hour of audio, but once it was cut and edited, it was only 30 minutes. Luckily, I had someone proofing for me so I could fix the copy, but I don't always have that luxury, and sometimes, it's a big OOOPS!
  
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openconnect 13 years ago

I personally think any type of lying is a terrible way to do business. Your reputation and credibility is all you have in business and even the smallest white lie can tarnish that. Not to mention, why do it? Any sign of being unethical is a sign of someone I don't want to do business with.
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- TravisHarper 13 years ago
  
  The "misrepresentation of the truth" is what makes a bad name for internet marketers. There are many good, reputable marketers out there that get looped into the same group with those that don't care what they say as long as it gets the sale. It is wrong.
  
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aminur 13 years ago

Most of those sales pitch are total BS. It's funny how they start the conversation. Shut your door, turn off your phone, turn off what ever your are watching bla bla bal. It makes me laugh. They need to add 1 more important thing. When they say turn off every thing, First thing to turn of is the Whole pc and just go for a walk dude. That's going to save you money. If any product actually promised to make you $100 and charged you $37 i would say fair enough but no $37 in to 100k a month . ha ha..god i purchased so many of them rubbish when i started first. feel bad for the total newbies. God bless them newbies.
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Chris Thompson 13 years ago

Just to be clear, this was a $97 product from a guy who usually puts out reasonably good quality stuff and he's one of the big names. Not a CB product. Not that it matters.

He DEFINITELY knows his video is not 17 minutes, I'm quite sure of that. I started this thread to get a sense of if others agree with me that lying like this is not acceptable. Sounds like the verdict is in. I'm glad others agree. Big diff between 17 min and 30 min. If you'll lie about something that simple (length of video) what else will you lie about...
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- Richard Van 13 years ago
  
  Just playing devils advocate here.
  
  I assume you must have been interested in what was in the video?
  
  If it had been a book and instead of 17 pages, you got 30 pages on a subject that interests you, would you have seen this as a lie or a generous act?
  
  Don't get me wrong Chris, I see exactly where you're coming from. It also wouldn't surprise me as a lot of people are sick of watching autoplay video's with no indication of how long they are. On that basis, it could have been a lie to make you watch it all the way. I've heard a lot of people over the years say you should always sell on a "7" price point, i.E $7, $17 etc, maybe that's where he got the 17 minutes from?
  
  As for lieing and is it good, in my opinion, no way.
  
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spearce000 13 years ago

No. It's not cool to lie or make misleading claims in your videos - it could even be considered fraud in some circumstances. Anyway, saying a 30 minute video is 17 minutes is pointless as it will be spotted right away.
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Chris Thompson 13 years ago

Richard - good question. Sure if the info was good then I don't think anyone would consider it as being so offside. But it was a pure sales pitch with no value.

I was interested in studying his method of using video since I recently converted over to a no-control video sales page. My vid is 19 minutes.
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- Richard Van 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Chris Thompson
  
  I was interested in studying his method of using video since I recently converted over to a no-control video sales page. My vid is 19 minutes.
  
  19 minutes? Now are you sure about that? Or do you just want me to watch it?
  
  How is the no control sales page converting?
  
  I'm interested as I've heard one or two people say they don't like them and I'm not too keen either, however, I have no evidence as to their effectiveness.
  
  Let me know how it's working for you if you don't mind Chris.
  
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  James Clark 13 years ago
  
  I don't think that would bother me too much if the content helped me make more money. But if the content is the same old stuff, then everything that is said would bother me.
  
  But I just don't understand how you can make such a mistake in the first place. If you write down 8 paragraphs with 25 words in each one and work like that through the process you should not have a problem lying in your videos.
  
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  wtatlas 13 years ago
  
  I suppose it would be difficult to be sure if it was a mistake or a deliberate ruse (lie) to get more people to watch.
  
  If it was the latter it would make me a bit concerned about whether there were other untruths masquerading as white lies somewhere else in the product. As a marketing ploy it isn't a particularly clever one, in my view, as it would put me off and, I suspect, a few others.
  
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CDarklock 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Chris Thompson

It's not 17 minutes long. It's 30 minutes long!

So he's lying at the very front of the video

I almost did this once.

At the beginning of the video I said "in this five minute video," and the video was less than four minutes long. I had done about fifty or sixty takes.

I was happy with this take, trimmed it up, and then checked the length to make sure I didn't go over five minutes. "Cool," I thought, "stayed under four."

When I sent it to a reviewer, he sent back "you say your four minute video is five minutes long."

And I had to redo the video, which took me another twenty or so takes.

Now I say "in this short video..."

I never had any intention of lying. I just made a mistake. I had said "in this five minute video" so many times, it didn't even register as language to me anymore. It had effectively disappeared into the background.

Your fellow marketers, even the big important ones like Kern and Pagan and Burchard, are still human beings. They screw up now and again. That doesn't make them liars or cheats or incompetent. It makes them people, just like us.
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Chris Thompson 13 years ago

Caliban - you gotta master the art of rerecording that single word and inserting it over top! Way faster than 20 new takes

I see your point, and yes we are all human .. but 17 vs 30 is an intentional lie, in my books. It's not an accident.
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profitsforall 13 years ago

I wouldn't have been bothered if someone said a video sales letter was 17 minutes and it turned out to be 30 minutes long, because If i've made it to the 17 minute mark the video must have been pretty compelling, so it's likely the extra would have passed by in a flash

What's more likely is that I would have left long before the video got to the 17 minute mark.

If i suspected that the marketer was knowingly duping me (and not an honest mistake) then I would feel that I couldn't trust anything that person said.

I'm fortunate, I've only been to one site that had a no-control video sales letter.

I'd heard great things about the product, was in a buying frame of mind and my credit card was ready to go, just needed a couple of simple questions answered, that most text based sales pages would have answered anyway. Instead I get to a page with no text and a video with no controls starts bleating on,taking a lot of time to say nothing.

The video actually made me walk away from the product.

Given the success of the product in question, mine probably wasn't the typical reaction.
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