Are You Making Decisions for Your Customers (Without Realizing It)?
A few months ago, I had a bank CD come up for renewal, and I called to get the best current interest rate. It was awful, so I called around and found a higher rate at another local bank.
When I went into the bank to withdraw the money, I asked for the current rates again and was surprised to learn that, among other rates, they had the very same rate as the other bank.
"But I called this morning and asked for the best rate, and the person on the phone didn't mention this rate!" I exclaimed. "I was going to take the money out and put it in another bank."
"Maybe they assumed you wouldn't want to tie your money up for that long," the banker said.
(The rate goes up the farther the CD maturity date is in the future.)
Weirdly, much the same thing happened again a few days ago at another bank. I asked for their "best rate" and the person on the phone at first told me only about the 1 year and 22 months rates. I had to drag the 4 and 5 year rates out of her - and if not for those, I would have ceased to be their customer.
It's best not to make decisions for your customers! Information marketers often do this in their pricing, by assuming (very often wrongly) what customers will and won't want and how much they're willing to spend. Provide options at several different price points and let the customers determine what they want to spend and buy.
Marcia Yudkin
Copywriting Mentor, Information Marketing Coach
http://www.yudkin.com/informationempire.htm
When I went into the bank to withdraw the money, I asked for the current rates again and was surprised to learn that, among other rates, they had the very same rate as the other bank.
"But I called this morning and asked for the best rate, and the person on the phone didn't mention this rate!" I exclaimed. "I was going to take the money out and put it in another bank."
"Maybe they assumed you wouldn't want to tie your money up for that long," the banker said.
(The rate goes up the farther the CD maturity date is in the future.)
Weirdly, much the same thing happened again a few days ago at another bank. I asked for their "best rate" and the person on the phone at first told me only about the 1 year and 22 months rates. I had to drag the 4 and 5 year rates out of her - and if not for those, I would have ceased to be their customer.
It's best not to make decisions for your customers! Information marketers often do this in their pricing, by assuming (very often wrongly) what customers will and won't want and how much they're willing to spend. Provide options at several different price points and let the customers determine what they want to spend and buy.
Marcia Yudkin
Copywriting Mentor, Information Marketing Coach
http://www.yudkin.com/informationempire.htm
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill