What's your take on a price decrease...

by 41 replies
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on a product when you leave the sales page.

I was looking at something today that I thought I'd have a think about buying so clicked off the page, Got a pop up that took a third of the price off. It wasn't expensive so I bought it (It had been reccommended)

The OTO was $197, when I clicked no to that, the price decreased to under $70 which made me blink a bit.

I can't help thinking how pissed I would have been if I'd bought the OTO at the higher price and subsequently discovered I could have got it so much cheaper.

I'm curious as to whether this is a method which is working well for folks

Please no "guru" bashing

Kim
#main internet marketing discussion forum #decrease #price
  • I don't give a flying feck if this method "works" for other
    people (measured by monetary conversions rates).

    It's seedy and it just doesn't feel right to me.

    Why reward people who weren't committed enough to
    buy at the proper price off the bat?

    Put another way, why punish the best people of all -
    those who unhestitatingly take quick action on the initial
    offer?

    I much prefer to establish an initial price for an offer
    and then going into the future - the price either stays
    the same or goes up.

    I reward my fast buyers with the best price. Period.

    Dedicated to your success,

    Shaun
    • [ 10 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • I feel the same way about these discounts. If I was unlucky enough to buy at the full price, I'd be mad as hell when I found out I could have gotten it much cheaper simply by leaving the page.

      But then again, this might be compared to making a purchase at your corner store only to return the next day to find the item on sale. Would you be just as angry?

      I'll be interested to hear how others feel about that.
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    • I guess the question I have is which is the proper price? The first (possibly inflated) price or the second, lower price? Maybe they expect to be able to sell it at the lower price but hope they can skim a bit more by offering it at a higher price first.
      • [1] reply
  • It's a good way to "train" you customers and prospects to leave your sales page without buying...

    not to mention making them feel "taken" for trusting you if they purchased in the past

    Lance
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    • Banned
      I pity the product owner because he's losing sales and repeated sales maybe without knowing.

      I pity the affiliates because they may not have discovered how the product owner's erratic marketing strategy is affecting their own business negatively.

      I'm worried because I'm an affiliate marketer and I don't think it's easy for everybody to find out this kind of thing easily.

      Thanks Kim for pointing this out. Henceforth, I will be more careful than ever as regards choosing a product to promote.

    • I completely agree. It's almost like a slap in the face to your potential customers when give them a pop up window that is listing the product for a third of the price. and what does that say about your product to your customers. it basiclly says your product really isn't quality material if you're willing to take such a dramatic price decrease.
  • I agree with both of you, (I didn't buy the OTO btw)

    I did wonder whether it was a growing trend

    Kim
  • Back when I was selling cars, I was trained that you DON'T want to drop the price...or at the very least, you want to wait until they are almost committed to buying.

    Instead, you want to increase the VALUE for the price. The best way to do that is to add a bonus worthwhile.

    So if I was the person discussed in the OP, I would have a "WAIT" popup and offer something extremely valuable instead of dropping the price.

    Then, if they didn't buy, maybe one final pop up that dropped the price by 10 bucks and then offered the bonus. After that, they would leave.

    Rob
  • I have seen it more and more...
    I have no doubt that it converts, which is probably why.

    I feel it is more important to build trust with your buyers.
    It's easy to get someone to buy once.... but more important
    to create a lasting relationship.

    Lance
    • [1] reply
    • True.

      "The most important sale you'll ever make is the second sale."

      Maxwell Sackheim

      Dedicated to your successs,

      Shaun
      • [1] reply
  • I think if you're to do a price decrease popup, then there should be something removed from the original package. Offering the same thing for a drastically lower price during the same session doesn't make sense to me.

    If you're selling a physical product for $197, then you could sell it in digital format for $97. Or if you're already selling a digital product, you could sell it for less and remove a module or two to lower the price.

    By doing this, it also allows people to reconsider the original (higher) price if they decide they really do want the full package after being presented with the lower cost one.
    • [1] reply
    • I thought this usually is the case. For example: full price = product plus 5 bonuses, first reduced price = product plus 2 bonuses, second reduced price = product with no bonuses.

      I have honestly never seen a sales page offering different prices on exactly the same thing. I guess we learn something every day
  • That's a tactic I've never used and probably never will. I want my prospects and customers to believe what I say, and that includes believing my price. For my style, I think that's the better choice in the long run.

    I'm sure the tactic works, and if that's the way you want to do business, that's your business. We each get to set our own boundaries.

    It's just not the way I want to do business.
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  • I think that if you decrease your price on a OTO or off the main sales piece, doesn't matter, it shows that the product owner doesn't have much faith in there product at the main price.

    When this happens I generally don't buy the product. How do I know if there is a price decrease before purchasing?

    Simply click off the page. If there is no pop up that comes up and the page closes then I go back and make the purchase.

    Another thing that pisses me off is when a product owner has you fill out a subscriber forum after purchasing there product. Come on, it is crappie for business.

    I would also never promote a product that resorts to this kind of foolishness.
    Enough said.
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    • Efficacy aside, the tactic leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I generally don't make major purchases from flea market hawkers who expect me to haggle, and I don't buy stuff from their online counterparts, either.

      I have no quibble with marketers who want to try to save a sale by offering me different terms or a less expensive package. The same goes for offering me an extra bonus, especially if I would have gotten that bonus 'unannounced' anyway. It's just showing an extra card to sweeten the pot.

      In the right circumstances, these make sense.
  • no it doesnt make any sense Kim...

    Make a cheaper offer by all means on the downsell, but dont give them the same offer at a lower price that just screams bull****

    By the way i defy anybody to find a real guru doing it this way, they may downsell but they take away part of the offer as well as reduce the price
    • [1] reply
    • It seems to be increasing - I don't even know what program or script they use but I usually see the ones that fool you into staying on the site if you don't read the tricky text carefully. The popups all look alike so assuming it's one overused script.

      It's become so common that I see many advising others to always close the site before buying - in case a cheaper price is offered.

      kay
  • There are "one time" sales, and there are "ongoing" sales, and each
    has a different model, I guess.

    Many years ago, I was in New Delhi, at a market frequented by tourists
    visiting the city and local bargain-hunters. My cousin wanted to buy
    a pair of slippers. Typically, it cost around Rs.100 for a good pair.
    This guy in the stall quoted a price of... Rs.1,250

    We didn't have to ACT shocked. We were!

    As we turned to leave, he slashed 50% off.

    When we were almost at the door, he took another 25% off.

    We walked away, and he ran after us - and offered the slippers for...
    Rs.50.

    Guess what?

    We bought it for Rs.25 from him!

    Never went back.

    Got good value for the money.

    Have told many people the story.

    Is this model similar on the Web?

    People who say they feel annoyed by such behavior would be hard-pressed
    to remember each vendor who does this - and then stay away from buying
    from that person again... because there are simply too many of them.

    And, generally, it's "one shot wonders" who use every tactic in the book
    to squeeze the highest profits out of a prospect.

    Those, and the others whose models are based on 'churn and burn' - fast
    lead gen, hit 'em with multiple offers, dump the list after a fair try
    and move on to new leads.

    Can you see any reason NOT to go with these tactics (seedy or not, they
    surely are effective in closing a few sales) when your model is based
    on this kind of buying behavior?

    Please share your thoughts.

    All success
    Dr.Mani
    • [1] reply
    • As usual, Dr. Mani, you have a good point. If you believe you are only ever going to get one shot at a sale, why not empty the arsenal?

      As I said above, the tactic leaves me with a bad taste. But then again, most of the products I see it used on are not aimed at people like me anyway.
  • The tactic has actually trained me NOT to buy when I see something I really like or need. I am trained to click off of it first to see if I can save money. And if I don't really need it or just somewhat intrigued, once I see that script I am turned off.

    Bottom line = less profit or no profit for the vendor.
  • Kim,

    I have a few top level marketers I do work for that use this (similar) technique.

    What they do, as John McCabe said, is to offer a less expensive option of what they are offering. Leave out some of the extras, maybe audios and not audios and videos, whatever.

    They only use the exit option one time (no multiple/ongoing set ups) and not the same package for a lesser price. They seem to do well enough to continue to use it.

    Thanks,

    John
    • [3] replies
    • If you did, you would never have known!

      John summed it up. The lower price downsell should be a stripped down version of the OTO. For example, if the OTO had video, audio, pdf's...the downsell would only offer audio and pdfs.

      On a side note, I personally don't see the point in paying extra for videos unless video is *really being used*. Most of the video nowadays are powerpoints which dilute the power of the medium. I don't need "Internet Marketing Karaoke" to learn. I do way better on a 45 minute walk with my mp3 player. So I welcome non-video downsells and frequently purchase them.

    • Yes John. This is perfectly acceptable to offer a product of lesser value
      for less money. In fact, I sometimes do this as well.

      However, I find what is MORE effective is offering a premium product for
      not much more money.

      This way, the prospect feels like they are getting much more bang for
      their buck and are more likely to purchase the premium product.

      But to offer the same exact product for less money 2 minutes later
      because you couldn't close the sale on the initial offer, IMO, is a slap in
      the face to the poor people who bought at the higher price.
      • [1] reply
    • The idea is rather simple...I agree with ya GP.

      You have Good, Better, Best versions of your product...

      You always initially offer the Best version first! Duh! Next less features and then eventually the light version bla bla bla.

      However, asking me to pay $127 for a product and then after taking me three pop ups away you really sell it to me for $27 is an insult!

      Wards and Sears were bad for doing this! They would try and sell a roof that should cost fair market value 5k...for 10k! If they didn't bite I had a packet full of coupons until they'd finely buy. I did not last long working that gig.

  • I always click out now to see if the product i'm interested in has a discount pop up. Mostly all the new clickbank products have this feature so there are savings to be had. Is it ethical , probably not but I like to take advantage.
  • A few thoughts here.

    I do not believe it is unethical to see if a discount is offered. No way.
    As far as the merchants setting up their sales process this way does say a lot.

    I personally feel that if the value isn't truly there for the product, then this sort of "sell for whatever I can get for it" attitude comes in.

    I agree with everyone who would be very upset if you purchased the product only to find out I could have tried to leave first and saved another 10, 20 or 30 bucks.

    I think these vendors either do not realize or simply do not care that it is demeaning to me as a consumer to keep trying to GRAB me and offer the same thing to me for a lower, then a lower, then a lower price. AND they only look like the sleaziest of used car salesmen.

    I have always believed that you must associate value with your product. This is what we all do when shopping. If we feel the value is there for the asking price, we will purchase.

    Is 40 bucks worth of paint and a stretched canvas on a wood frame worth 2 million bucks? If Picasso put that paint on that canvas it is to someone.

    So, I guess I am saying that it would be better to offer the discount if then part of the package is taken away.

    Or simply offer payment terms. (If the product allows it)

    I am going to be releasing a prduct soon and here are my thoughts. No BS in the sales page video. Say offer, price and what the 1 upgrade option is right up front.

    If you try to leave, I am thinking about offering a FREE version of the product (with limited functions) to try for as long as you want, because the option to upgrade is built into the program if you would desire the additional functionality.

    To me this seems more elegant than the flea market auctioneer with the bullhorn screaming at me, shouting numbers until one makes me turn my head again to come back.

    Just my 2 cents.

    Greg
  • I just find them irritating. I own a few scripts PLR type that will do this I have never used them and I certainly wouldn't want my name on one.

    Working tactic or not I find it totally unethical if any discount is to be offered it should be for returning customers.. why appear desperate even if you are ?
    -WD
  • it might work, but its kind of sleazy , I don't think I would buy from a company employing these tactics.

    I could see a few dollars in the difference, but cutting it as low as they do here, would peeve off there best customers, that got stuck with the full amount.
  • I love it when I click the buy button, I go to the checkout page. I get this warm fuzzy feeling of relief.

    Then there are times, when I see the high price I will try and click off to see if there is a discount. I don't think it's cheating the system since the system was put there to catch the back button clickers.

    And then as far as OTO's I would much rather see a package selection. Package A is 39.95 and Package B is 97.00 or there are 3 payments of 33.00, let me choose up front, rather than going through all the annoying hoops. Give me your best offer upfront.

    I ran into a couple of recent OTO's where you are given the "secret advanced methods" for an extra $47.00. That really annoyed me. I was paying for the method...but if I wanted the advanced method or the Gold Package with the secret to blablabla...then I would have to pay another 47.00 I think it should be all inclusive.

    Ask the price you want for the package and be done with it. These tricky tactics leave me cold, and will leave an impression later. I think it hurts conversion and people will ask for refunds.

    An OTO that is a bonus to the package you are buying is one thing...something that complements it, like a template package that goes with a PLR product, something like that, but if it's a training manual, then you should include all the information, not piece meal it out into upsells.

    A method that I think converts well is, giving people a thank you page with a list of other products that you have to offer. When you have a happy satisfied customer, they are in a good mood and will most likely buy again from you.

    I found a WSO, bought it, it was good, and he had a download page with his other product listed, and I bought it too. That works better for me and for the seller.

    karen
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I see a lot of places that are offering more and more pop up deals while you are trying to click off the page. I wouldn't have any respect for a product that went from over $100 to about $20 over a series of clicks. I can't help but wonder how many more sales the owner would have gotten if he had just sold it at the lower price anyway?

    I know value means different things to different people but wouldn't it be easier to sell a lower ticket product in the first place and then (as mentioned here) have some bonus complimentary (not necessities) as the OTO? or is that just commonsense, which probably doesn't sell very well, lol.

    I was going to say my 5cents worth, but you know 2 cents will do

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  • 49

    on a product when you leave the sales page. I was looking at something today that I thought I'd have a think about buying so clicked off the page, Got a pop up that took a third of the price off. It wasn't expensive so I bought it (It had been reccommended)