Would you lie to your customers to sell your stuff?

15 replies
If not, then please do not use or buy fake likes, fake shares, fake tweets, fake pins, fake views, fake reviews.

In today's social-heavy internet world, such things are a big factor in making purchase decisions. For example, I just visited a product website and noticed it has a lot of shares and tweets which made me think "This seems to be a nice product that people like otherwise they wouldn't share and tweet about it that much. I may as well buy it." You see how that affected my purchase decision?

What's your thought on buying likes, shares, views etc.?
#customers #lie #sell #stuff
  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    We have a competitor that has a few thousand likes on their Facebook page but nobody ever posts there and pretty obvious they bought likes. I actually rarely worry about a competitor that is dishonest because I know won't matter in a year or two. They will sabotage themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Nail Yener View Post

    If not, then please do not use or buy fake likes, fake shares, fake tweets, fake pins, fake views, fake reviews.

    In today's social-heavy internet world, such things are a big factor in making purchase decisions. For example, I just visited a product website and noticed it has a lot of shares and tweets which made me think "This seems to be a nice product that people like otherwise they wouldn't share and tweet about it that much. I may as well buy it." You see how that affected my purchase decision?

    What's your thought on buying likes, shares, views etc.?
    Hi Nail,

    I am not sure that doing something like purchasing you tube views to gain some marketing footing or an edge is the same as telling a customer lies about your product. Some of the other things you mentioned may be a little more shady and purchasing fake reviews are clearly way over the line for me. I don't lie about my products, never have, never will.

    Cheers!

    -don
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  • Profile picture of the author onpointinfo
    Most people are doing this, but little do they know that in the long run it comes to bite them in their butt, since they won't have anyone really following them
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    Do you mean like this from the link in your sig:

    Create Professional Mobile Squeeze Pages in 2 Minutes -- Sell Them for $97+

    Cuz if I could make a Mobile Squeeze Page in two minutes and sell it for $97 I'd be making $2,910 an hour.

    I suspect that is a lie to help sell the templates and that the reality is very few people are making $97 a template in two minutes without a lot of other work to find leads and buyers.

    I think lies like "Easily make $97 in two minutes" are more detrimental than seeing 1,200 views on a video where many may be fake.

    Perhaps you should look at what you promote in your own signature rather than harsh on people for how they market their offers.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
      Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

      Do you mean like this from the link in your sig:

      Create Professional Mobile Squeeze Pages in 2 Minutes -- Sell Them for $97+

      Cuz if I could make a Mobile Squeeze Page in two minutes and sell it for $97 I'd be making $2,910 an hour.

      I suspect that is a lie to help sell the templates and that the reality is very few people are making $97 a template in two minutes without a lot of other work to find leads and buyers.

      I think lies like "Easily make $97 in two minutes" are more detrimental than seeing 1,200 views on a video where many may be fake.

      Perhaps you should look at what you promote in your own signature rather than harsh on people for how they market their offers.
      In no where on our sales page we are saying "easily make $97 in two minutes". You are interpreting it in the wrong way.

      The software in my signature lets you create mobile squeeze pages in less than 2 minutes and you have the potential to sell them for $97+ as a lot of users have done that over and over again. It's not a guarantee, it is what you can do if you take action after purchasing a product.

      Sorry but reading something in a wrong way and presenting it as truth is not acceptable in my book. I am not harshing anybody, I shared my opinion about something that I think is wrong and asked others' opinions.

      Fake likes, fake shares, fake tweets, fake pins, fake views, fake reviews are NOT marketing. It is fooling people.
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      • Profile picture of the author Riyaz Ansaari
        It's a good question and something to think about. I guess each person will have to answer to their own conscience and will have red lines that they won't cross.

        Strictly speaking even building back links isn't being 100% honest as you are artificially manipulating the results, but this is something that I suspect we all would do.

        Personally I see a difference between say building backlinks (something I would do) and writing a sales page where I say I suffered from a serious illness and this product cured me; This I would never do.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cali16
      Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

      Do you mean like this from the link in your sig:

      Create Professional Mobile Squeeze Pages in 2 Minutes -- Sell Them for $97+

      I suspect that is a lie to help sell the templates and that the reality is very few people are making $97 a template in two minutes without a lot of other work to find leads and buyers.
      That's really an unfair accusation. It doesn't state - nor does it imply - that you can create, find buyers, and make the sale all in just 2 minutes. The 2-minute part very clearly applies only to the creation of the mobile squeeze page. :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author theo1995
    No, I would never lie to my customers in order to sell my product. If someones thinks that way they should leave IM and get a 9 to 5 job. IM is not for them!
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  • Profile picture of the author tamalanwar
    Fake likes, fake follows are not going to last forever but the top sites like Twitter and Facebook in question are silent about it, they seem to enjoy the popularity.

    The same goes with fake testimonials. I never bought fake feedback, nor I wrote one. I gained them through hardwork and proper communication.

    You should not lie to your customers and the same way you need to fake it till you make it.

    Hope this helps,
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  • Profile picture of the author RichEmmett
    What an incredible thread! Of course you shouldn't use or buy fake likes, fake shares, fake tweets, fake pins, fake views, fake reviews. It's clearly a misrepresentation of the true position. Neither should you over-promise in your promotional copy. Not only is it quite obviously immoral, the commercial upshot of it will be disappointed customers. At some point in order to be successful you will need to rely on having happy customers who return to buy from you again and who recommend your services. To think that buying fake likes is somehow going to benefit your business in the long term is absurd. Take the time to build your business properly and offer value. An internet business is just like an off-line business. Offer value, create happy customers and build from there.
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  • Profile picture of the author stewie-Y
    I don't care of people getting fake likes/shares/views but buying fake reviews and testimonials seem a bit shady for me. (They're fine, though, if you're paying someone to actually review your product/service and put a testimonial.)
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  • Profile picture of the author twranks
    I think that these days, it's pretty easy to figure out when someone has fake likes/shares/ views/ whatever. Think about it this way ; if you get to a page(say, YouTube ) that has only one crappy video with 10,000 likes and even more subscribers with comments such as "nice" and "great job" below it, I'm pretty sure we all know what that is People who rely on this method for promotion don't last long in what ever it is they are doing. I like to follow a lot of people who I think will be interested in what I have to offer. With time, as I release more content, these people will follow back and refer people to follow me as well.

    My .02
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  • Profile picture of the author MattBrighton
    The honest REAL competitor will always win over those who cheat in the long run. They will have a stronger brand, real customer following and better conversions.

    10 REAL natural facebook followers on a page is of a far higher quality than buying 10,000 bot fans.
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  • Profile picture of the author Katie Rich
    No I wouldn't, which is why I have no interest in MLM.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nail Yener
    Thank you all for expressing your opinions on the topic. Of course some of you may not agree with my point and I respect your opinion too.

    But for example, I just checked Fiverr to see the size of this issue and when I made a search for "Facebook likes" it returned 86511 results. Most of them with the word "real" and one of them with a "1 year warranty". It made me smile. Imagine what type of an honest and unbiased Internet we will have in the future.

    Google has been fighting big time with artificially built backlinks, why? Because they have a point: Build something that is of use to people and let them give links to your site naturally.

    Build something of use to people and let them like, share and comment on it naturally. Not artificially and not with buying. That's my point too.
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