Black Friday has passed. Now Cyber Monday is here. It’s that time of year to shop, online, or offline. Stores are doing whatever they can to get us inside, or adding items to our shopping carts. SALES, SALES, SALES…!!!
We’re all marketers, so we get the tactics they use. You know, things like: free shipping, 2 for 1, % off sales, etc… It all makes sense, and most of it works. But retailers need to be careful.
There’s a line there that I don’t think many retailers consider. That line is crossed when two things happen to consumers.
1. You try to fool us
2. You’re wasting our time
Both are unforgiveable.
Case in point. A local holiday store in my neighborhood put a full page ad in my local newspaper advertising “HALF-OFF WREATHS!” My wife has been wanting new wreaths from the front of the house for years, so we planned a stop at the store during our weekend runaround with the kids.
When we got to the store, we went to the wreaths and thought they were very nice. I told the salesman that we’d take two at the half price the ad mentioned, only to hear this, delivered almost annoyed…
Salesman: “Oh, yeah, that ad says the second one you buy is half-price, if you buy one at full price first”.
Me: “All I saw was 1-inch bold letters that said HALF OFF ALL WREATHS; nothing about that.”
Salesman (said almost snarkily): “It was there, you had to read the fine print.”
Me: “Thanks for wasting my time.”
Nothing is worse than wasting a consumer’s time. Nothing. If your objective is to drive people into your store, you really need to consider how they’re going to react when they find out they’ve been “fooled.” Now I will never, ever shop at that store again, regardless of what sale they have… because they wasted my time and tried to fool me.
That’s a sure fire method for killing your brand. Think twice about your tactics. You may end up gaining a few more sales in the short-term, but losing lifelong customers long-term.
Jim,
I would have been offended enough to have asked for the store manager and made a scene, if necessary. And then, I would have spread as much negative word of mouth as possible. And that, my friend, is how we kill a brand that deserves killing.
don’t we see the same with the cost plan for our mobile? if you should look at how they built the offer here in italy, you would be shocked!
that dealer is an absolute beginner!
Thanks for bringing this up. Whether by unscrupulous advertising or poor usability, people don’t like to have their time wasted by others.
What’s more, the tone of the salesman either reflects disdain for the customer (you) or disdain for his organization that forces him to be an apologist for his dishonest organization’s advertising.
It’s an underappreciated maxim, I think, that organizations ought to make their employees as ardent supporters as their customers. I would go as far to say that there is a direct correlation between the enthusiasm of employees and consumer brand loyalty.
Jim,
I understand your frustration with your bad experience, but I disagree with your conclusion that not many retailers consider your two points. I believe the vast majority of them try very hard not to fool customers, or waste their time. With the level of competition today from other brick and mortar stores, and from the internet, no dealer can stay in business for long using those tactics.
A bigger concern to me, if I were the owner of the store you visited, is the way the situation was handled. I know nothing about the Christmas wreath business, but I’d be willing to bet that such a seasonal item has a very high profit margin, at least 50%, if not more.
Selling you a couple of wreaths at cost would be a small price to pay to keep your business, especially when the left-overs will be sold for that price or less on December 26.
Unfortunately, retail sales have become a waste-bin of disclaimers, which the consumer blithely ignores leaving the employee to pull out the dust pan to defend themselves against unbending employers and unhappy customers.
As a copywriter, I have yet to be asked to write such blatant misleading copy as the ad Jim came across. My copy has always been upfront about the offer. However, I am constantly amazed at the almost inane need for disclaimers even though the copy is clear and to the point.
It’s a litigious society and the consumer is just as guilty as the retailer in many instances.
I should have mentioned that this business has been in business in my community for 20+ years at least.
Ok, let’s just call them out. They’re called Lighthouse Pools, Spas & More. I can’t find a website for them on Google, they may not have one.
They sell higher end stuff like 12k spas, and seasonal items like Xmas trees, etc…
Now, I usually go way out of my way to visit local shops like these as opposed to the Kmarts because I want to suppor the little guy, even if that means I pay a little more.
But the snobbish attitude I incurred both in the ad and through the salesmen turned me off on the brand completely.
Mike, if they did think about those things, they wouldn’t have done those ads in such a manner.
As marketers, I think that many of us have been conditioned to believe that consumers are hip to the game and know there will be a catch when they come through the door. I’ve actually sat in meetings where the consensus was, “Yes, we’ll have one or two squawkers, but we’ll pacify them with a freebie.” But I do think the tide has finally turned. Consumers have so many choices nowadays. The retailers who master it all– price, service, overall experience– will come out on top.
If you visited every spa store in your town, you’d find the same attitude. It’s weird but there’s a spa culture out there and they think they’re special. Go on, I dare you…
I’ve got to agree with Lewis Green’s comments above. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it is our DUTY as marketers to make sure that unscrupulous forms of advertising (and employees, for that matter) are dealt with.
This kind of promotional material makes ALL advertising subject to initial scrutiny and disbelief that force those of us (like Tammy Strnatka above) that work for honest companies to rework our entire message to deal with prospects and customers whose first reaction is that they’re somehow being set up for a scam.
Jim, I totally understand your frustrations. I too have been fooled by the fine print in advertising. I would have gotten the store manager involved in the situation because ultimatley the customer needs to be satisfied. Future sales in this wreath company could be affected by you not having a satisfying experience.You have the power to get both your wreaths half off use it.
Jim,
I agree 100% with the fact that making a customer feel unintelligent or wasting the customers time would be a turn off to shopping with that retailer.
More strongly though, I feel that customer service is what determines whether an act is forgiven or unforgiven. For instance, suppose the retailer you spoke with had expained in a kind tone the exact terms of the advertisement, appoligized for the misunderstanding and then tried to help you find a wreath that would fit in your price range or even help you find something else that you had been in need of. In this case your reaction probably wouldn’t have been as angry and would have kept you from feeling as though you were “fooled”.
I would be willing to spend more money in order to recieve personal attention and feel as though they have my wants and needs in their best interest. In comparison to spending less but being treated as if I’m a bother as well as only finding what I want a fraction of the time. Now that in my opinion is a waste.
While we are at it, what about the bogus contests run by major companies where they hand you a pile of entries with a shame-faced look because they know that you aren’t going to win, because your part of the country is not going to get the winning entry? What about companies that hand out game pieces even though according to the fine print, the contest is already over? I had a mess with a yogurt company that had a contest where you had to get the winning numbers from the website that was always down at the time. Then, when the contest was over, I was notified!! And they said it didn’t matter if I had a winner or not, because they had given out the prizes. Crooked! A major comoany too! Insult to injury…they sent me coupons to buy more of their yogurt…which I have never bought since! I grind my teeth when I see their ads. I think some of these things backfire on people. The salesman at the wreath company was smirking because his attitude was that the customer is a fool….mine is that any company that does that to me is a fool, because I am not coming back and I am going to tell my family. We are a fertile tribe and that is a serious threat!! I got a winner once from a fast food chain that they had handed me that morning that they refused to honor that afternoon! I have a list of corporations I do not buy from because of this! Caveat Emptor!
Jim, you could just look a little closer and read the fine print. There’s also such a thing as prescription glasses. To be blunt,I believe the only fool is the one who makes no use of the information in his hands. Cases like this are just too ridiculous to even make mention of and it’s the reason most Americans come off as irresponsible and snobbish because they refuse to be held responsible for their own misfortunes.
Happy Thanksgiving!