"It is very unprofitable for brands to deceive you": how to get the most from the tricks of marketers

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Do not be afraid to subscribe to newsletters and do not be lazy to leave reviews in online stores if you want to save money.

A couple of days ago, you searched the Internet for a vacuum cleaner, and now advertisements for technology are following you everywhere. This is not surprising: this is how brands drive our behavior. Find out what other tricks they use and how to turn them around to your advantage.

Why you shouldn't be afraid of marketing

When we hear the phrase “marketing ploy,” we come across tempting “buy three for two” tricks. Such ways of attracting a customer have formed a negative attitude towards marketing. It seems that any contact between the company and the consumer is aimed at deceiving and forcing them to spend more than planned.

There is some truth in this: brands really want to make money from you and do not hide their intentions. However, no one is going to deceive. The main goal of working with the audience is to tell about a product that the consumer will really like, so that he can purchase it, and then share the information with friends.

To make it work, companies use a standard five-step scheme:

1. Attraction.
2. Activation.
3. Hold.
4. Recommendation.
5. Income.

At first, the services try in every possible way to win your attention with the help of a convenient search, a tab with reviews and quick delivery, so that you purchase a product - that is, reach the second item called "activation". Once the purchase is made, the company sets a goal to retain the customer. To do this, she interacts with you in every possible way: sends news and promotions so that you do not forget about the store.

If you enjoyed making purchases through a particular service, then why not tell your friends about it. This turns on the recommendation step, which subsequently affects the last point of the scheme - income. Marketers study which channels performed better than others, and find out if they managed to get more money than they spent.

It is much more convenient for brands to interact with regular customers, so it is very unprofitable to deceive you.

It is more difficult to find a new buyer and attract, than to keep in touch with an existing one.

That is why you should not be afraid of marketing. More often than not, companies use it to try to make your life better so that you stay true to them.

What marketers know about us

Marketers study the audience in order to offer them what they really need. This is helped by special services, such as Google Analytics and Yandex Metrica. They track who gets to the site and what actions they take.

Basic customer information - gender, age, geographic location. At the same time, no one is interested in the address if you do not enter it yourself in order to receive the goods with delivery. The Services also provide data about your interests, which are collected based on search queries. All this helps to figure out which audience is visiting the site.

The next point that marketers are interested in is the traffic source. It is important to understand why people come: banners, external links, phone calls help.

In addition, experts pay attention to user behavior. We'll have to figure out which pages are most often visited by customers, where they spend more time, and where they run away faster than planned.

The last one is the analysis of purchases. It makes it possible to understand what products are popular, what customers are ready to buy without discounts, and what they will pay attention to only during the sales period.

Simple analytics can be difficult to rely on to help you choose the right marketing tactics. Most often, stores connect additional services in order to receive more accurate data, for example, to track the chain of actions on the site. Let's say I bought a TV, after six months I bought a set-top box, and three months later I chose games.

If the same chain is repeated several times, we can conclude that people of my gender and age with similar interests will act in the same way. These clients can make offers that they will surely like. However, every communication strategy requires a special approach and considerable expenses, so staying picky and careful is the main rule if a marketer wants to save money.

Some people worry that interest tracking purports to be a privacy intrusion. I believe that there is nothing wrong with that. Once I was looking for a comfortable chair for working at a computer: with a soft cushion and adjustable armrests so that my back does not hurt. It turned out that such copies cost about 200,000 rubles.

I got upset and began to think about what to do: buy the usual inconvenient model or spend a lot of money. As a result, I didn't have to choose: suddenly an advertisement for a chair appeared on the screen, which ideally suited me in terms of characteristics and price. I bought it and was very happy with it, so tracking interests may well play into your hands. At the same time, if you want to get rid of those extra eyes on the Internet, you can use incognito mode or permanently clear Cookies.

How To Benefit From Marketing Tactics

At every stage of the interaction, the client can benefit from himself. During the first visit to the site, users are often asked to leave an email, and in return they are handed a promotional code for a discount. This is a one-time option that will help you save money on your first order.

A little later, you can unsubscribe from the annoying mailing list.

The moment of retention is a storehouse of lucrative offers. At this stage, the company is interested in you buying more. Giving a discount on each subsequent purchase after the first is unprofitable, so stores come up with new moves to remind of themselves.

Let's say you want to choose a refrigerator, but you don't understand them at all. The only differences that are obvious at first glance are color and height. It is not easy to decide on this principle, so you start looking through all the models in a row. We couldn't find a better specimen, so you leave. In this case, a letter will come to the mail with a simple reminder that you were looking for a refrigerator.

If after a few days you return to the site, but still cannot decide, you will be sent a personalized recommendation based on the most popular model in the price range in question. You can leave again, then a full-fledged guide on refrigerators will be sent to the mail. Thus, the store allows you to choose a product on your own, but at the same time, it helps, building trust.

Another feature is the abandoned cart. Add the product to it and leave. After a while, you will be reminded of an unfinished purchase and will be offered to finish what you started with a small discount. This method is now used less often because customers have started to use it more often than they should, but in some stores this practice is still preserved. Banks often offer an annual card service if you return and proceed with your card.

Not a bad way to save money, considering you haven't done anything at all.

In addition, if the service has a mobile application, you can grab bonuses for using it. Most often, gifts are received for the first order. Don't forget about loyalty programs as well. Connection to it is usually realized automatically during registration, but there are exceptions. Better not to miss the opportunity to get another discount or take part in the promotion.

After completing a purchase, many people stop interacting with the store, but there are several other ways to get your attention again. One of them is to offer to evaluate the quality of service immediately after purchase. The second is to ask for your opinion on the product after a month of use. You leave a review, and in return you get nice bonuses. Negative ratings are also welcome, because it is useful for the service to know its weak points. The company may not even realize that the movers are too rude to customers.

Another way to benefit is by recommending a service. If you bring a friend, both of you will receive bonuses. And the final option is to open messages from sites where you have not appeared for a long time. Discounts are often added to reactivation scenarios. You can recognize them by the corresponding words in the subject line: “We missed you”, “You weren’t with us for a long time” and other similar wording.

What to remember

1. Don't be afraid to leave a digital footprint. This way, stores will be able to offer you suitable products or a discount on a product of interest.
2. Check the terms of registration and subscription. Often they give discounts for the first purchase or delivery.
3. If you can't choose a product, take a break. The store can help you with popular offers in a suitable price range or a full-fledged guide.
4. Add items to your cart. This will give you an additional discount.
5. Follow the mail after purchase. You can get bonuses for leaving a review.
6. Join the loyalty program. If the registration is separate, do not forget to go through it.
7. Remember referral programs. Check if there are any bonuses for the referred friend.
8. Don't miss emails from almost forgotten stores. Discounts are often added to reactivation scripts.