
An Accidental Marketing Tactic That Many Companies Can Learn From - fraqed
https://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2017/09/21/an-accidental-marketing-tactic-that-many-companies-can-learn-from/
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droithomme
This is not an "accidental tactic", after the first time. After the first
time, when it was done with intention, it was deliberate. It was also a
deceptive marketing practice and there's really no argument against that.
Deceptive marketing practices are frowned upon in most legal jurisdictions.
One may or may not choose to go forward once realizing this, and can not
complain if they later feel they were defrauded when the initial contact was
so intentionally and deliberately fraudulent. Caveat Emptor.

In any case the article goes on to describe the intentionally deceptive
campaign then badgered their mailing list with multiple deceptive follow on
mailings designed to get them to initiate a telephone chat with a telemarketer
at the company who would be acting under false pretenses. Of course this is
all clever, it's very clever. It's very similar in design and method to the
Nigerian 419 promotions which intentionally use misspellings and obvious
falsehoods in order to filter out any potential marks who are not extremely
naive. This is valuable as it increases the chances the mark who does respond
will be receptive to the game being offered, and as such doesn't waste the
time of the marketing artist promoting the scheme talking to savvy or
intelligent targets who ultimately won't be receptive to the promotional
offering.

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troupe
What are the false pretenses? It sounded like they were very upfront about
what they were providing--they just found they got a better response rate if
they didn't tell people until after they called.

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Overtonwindow
Two thoughts: First, I abhor solicitations and junk mail. I discard them
without a second thought, and never open them. So I wonder what the success
rate of these mailings are, and their cost effectiveness. Do people really
open junk mail? I'm even more annoyed when I am tricked on the rare occasion
to open them.

Second, early in my career I worked as a receptionist. I once received thirty
envelopes for the thirty partners in the firm. Each contained an old skeleton
key. This was maybe 2003, so to send a metal skeleton key in an envelope to
thirty individuals was, by no means, an insignificant sum. My director, upon
reading the first solicitation, declared them all persona non grata, toss the
letters, and the keys. No one ever saw the letters and the keys wound up at
the Goodwill on my way home.

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twblalock
The US Direct Marketing Association claims that "direct marketing," which most
people call "junk mail" or "spam," results in about 8.7% of US GDP per year.
So, I would expect that quite a few people not only read junk mail but also
purchase what it advertises.

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maxxxxx
Same for spam. Most likely people wouldn't send spam if they didn't make money
that way.

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QAPereo
Unless they’ve been lead to believe that it works, and it doesn’t? Or maybe
the way to sell fraudulent pills doesn’t translate to how you sell many other
products?

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twblalock
> Unless they’ve been lead to believe that it works, and it doesn’t?

In the long run, it's pretty difficult to convince a business that something
makes money if the money doesn't actually show up.

Sure, some businesses might be poorly run, and therefore be misled for a long
time. But the industry as a whole would have noticed if spam didn't work.

~~~
tbrownaw
_In the long run, it 's pretty difficult to convince a business that something
makes money if the money doesn't actually show up._

1\. In the long run, everyone involved has moved on to other positions.

2\. If the money doesn't show up, that just means you're doing it wrong. Like
all the various software methodologies that are supposed to increase
productivity or reduce bugs.

3\. "Half of money spent on marketing is wasted, it's just impossible to know
which half." The real world is rarely simple enough to give the kind of clear
results you'd get from a proper well-designed experiment.

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kbos87
This is really on WSJ? There are a million little tricks and tactics out there
like this and this is no more interesting than the next one.

It’s a one time thing, it’s pretty unsavory, and like many other shady growth
tactics, the mileage one business will get out of this will vary dramatically
vs. another business.

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rrggrr
Segmentation, personalization and differentiation are the appropriate tactics
to use if marketing response rates are a problem for your business.

Companies that separate Sales and Marketing roles split introduce a gap where
none should exist. The personalization and differentiations should be driven
by salespeople's insights and data. Marketing should preface the sales call
and carry the deal forward to closure.

Most companies are very, very far from an interwoven sales and marketing model
that efficiently uses resources and that delivers results.

~~~
kbos87
I agree with your first points about segmentation, personalization, and
differentiation, but sales and marketing are fundamentally different
disciplines. The ideal is an organization where there is trust, communication,
and accountability between the two roles. It’s hard, but it’s absolutely
possible.

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Waterluvian
I don't care if you're trying to gift me a gold bar. If I get even a slight
whiff that you're using psychological tricks to sell me something, I'm
blacklisting your company.

Nothing turns me off faster than sales tehniques. Don't call me a partner,
don't waste my time.

I've paid a premium to reward an internet company and a furniture store who
are simply dead honest and to the point with me. I need a way to find more of
these in my life.

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comstock
I agree and would hope I’m the same way.

The problem of course is that statistically these “tricks” still work on the
population as a whole.

I wonder if it’s possible to make “honest” companies the default expectation
and for consumers to punish less honest ones. Seems more common in Japan,
where there are somewhat high expectations of service quality and honesty.
Though obviously there are many pretty scummy companies too.

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dec0dedab0de
a bit off topic, but I think Bed Bath and Beyond should make their slogan
"Don't bother coming in here if you forgot to carry around that trash we sent
you"

I wish the post office would allow me to block anything that said "or current
resident"

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freehunter
Problem is, while you call it "spam", the post office calls those mailers "job
security". Some weeks if I didn't get spam I wouldn't get any mail at all and
the USPS would be in worse financial shape than it already is.

~~~
dredmorbius
Reasons for treating public services as public goods and subsidising them
_without_ creating negative externalities.

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MoBattah
USPS takes zero tax dollars and zero funding from the federal government.

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pitaj
You're may be right, but I know for a fact that the federal government just
gives them a huge line a credit to borrow from.

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freehunter
You know that for a fact? I've never heard that. I'm not disputing it since
I've never heard this argument before, but it does fly in the face of the fact
that the federal government also demands absolutely massive amounts of money
from them: [https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/be-careful-what-you-
assume](https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/be-careful-what-you-assume)

~~~
MoBattah
Thank you for that absolutely enlightening link.

People like to assume all parts of our gov are absolutely worthless. USPS does
a good job.

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ryanmarsh
A friend who sold insurance used to use this “trick” but via telephone. He
would call, let it ring twice then hang up. People would see the number on
caller ID and often call back.

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noonespecial
Its getting even sleazier. They're doing the "double tap" now. Programming
their VOIP systems to quickly call my number twice (and rapidly hang up the
first call) so that my phone never really rings but the second call drops
right to voicemail.

They'll then play in a rather urgent sounding voicemail pretending to be a
government agency etc, with a number to call back as soon as I'm able "to
settle this important matter".

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losteverything
Curiosity gets people to open mail. Postcards work too. Large ones like Chewy
(works like "dialing for new customers" champion).

Not too many UPS flats go through the US mail, but they look important and
curious.

My experience with direct mailers from several ends makes me never to really
trust numbers.

