Is Your Website Tricky?

We all know there are dozens of tips and tricks for conversions and upsells.

Look at it from the user point of view for a moment. Doesn’t it annoy you when you feel like a website is trying to trap you into a choice you didn’t ask for?

Don’t be evil. Just don’t. Why do you want to try to trick your visitors into buying something they don’t need or want? Too many websites use all of their knowledge and skill to deliberately trick consumers into signing up for something they neither need or want.

While this may increase conversions in the short run, it can cause loss of consumer trust and damage your relationship with your customers. When you deliberately cloud the issue and make your website hard to use for those not looking for an up-sell, you can antagonize them and actually make them abandon the shopping experience!

If you have a product you try to package with another, or that you promote as a better alternative to the cheap one advertised, don’t assume people will buy it or try to force them into by making the buy button overpower everything else on the page. Some major companies do this, and it is greatly annoying! They make the link for what you really came to buy small, obscure and hard to find, while using language that derides it – and you, if you opt to select the lower paying option.

Pardon me. I know exactly what I want, and I don’t need a website looking down its nose at me because I choose to buy basic instead of premium or gold. All you are doing when you make it hard for me to shop is inviting me to take my business elsewhere.

This doesn’t mean you can’t try for the up-sell – just don’t lose the main sell. You can afford to lose the upgrade fee – customers are harder to replace. Simply offer a nice upgrade special or a package deal, but leave the original option open and easy to get to. If you manage a captcha allowing you to send them updates, you can always try for an up-sell at a later time.

Don’t make your customers feel like buying from you is a hassle, and that they have to warn people about your tricks and traps before they refer you,. It’s evil!!

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