Bait and Switch Revealed

The TV is on and the ad announces that you can get this entire Leeza Gibbons set of Sheer Cover makeup for only $29.95! My girls are watching and saying, "Mommy, get it!" I thought, "hmm for only $40 with shipping, okay."

Then the call. The Bait. The Switch. The Ugh.

The call started with "for only an extra $9.95 plus $9.95 for shipping we can upgrade you to the deluxe edition that has 8 items." I said, "no thanks, I just want what was offered on the TV." She then tried to upgrade me to just 7 items. I said no. She then went to saying we can send you a 90 day supply versus a 30 day supply for just $29.95. I said, "I'm confused. Isn't $29.95 the price of the kit that is on the TV." She said, "yes and we will send you 3 months for just $29.95."

By this time I am irritated. So I asked her exactly what was different between that and what I say on TV. I asked her to give me the total she was going to charge me. Well, surprise it was going to be $97!

I said, "all I want is what was offered on TV. Please don't try to upgrade me or I will cancel the order." She said she understood and then proceeded again to try and get me to add two other products!

I told her to cancel the entire order. It ticked me off and it confused me. I called to just do what the TV offered and she tried to upgrade me SIX times!!!

So how many customers do you lose because you make things too confusing? How many do you move from being excited about your product to being so ticked that they will tell others to avoid it? Is it really worth the $15 upgrade to lose a client?

If they had just taken my order I might have gotten the products, loved them and continued to buy them. If I had loved them, this is a product that costs you $30 a month. So that means I would be a $360 a year customer. And if I turned 10 other friends on to this product it would be worth $3600 a year to them. And they lost it all due to a lousy need to constantly try to upgrade.

Look at any UN-WOWS in your company. Get rid of anything that confuses your customer, irritates them, or frustrates them. Every step in your company should be one that builds trust, not shatters it.

Give them the opportunity to upgrade once but not six times. After the first one it just feels like you want to make as much money off me as you can which feels slimy and distrustful.

Anne Warfield, http://www.impressionmanagement.com/