Monday, August 25. 2008When Does "Clever Marketing" Cross The Line......John Linton ...and become dishonesty? ...and does anyone care any more if that happens? (or did they ever care?). I have been looking at the various HSPA offers from the current providers (carriers and carrier resellers) as part of the process of finalising the HSPA 'plans' that Exetel needs to put in place in the not too distant future. Unsurprisingly I was surprised to find just how difficult it was to work out exactly what was being offered and how much it cost. This is fairly sad for someone who has a reasonable IQ and has been around the communications business long enough to be able to grasp the essential elements of service 'construction' and the pricing elements associated with different 'constructions'. The first thing I noticed was the dishonest ways at least two carriers now treat their "loyal customers" (sorry about using that phrase but it is something I constantly see in my day by day information gathering). Now it's an old but nevertheless truish observation that "the only thing a pioneer gets is an arrow in the back" but it seems this cynical view has reached new heights in communication service marketing. The latest cynical, and it must be said bordering on the dishonest, scam is, of course, the offer of '12 months service at half price'. "What's wrong with that?" the unthinking person might ask - "seems a great deal?" ....and I suppose it is based on the concept that there's a mug born every minute and that no-one is numerate enough (or interested enough) in today's communication marketplace to get past the marketing scam. Which, I suppose must be true because so many people buy "capped mobile plans" which a moments analysis would show to be a complete rip off - but then the same people who developed those rip offs are now given the task of 'selling' HSPA. Think about it for a few seconds. Why would a large supplier complicate a price by forcing the potential buyer to divide a number by two - especially a number that usally ends in "99 cents"? "Uh huh"! you say - "that's because the second (and so help me God!) sometimes the THIRD year of the contract will make squillions. Doubtless that's true but if you read the detail of the offer carefully, actually not really carefully because it's very obvious, you will find it's relatively painless to get out of the contract after 12 months. So, nice try, but no prize. The answer is far more cynical. The people who offer '12 months at half price' usually (I couldn't find an exception but there may well be one) state the offer is only available to 'new' users (ignore all the other conditions for a moment). They do this because: 1) At '100%' of their new offer prices the offers are completely unsellable 2) At 50% they are competitivish with other suppliers 3) They need to 'meet the market' but don't want to have to offer generally lower prices which they would have to offer to the 'bunnies' who are already customers paying sky high prices for the identical service. 4) By offering a spurious "50% off" for NEW users they can compete for new customers while not having to cut the exhorbitant prices they are charging their old customers. This theory comes straight out of Marketing Scams For Slimebags 101 (its a mandatory subject in the "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break" MBA. (in this contect MBA doesn't stand for Master Of Business Administration). As anyone who contemplates buying a communications service these days has undoubtedly already noticed the number of symbols plastered all over the 'head line points' of the marketing blurb have reached plague proportions. I think I commented a while back that to work in "Marketing" you need a special keyboard so that you have got enough symbols to mitigate the lies the head line points are claiming with enough disclaimers (for those who actually read them) to keep you out of jail once the end user finally realises what he/she is really getting/not getting for their money. So my findings on HSPA pricing is that irrespective of what a reader might infer from the main print of the 'ad' it simply isn't going to turn out that way when they 'get the product home'. Communications company "marketing' today really does follow the P T Barnum dictum of "It's impossible to underestimate the intelligence of the average buyer." Personally I think many of the ads I have looked at over the weekend haven't just crossed the line they have have go so far past the line it isn't any longer visible in their 'creator's' rear view mirror. Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
No Trackbacks
Comments
Display comments as
(Linear | Threaded)
It would be fine to say like $80 a month then
- Half price for the month - 48 month contract However, heaps of idiots would fall for $40 a month* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comment (1)
I now understand more clearly why 'they' offer those 50% off deals - thank you.
I find it as difficult as the next person to make any sense from communications service offerings, but having just signed up for a cap plan I must point out the value I see in it (in response to your breifly making me feel innumerate ). My $310 cap allows me 387.5 minutes talk time, compared to 300 minutes talk time for the same money on Exetels highest (non-cap) plan. Chuck in 3 months free and a $900ish (this month...) phone and I'm a happy cap customer. Of course there are other considerations - but the call rate difference in Exetels favour is considerably greater than the SMS difference. The data rate difference makes me want to cry, but it would not have changed my mind - I believe the phone/3 months free provide more than enough value to cover this. Comments (2)
The point is that:
1) 'capped' plans aren't capped at all 2) and so many calls/servces are excluded it's virtually impossible to keep track of actual expenditure. 3) The per minute rate is ridiculously inflated, as are all other charges. 4) Many, many users get no where near the exact number of calls and therefore spend either more on their actual calls or more on the calls that exceed the cap. You may well be the exception, there are bound to be some, but the vast majority of people pay far more for their 'capped' plan thatn they would for a low cost per call plan. Exetel, is not a good comparison - we are a tiny provider with services aimed at low end users. Never underetimate the lying ability of the scum who put these 'razzle dazzle' confusions together with the express purpose of gouging the user. Comments (2)
I'm sure 'capped' plans must keep the TIO busy, most people have no idea about the real cost of these plans particularly once the included amount of calls are exceeded
Comment (1)
OK John I see where you are coming from and you got me thinking... I think I have a few friends that fit that mould perfectly.
Obviously I do think I am an exception to the rule, I guess that's why I'm an Exetel customer and have never been a Bigpond customer. Good luck in continuing your struggle to save Australians money! Comments (2)
'Capped' mobile plans are the biggest scam going - it's very difficult to determine what the true included value is. People seem happy to be fooled by claims of getting $400 'value' for $40 (or whatever).
I think Exetel should look at marketing their mobile plans better; no-one believes me when I tell them the per-minute rate I pay with Exetel mobile. Comment (1)
Thanks John Couldn't agree more! I had just noticed an ad for (I think) 12 months at 50% but 36 month contract blah some free stuff but 3 YEARS! Besides which the 50% price was ludicrous, let alone the full price!
The sad fact of the matter is that it must be working for ad's like this to even exist. Comment (1)
I actually don't think the average consumer knows 36 months is 3 years...
Some guys wouldn't even commit to a girl that long... Comment (1)
And frankly that would be a reasonable call on their behalf if the girl in question was the equivalent of an over priced contract being sold at half price initially in order to lock you in.
Hmmm. Perhaps the parallels between dating & marriage and the telcommunications industry are deeper than I thought. Comment (1)
Well, the silver lining is you can disconnect after the first 12 months, and sign up for another special offer. The exit fee is low enough to make this a good way to "give it to the Man".
Comment (1)
I agree - as I said - you don't have to look to hard to see how to get out of the contract IF YOU'RE A NEW USER.
The OLD users just keep getting gouged. Comments (2)
"The OLD users just keep getting gouged."
Too true. This was the primary reason I settled on Virgin as my 3G provider. 24 month contract but termination after the initial 6 month period involves paying $5 x the remaining 18 months on the contract. They were the only provider to have a reasonable contract break fee and I expect to break the contract as HSPA data prices will fall. I think one of the reasons for increasing Slimebag Marketing is that no one stays with a company for more than a couple of years nowadays. If you only intend to be in [insert Big Company] marketing for a couple of years then offering new customers a better deal than existing customers makes total sense. New customer sign-ups = win, old customers probably won't notice, and if/when they do, retention marketing = more joy for you. You don't honestly care about the company's bottom line. When you change companies, those pissed off churning customers are a spanking new opportunity for you at your new employer, when you can introduce new 50% plans and repeat the cycle. Comment (1)
|
Calendar
QuicksearchArchivesCategoriesBlog AdministrationExternal PHP Application |