How Online Industries Lure You Into Buying Things You Don’t Want
Amounting to $521.02 billion in 2021, digital advertising spending has been unstoppably increasing in the past two decades and is projected to reach 876 billion dollars by 2025, led by the most rapidly developing segment of mobile advertising. The omnipresent Internet marketing is taking full advantage of multiple channels to reach its customers, making them aware of the products they need…or don’t need – which doesn’t matter as long as the job of luring the digital victim into buying the goods or services being advertised is done.
There are bazillions of hooks used by cunning online marketers, so it may not be possible to recognize every trap. However, even knowing the most popular psychological tricks would save you tons of money as well as help you to become less gullible and susceptible to online advertising. And if so, then why not dig into it right now along with Anna Rosak, a gambling expert from KasynoHEX and the author of the piece? Let’s roll!
Superficial Plausibility
The easiest and one of the most outrageous things to pull is to introduce customers to the bright side of the deal only; as for the unpleasant details, these can be fine-printed or hidden altogether. This happens across the boards, from restaurants to gambling sites.
Speaking of which, let’s take a look at the bonus offer at Cookie Casino reviewed by KasynoHEX: 200 USD + 220 free spins. An uninformed gambler may think that this bonus is just a freebie, as there’s no other info on the banner. When you come to think of it, though, it instantly becomes obvious that offering 200 dollars to every new user would quickly render any casino bankrupt, so there should be a catch. And then you find it: not only do you have to deposit real money to be eligible for the bonus, but you also have to play through your deposited and won money before you can cash out.
Every niche has peculiar catches. With online casinos, these are wagering requirements, deposit requirements, bonus limits, geographical restrictions, and fees. With online services, this may be, for example, an auto-renewed subscription – that is, when the money is taken from your credit card automatically every month without you being aware of it unless you unsubscribed from the service manually.
There is no limit to the ingenuity of marketers, so the only visible way to mitigate (or avoid) the damage is to learn the specific marketing tricks used in your niche and do your research before serious purchases.
Fake Scarcity
Another effective trick to make you click on the Purchase button like there’s no tomorrow is by making it scarce… not really scarce, but fake scarce. The ad banner may display that there are only several items left in stock, or there may be a counter telling you that the offer is only valid for an hour. And if the timer doesn’t change as you enter the website for the second and third time, then make no mistake, you’re being duped.
Price Comparison
Not a single purchase in the world has been made without a prior comparison. It’s in our nature to compare things, and, of course, it’s also our desire to make an informed decision. However, there’s plenty of ways marketers can interfere with that. For example, they can artificially inflate the price for some time (no one wants to buy, but that’s not a problem for now) and then reduce it to jaw-dropping rates (everyone wants to buy, compensating for the previous drought) aka the fair price of the product. Or they can add a more expensive premium version of the product to sell the regular version.
Unnecessary Improvements
The tech race is exciting, but hold on for a second…do you need a new smartphone? And was it justified to sign a contract that allowed you to change your phone for a newer model at the end of the two-year cycle? It could be a decade ago, when feature phones were not equipped even with vital features – but now?!
Most planned upgrades are designed to create the idea in our heads that we have to replace outdated products with state-of-the-art analogs, and the fact that most of us want to have a better car/phone/TV than that of our neighbors doesn’t help. But then again, if you research what you really need and are ready to pay for, then you can do it.
