This will cover my consumer tips at EPJ for 2010.
As you all know, there are many internet sites that offer free trial subscriptions. In a couple of instances I have started filling out a form for a free trial, where the form first required my email address followed on the next page with a request for credit card information.
When a credit card was required for a free trial, on occasion I have stopped filling out the form because I didn't trust the site and suspected that once they had my credit card information it would be real difficult to cancel a subscription once it was "automatically" started after the free trial.
On other occasions, whatever the free subscription was to, it was not important enough to me to go through the hassle of filling out all the credit card information, so I have stopped for that reason.
On the occasions that I have stopped in these two fashions, I have discovered that the web sites almost always via email continue to get me to sign up or just give me the free trial. Usually the first email is something along the line of, "Hey, we were just joking about the credit card info. Here's your free trial."
If you ignore that email, they then begin to offer you better and better deals for a regular subscription.
Since then I have tried the following where there hasn't been a free trial but where the form asks for the email on a page before the credit card info. I simply fill out info as far as the email page and then stop. Again, what usually happens is that I get a series of emails with better and better deals.
This really make sense for the web sites since they are trying to pick off everyone along the demand curve. They'll start high lock up those people and slide down the demand curve by offering better prices.
So if you are attempting to sign up for some subscription or product on the internet, and are in no hurry, fill the form out as far as the email address and then wait for the deals in your email inbox, sometimes they'll start in just a couple of hours, sometimes it's a couple of days, but the deals ususally always show up.
I have been playing really hard to get with the people selling fabulous gucci shoes.
ReplyDeleteWenzel,
ReplyDeleteTry it with the Nigerian bankers, works wonderfully! I've quit my day-time job
A lot of e-commerce sites do a similar thing. If you are logged in and you abandon products in your shopping cart, they will send you a coupon (or coupons) to try to entice you to return and finish your purchase. I generally try this approach when I have the time.
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