Honest marketing works on the Web
The web customer is not a fool. The specific reason they are on the Web is to compare and evaluate. Give them the facts.
Some airlines have an incredibly underhanded approach to pricing. Aer Lingus is an airline I fly with almost once a week. It is dramatically better than it was five years ago, but it still has a second-hand car salesman approach to pricing.
It now has a graphic on its pages stating “Total price includes taxes and charges.” But that’s not quite true. The first price you see when booking does not include taxes and charges. Nor does it include the handling fees. It doesn’t include the fuel surcharge either. And, for good measure, an insurance charge is added, which you then have to deselect.
So, when you begin booking a flight with Aer Lingus you know the fare you start off with will be a lot higher by the time you actually have to pay. Why do Aer Lingus do that? Do they think that it’s clever marketing? I find it deceptive and totally underhanded. I feel the website is behaving like a pickpocket. All these hidden fees in no way make me fly more, and make me associate the Aer Lingus brand with dishonesty.
Aer Lingus is not alone, of course. A great many airlines price like this. British Midland has a nice graphic on their pages stating: “All prices include taxes, fees and other charges.” However, then they go and charge you an extra €5 for using a Visa credit card.
“To help us improve the service we offer to our customers, please let us know the reasons for your journey,” British Midland states. You won’t believe this. They won’t let me book my flight unless I tell them the reason I’m flying. So I deliberately give false information. Just who do they think they are?
Airlines like to treat their customers as fools. The type of customer that’s on the Web is no fool. The very reason we go to the Web is to be better informed, to get a better deal. We customers are mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!
The Web shifts the balance of power away from the organization and towards the customer. It is the customer who searches. It is the customer who compares. It is the customer who evaluates. It is the customer who is highly impatient, with their finger always on the Back button.
Too much marketing and advertising is about deception. I presume it must still work offline, at least to some degree. Treating us like Pavlov’s Dogs and ringing that sweet bell of association, then expecting us to salivate for that juicy product; all very clever.
The Web sounds the death knell of the age of the mindless consumer who is led to the store with a collar and chain of ads. The Web is about empowerment, enablement and active, engaged thinking.
Web marketing is not about finding fools. It is rather about serving searchers. We go to the Web because we have a question and we want an answer. Please answer the question, Mr. Marketer.
Derek says:
Added on October 28th, 2007 at 5:25 pmYes - Ryanaire has the same approach to pricing, but I believe the regulator in the UK (the Civil Aviation Authority) is making them change these practices over the next few months. http://www.caa.co.uk/
Regards
David says:
Added on October 28th, 2007 at 6:04 pmI need to hide my identity to make this comment, but I think a lot of people would like to hear your response to a few issues you raise:
1. You normally provide hard data to back-up your statements… but no hard data here. It’s nice to think that web users aren’t stupid, but can you prove it?
2. When talking about this market that isn’t stupid, you refer to “we.” You are an expert. Are you saying that web users, in their entirety, are not stupid - regardless of whether they are experts or not? Do you really group yourself as similar to the average user?
3. You make assertions about the airline being dishonest, but in the same breath you mention that you fly with them every week. Is the logical conclusion that there are other driving factors that exclusively influence the purchase decision, and honesty in fact has nothing to do with whether people spend their money or not?
I am an avid reader of your work, but I’m sad to say that our metrics suggest that users are, in fact, “stupid” compared to experts. For example, in the web design realm, our firm receives frequent requests for site re-design. When I ask “why” the company wants a redesign, the answer is invariably “to drive more sales.” The client is convinced that better graphic design equals more conversions. When we explain that their problems are due to things like poor usability, lack of engaging content, etc., I’d say that 90% aren’t interested. After all, their site doesn’t look as good as their competitors, and they’re not seeing the sales that their competitors are. 1 1 = 2 to them. Only the larger, more sophisticated firms are interested in our hard metrics. Very few small companies are even interested in hearing about data-driven strategies to increase conversions EVEN WHEN WE CAN PROVE IT - but if we show them our Flash portfolio, they’re ready to spend $10,000 with hardly a second thought - even when we explain that Flash SEO is a mystery at best.
So I must say, my experience tells me that customers make purchase decisions when you reinforce a solution that they already believe will work, not when you present solutions that experience and data backs up. Purchase decisions, even on the internet, are entirely emotional. “Getting the best deal” is merely a reason that the user can cite to rationalize their purchase. Even I know I own an iPhone simply because it’s cool, but I have a hundred reasons I will give as to “why” I have an iPhone (works seamlessly with my Mac at home, UI improvement, size, etc.)
Thoughts?
Neil McPherson says:
Added on October 28th, 2007 at 6:16 pmGerry is pretty close to the mark.
In the case of Ryan Air, which I sometimes use out of Frankfurt (that’s in Germany,you CNN folk) the total cost in real cash is starting to edge them out of the equation: biggy Lufthansa is slightly less costly because you have to spend 20 Euro on the Ryan Air ‘bus fare to Hahn airport or pay a charge,now, on day parking that makes it prohibitive to go for the so-called “cheap” flight(a favoured Gerry key or x word) airline. Drinks are costly too on board, despite good service. Flying into Gatwick UK means an extra 20 pounds per person train trip plus 40 mins to get to London - where you were headed in the first place. (What you pay for at Hahn is a nice trip into the bush and good coffee from friendly people in an airport “lounge” or hall, the size of a small bus stop. MMM!)
The root problem is that the big airline outfits lobby government to review charges and insist on all sorts of taxes like higher landing taxes on the use of ( at Hahn) an disused US fighter air base in “occupied” Germany … than seems warranted. After all, the same governments involved, assert that small airlines are good for the health of the industry as a whole. Phooey!
God knows, the ocntrol tower charges, regional navigation and safety fees ETC are probably so high - that they necessitate, in the Ryan case, their sub contracting that work to say, Frankfurt (FRAPORT). I am not sure about that, but the end result is that the little independents (like independent corner stores) are squeezed unmercifully by the “nice” old airline stalwarts like um, Lufthansa in Old Europe and United in USA.
It sucks, but if you come from the good old US of A you will recognise what we have here is sometimes called freedom of choice and (gulp) conmmercial democracy in action. Great. Still sucks and we ALL pay more.
I don’t really mind that the airlimes like Ryan-Lingus etc are cheating with their copy a bit, as long as one remembers to do the math (before he buses it 100 km to get to an airport that may not be up to scratch safety-wise.)
Catch- 22s wherever you turn.
MCP
Mikael Sandin says:
Added on October 29th, 2007 at 8:24 amDavid: It is a difference in being stupid and being a beginner when it comes to the web. Many people that aren’t expert web users are really smart and vice versa. In this sense web customers are not more or less stupid than the population in general.
And the fact that intelligent people can be very inexperienced web users might indicate that they would be even more angry if they feel that their inexperience to the web (and perhaps computers in general) is something that is taken advantage of by the company to earn a few extra dollars.
/Mikael
Gerry McGovern (blog author) says:
Added on October 29th, 2007 at 10:15 pmThese are good points. From working with clients I have found that treating the customer with respect and delivering them solid facts rather than marketing waffle generally gets better results.
I also use Ryan Air quite a bit, and the thing is that they are often–though not always–much cheaper than the competition. When you’ve got time, they’re often the best choice.
I fly with Aer Lingus, David, because I live in Ireland and they often have the best connections, and I’m also part of their frequent flyer program. And in my experience, all the airlines do the same sort of trickery.
I wouldn’t say purchase decisions are entirely emotional. I do agree that emotion is a major factor still. But I do think that the Web reflects a gradual shift towards a more educated, discerning customer that likes to compare and evaluate.
Finn Harreby Jepsen says:
Added on October 30th, 2007 at 12:48 pmStop flying discount or you support unserious marketing! There is a reason and they are just smarter marketing people, but in the long term customers are not stupid.
You must always calculate with extra charges, extra time for searching the true price and very often more delays flying discount.
If you look at http://www.sas.dk Scandinavian Airlines website in Denmark the lowest price include taxes and nothing is hided on the web. Their policy is to be honest and make honest marketing.
Finn
Rosa says:
Added on October 31st, 2007 at 12:20 amGerry,
This is a brilliant article, you hit wright on target!
Best Regards,
Rosa
Mick says:
Added on October 31st, 2007 at 11:42 amNo more lies!
Gerry’s article explores the old marketing philosophies of the past. I agree that we are no longer the consumer equivalent of Pavlov’s dogs. I agree that there has been a quantum shift by consumers in questionining what we are being sold , not just in commerce but by our government’s as well.. and we don’t want any more LIES! All we want is the truth! John Lennon said that. Gerry is right. A website smells of dishonesty if it doesn’t do what it says on the tin.
Bob Johnson says:
Added on November 1st, 2007 at 2:20 pmLet me divert from the airlines to my specialty field… college and universities. In the United States, almost none of them allow potential students to get any online information about net or “real” costs. Some provide this service by paper, but most make people wait until after they’ve applied for admission and been accepted to receive their “financial aid” information.
From a marketing perspective, there is competitive advantage awaiting those who allow people to estimate actual costs online, whenever they want to do it. Two that have taken this step are University of Toledo at http://www.financialaid.utoledo.edu/estimator/ and Bradley University at https://admissions.bradley.edu/ssl/estimator/?status=viewtab1
Do people care? In surveys of college-bound high school students, getting information about real costs is listed very high on the website “want” list. At Bradley, where on the online system went live this September, requests for information about doubled over requests from the previous year when responses were calculated by hand and took about a week to complete.
Will we see more progress in this direction? A bit here and there, perhaps, but most colleges and universities are reluctant to take this step, in part because they don’t want their competitors to have this information.