A Tale of Three Transactions

Haha, ironically, this article about a tale of three has a double meaning. I just realized that, because the initial meaning I wanted to convey was a comparison between three different types of selling something online; using an Internet Marketing model (IM) which includes a low price point to start but then offers complementary products as upsells (or sometimes one-time-offers); also an Appsumo type transaction which involves a piece of software that is usually charged per month but is offered for a special one-time fee with no monthly; and finally an award-winning suite of software by Adobe that is offered at a monthly rate, but used to cost a large one-time fee.

But when I say it also has a double meaning I mean that in the IM transaction I was involved in myself, I ended up buying three items. So that also was three transactions, although when I look back on it I guess you could say it was four. No matter. The sad part about those 3 or 4 transactions is that since I seemed unhappy about it based on some complaints I made, the product creator refunded my money and let me keep the products anyway! It turns out I really like the product.

Originally, the issue I had was being surprised by the appearance of a second sales page just as I was completing the first sale. In the IM world product creators often put up what’s called an OTO (one time offer). An OTO gets it’s name from being a scarcity device. You just made a purchase but wait! Maybe you’d also like to get this other OTO item for an additional $27 or $37. And it’s only available for a brief period of time (clock above ticking down from 6 hours – 6:00…5:59…5:58 etc.).

But so what? If you’ve been around IM long enough, you know it’s coming and can always say no. Still, upsells work, marketers know it, and it’s hard to say no to a method that increases one’s revenue by 30 to 50 percent. Honestly it can be frustrating to a buyer looking for a way to earn money online, to be just finishing one transaction and then presented with an OTO that makes it seem like the first product they just bought won’t really be good enough after all.

But the upsell I was presented with this day wasn’t an OTO. It wasn’t a requirement in order get the full impact of the original core product either. It was presented as a complementary product (not to be confused with complimentary haha), and the product creator Barb Ling pointed that out to me, and after reflecting on that whole transaction experience I admit that I carry with me a prejudice against OTOs due to being burned by them in the past. But Barb is aware of that phenomenon and tries extra hard to present upsells in a way that is friendly and not “counting down” to anything. I applaud her for that, plus she puts out some of the most unique products in the IM world, and if you know of her, you probably know that she has a rare ability to build a following around her quirkiness in chatting with her followers on her web pages, social media, and email lists. She is charming and funny, and fearless. I remember her videos featuring her bird perched atop her shoulder (a parakeet?), and that is unusual and memorable. She now has at least three birds that might appear while she shoots her videos, and one of them she knows will not stay put for long. And sure enough it flies off!

But that’s just good marketing and personal branding. What about the product? Well that depends on where you are in your marketing journey. As Kimanzi Constable said in an Entrepreneur.com article, “a lot of the advice only works if you have a huge audience.”* That’s what I thought at first about Barb’s product, since it was about increasing your affiliate income profit by crafting certain approaches for your audience.

But again, everybody knows that you’re going to need an audience. And if yours isn’t big enough, Barb provides great links to information and courses that can help a marketer grow their email list. That’s above and beyond. But not everyone in IM is like Barb Ling; in fact almost no one is, she’s that unique. Thus you should know when entering into a transaction in the IM world to stay alert, do your homework, and avoid being pushed around. Over time you’ll find certain IMers that you trust and are open to answering questions.

What About that Second Transaction Type?

Well, I’ve made quite a few of those transactions too, buying software at Appsumo because it’s usually only $49 one time for life-time access, for a product that normally has a monthly cost. Everybody knows that $20 or $30 a month is going to add up over time, and fast. Here you get to see the product in action while people buying it are reviewing it, and you can ask questions before you buy too, to be answered by the software creators. So that is a powerful incentive.

At Appsumo, software is presented in a different way: a public forum which lays it all out on the table up front, pros and cons, with product creators often asking for feedback in person, even tweaking the offer midstream while the offer’s running, based on forum feedback. What I like in this scenario is the transparency. These vendors often have a piece of software that is still young in its life cycle and needs some buzz and some maturity, and an influx of cash and real time feedback and ideas help make it happen. Recent examples include Lemlist (using Gmail to send personalized emails to prospects), Keyword Hero (which reveals the keywords used to search for your website, like Google used to do), Rocketium (an Animoto-like video creator with included music and effects), and Meet Leonard, a way to truly get the most out of LinkedIn, except for when LinkedIn clamps down and forbids its use saying it violates their TOS; so that’s a point to consider.

These are all products that are on the market already, and have been for various lengths of time. Consumers have a little time to consider the offer, at least one or two weeks, to look it over, research, and ask questions. There is still a scarcity factor, since the offer will expire at an unspecified time, but customers are there on the forum giving their opinions.

But again, buyer beware. Although it may seem too good to be true to avoid the monthly fee and get lifetime access, you need to ask yourself: will I really use this? Or am I just buying it because it’s a good deal? And to be honest, there are only so many hours in a day, and once you have 10 software products you use consistently already, the chances are you won’t use your newly purchased software as much as you think.

Speaking of $49, we are also customers of Adobe and use the Adobe Creative Suite in our business of making great graphic design, and websites. That comes to slightly over $50 per month, so there’s no lifetime offer here, but we are talking about access to the most award-winning graphic design tools ever created, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, and InDesign. And since it’s a suite of tools there’s Dreamweaver, Premier, AfterEffects, and more. Millions of lines of code, beloved by the creative world, available for about $50. The truth is we don’t use even half of those great tools. We use a few regularly though, and we love these top flight, best-in-class products. Plus, as a professional agency, it’s good to be using the industry standard tools. When it comes time to hand off our designs to a printer, they’ll know exactly what to expect when they receive Illustrator “ai” files, or the psd’s from Photoshop. Plus there’s a lot more to Acrobat Pro than printing out a pdf.

So when it comes to spending money on software, it’s very important to factor in these items:

Is the upsell or complementary item necessary or worth it? For that matter, is the low priced core product worth it if you don’t end up using it?
Will I benefit by getting lifetime access to a software I will barely use?
If I’m paying a monthly fee for access to some professional software, will I really profit by having that access? Is there a cheaper way to go? A workaround?

You may think these questions are easy, but in my long experience making my living online, I will tell you that many, many IMers, marketers and entrepreneurs confess to having spent too much at some point. It’s often used as an intro to their latest offer: “When I got started I spent hundreds, even thousands on programs, coaching, and whatever bright shiny object I saw, before I figured it out.” And then they might proceed to sell you on something you also will regret later. I’m just saying it’s possible. Be wise out there. On the one hand, buying courses and products is a good way to learn, but… BUT it’s also not a solution. Only taking action by using the products you buy will get you any closer to your goals.

*https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237325

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Blaine Fallis

Co-founder at A Train Creative

After touring as a bassist for years, Blaine got into computers more heavily and later worked for About.com where he learned the fundamentals of list building and writing for the jazz niche.