Some of Alan's views on this digital marketing malarkey ... there's more on: AlanCharlesworth.com

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Amazon: excellent; excellent; bad

Every year I address the issue with my students about a website that has the objective of branding and the website that has the objective of sales. The key difference is in the way content is presented - specifically to sell things there must be appropriate calls-to-action. And this screenshot of the front page of Amazon is a perfect example ...


Notice the urgency, immediacy even, of the message 'today only'. Excellent.

Well, I have been considering a 'fire' device for a while, so a £30 saving appealed to me, and I clicked on the link. Notice how alongside the 'free delivery' message the urgency is hi-lighted by a running countdown clock until the offer end. Excellent.

So I clicked on 'buy now' and got this page ...


Yep ... only available in a sort of pinky-purplish colour they call megenta. 

You guessed it. I don't want a device in that colour.

So ... not only did I not buy one - but I feel I have been part of a 'bait and switch' operation [if you don't know what that is, look it up on Digital Marketing Definitions] - which has left a sour taste of the experience ... and of Amazon.


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