So one of my “selected” Facebook links was to a story about how to delay or prevent dementia in old age. I was suspicious but I thought I would take a look anyway.
First, it was a video, and there was no indication of the length of the video.
Second, the video (for the few minutes that I watched it, anyway) consisted of someone reading the text which also appeared on the screen.
Third, every other sentence was a teaser for the actual information that a person might want to get from watching, but no actual information except for scary stuff about how I might have dementia already.
So I get that they were (presuming here, since I didn’t get to that point) trying to sell me something. Their method seems counter-productive to me. Who is going to sit there and listen to someone read something to them over the course of (who knows?) 15 or 30 minutes that they could read for themselves in 5 minutes?
I assume this strategy works or they wouldn’t do it. What I don’t understand is why it works, what kinds of people would have the patience for this strategy? For what kinds of potential customers would this work better than a more direct approach?
I share your suspicion of those overly long ads.
My opinion is that they’re setting you up. If they just came right out with whatever it was they were selling they believe you’d call BS on it and move on.
I think they exist for people who are so desperate that they’ll persevere to the end, no matter how long. By then, they’ve invested so much time that sending in some money is no big deal.
Exactly. It’s a psychology tactic. If you’ve actually invested the time to watch it to the end you’re more likely to actually buy the product. Just so you haven’t wasted the 10 or 15 minutes it took to watch the video.
And they are weeding out the smart irritable people, who will only cause trouble. They want passive hopeful people who will buy their shit and keep waiting for it to work.
<music, music, music>
Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line for the next available agent.
<music, music, music>
Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line for the next available agent.
<music, music, music>
Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line for the next available agent.
You’ve been listening to this for 15 minutes. Do you hang up?
The agent might answer in 30 seconds. Or not.
But if you call back tomorrow, you have to start all over.
Similarly, you’ve invested all this time in a video. The payoff could be seconds away! Do you admit you were suckered and throw away all that time you spent? Or do you press on? In the meantime, the message is being hammered into your head.
By the way, I have often found that if you try to close the video or maybe even close the window, text will come up that gets to the point. Not always, but often.
Also recognize that the target market for dementia “cures” is older, and likely thinks of themselves as slipping.
Older folks really don’t like blipverts. Fast is off-putting and implies you’re trying to fool them. Long and slow is more comfortable and reassuring to them.
And if indeed the viewer is getting a bit forgetful, hearnig the same factoid 10 times will help it stick in their head long enough to remember to click “buy” at the end.
But most of all, it’s the suck-in ploy as described by others above. Plus of course the more scared they can make the viewer, the more eager the viewer will be to buy the relief from their fears when the offer finally shows up.
The same goes for people proselytizing for their favorite meme/conspiracy/obsession on the Internet by giving you links to YouTube videos.
The other day I saw a post urging readers to watch 600+ videos produced by a Dr. Somebody (a chiropractor, it turns out) that would answer all our questions about health care. :dubious:
No, I’m not going to sit through even one lame video. If you can’t summarize your main points in a relatively brief post, it’s an extremely good bet you’ve got nothing.
Most of the above is good analysis about the audience, but this is disturbingly like one of the nastiest phone scams I ever heard of.
The ploy was to call older people with some completely positive offer or survey or such and engage them for a few minutes on the phone. Then the scammer would call back a few days later with the exact same pitch. If the eldster pointed this out, they would apologize and move on. If, OTOH, the recipient participated in the discussion/survey/offer as if it were new, they knew they had a dementia sufferer on the line and would hit them with a string of ripoffs, some quite vicious.
So there’s something… off about an approach that seems tailored to the dim and short of memory.
Right, anyone who stays around that long is a really good sucker.
Why do the 401 spammers still use horrible English (and continue to use Nigerian Prince themes)?
If you don’t know that these are obvious signs of a scam and go ahead and click on the link, you’re a really good sucker.
It’s a filter.
Note that there is also the principle that the more time you spend reading/watching something, the more “investment” you’ve put in that you want to get back. This increases the chances of going along with it.