Does Shame Marketing Work?

There are some people doing business online that care about one thing and one thing only ... making the sale.

For these people, saying anything, doing anything, and applying any amount of pressure are all equally valid tactics.

One of their favorite methods is what I call "shame marketing." In other words, they shame you into making the purchase.

Before I continue, let me say the reason I'm sharing this is because I want you to be sure to know that these types of manipulation tactics are being used on you.

The more you know about things like this, the more you can arm yourself against falling for them.

Also, money matters. A lot.

One of my favorite people, Zig Ziglar, used to say, "Money is like oxygen. If you don't have enough, you're in trouble, and there's just really not a good substitute."

But how you get that money matters too.

In that light, I'm going to share a real-world example of a marketer who tried to do this to me. For the sake of doing the right thing, I'm going to blot out his name.

Here is the email he sent me, trying to persuade me to purchase his product.

Hey Charlie,

I'd say this is getting a little ridiculous…

You keep opening my emails...

And you keep seeing the crazy results people are getting after taking XX seconds to install [Name of product] ...

Yet for some reason…

You still haven't tried it

Which is especially crazy because:

#1 — You can still [he put the high pressure deep discount here]

#2 — You can try it completely risk-free for 7 days

Don't like it?

Just tell us and we'll give you all your money back.

No hoops… No interrogation... No 37-page cancellation form.

#3 — Your part takes literally XX SECONDS

Install [name of product] ...

And you'll start getting better results because your [description of benefit of product]

So Charlie… What exactly are you waiting for?

A week from now you could be telling me your [benefit of using the product along with a first name only "testimonial"]

Your [benefit of using the product along with a first name only "testimonial"]

Or [benefit of using the product along with a first name only "testimonial"]

Not bad for 10 seconds of work…

[Strong call to action link]

I'm looking forward to seeing YOUR before-and-after screenshots Charlie!

Thanks and all the best,
[Marketer's name withheld for the sake of decency]

P.S. The [deep discount] coupon expires in less than 2 days...

Before we go on, let me arm you with what to watch for. Individually, none of these is a crime. Together, they form a pattern:

See two or more of those in a single message, and you are looking at shame marketing.

I want to be clear that I have nothing against this person. I actually don't know this person.

But I want to be equally clear that these Shame Marketing tactics are not effective on me, and I'm hopeful that they're not effective on you.

Last point of clarity - all marketers have made similar mistakes. I myself had a timed promotion where the timer keep running after the sale was over. Tech happens.

These tactics are hard to spot, however, and so I thought it worthwhile to send you a letter about nothing but this.

In the past, I've had conversations with other marketers about this type of technique, and what they generally say is, "I'm desperate. I have to have sales. I have to do this."

I get it. I've been desperate. I've needed sales.

They don't have to do this. They want to do this.

So, does shame marketing work?

On some people, sure. On the people I want in my world, never.

So there you go. It's a strange type of Charlie Page letter for me, but I thought you should know what's going on and don't fall victim to this type of marketing.

Because the more you know, the more you can stay safe.

And staying safe is a beautiful thing indeed.

Charlie

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