Seth Godin Causes an Uproar… But Is He Right?
By Anna Johnson on March 31st, 2009Seth Godin’s recent blog post, ‘The high road and the low road’ has certainly caused a stir among direct response Internet marketers!
Essentially, Seth contends that using various ‘tricks’ to convert web visitors into customers is ‘taking the low road’ and ultimately won’t work, or at least, won’t work as well as ‘taking the high road.’
Seth doesn’t exactly define what taking the high road is, other than indicate that spending $10,000 on a magazine photo shoot is an example of taking the high road.
He’s a bit clearer in explaining what it means to take the low road. This means using ‘tricks’ such as popups, popunders, cloaked IP addresses, persistent windows that won’t go away, loud headlines, ‘exclusive’ offers, get rich quick claims, guaranteed results, and calls to action.
Many members of the Warrior Forum – a popular Internet marketing forum -were outraged by Seth’s high road – low road distinction. Which isn’t surprising, since a lot of them probably use at least some of the ‘low road’ tactics Seth mentions.
Indeed, anyone who has studied and applied classic direct response marketing principles might well be annoyed at being accused of using tricks, or being manipulative, or, worse… not making money.
Haven’t we tested, tracked and measured our way to optimizing our traffic, conversions and sales?
Is Seth Godin telling us that we should stop all that – and stop using the techniques e.g. loud headlines, guarantees and exclusive offers – that have proven themselves to yield better results than not using such techniques?
Seth Godin, it seems, says ‘yes’. He suggests that websites that are ‘generous, filled with useful information and generally focused on teaching people’ ultimately do better than low road websites. So get rid of your popups and start providing more useful, free information! (Why can’t you do both? Good question…)
So… is Seth Godin right?
Yes and no.
Yes, he makes a good point. The sad fact is that the Internet marketing niche, along with the niches that those within the Internet marketing niche also tend to operate in, have attracted more than their fair share of scammers, shysters, and those interested in making a quick buck rather than delivering something of value to people.
Furthermore, even those with great products and services to offer, often get seduced into using dubious tactics and techniques to generate web traffic and/or convert that traffic into subscribers or customers.
I disagree with Seth Godin, however, in how he defines high road versus low road. I also disagree with the idea that (his definition of) a high road approach is necessarily optimal in every market.
While I am equally repulsed by cloaked IP addresses, persistent windows that won’t go away, and get rich quick claims… I don’t think popups, loud headlines, exclusive offers, guaranteed results or calls to actions are inherently low road.
There’s a big difference between attempting to mislead and deceive people (the real definition of ‘low road’) and using techniques to prompt people to take a desired action, which is, frankly, the aim of ALL marketing.
Furthermore, Seth Godin’s view that spending $10,000 on a photo shoot is better than having, say, a popup on a website, is nothing more than a subjective opinion. What matters – or should matter – more to Internet marketers is what works for a given target audience.
There are some websites where lots of stunning photos will work much better to attract and convert visitors… there are others where a popup will be just the thing to increase conversions. It all depends on what works for your market on your website.
It’s not a question of Seth’s subjective opinion of high road versus low road. It’s a question of what works in a given market.
Again, I am in no way endorsing tactics that are misleading or deceptive, whether in a legal, moral or ethical sense. I am also the first to urge Internet marketers to continually strive for a higher standard.
A higher standard in what products and services we sell, in how we sell those products and services, in our customer service, and in what we give back to the community.
If that’s the high road, let’s embrace it. But if the high road is to spend massive amounts of money on marketing we can’t test, track or measure, or optimize… forget about it.
Source: Seth Godin, “The high road and the low road,” Seth’s Blog, March 27, 2009
March 31st, 2009 at 10:40 am
It would seem that Seth has lost a bit of perspective if he’s saying that spending $10K defines the “high road.” $10K may be doable for him, but not for the vast majority of online marketers.
I completely agree that most of the whiz-bang carnival barker tactics used on many marketing sites are decidedly low road. I also understand that many will argue that because they have (in their opinion) the world’s greatest product that any means of getting the sale is justifiable.
The fact is that in many cases, making the sale becomes the priority. Whether the product is actually useful to the customer is irrelevant. Many customers don’t ask for refunds for any of a number of reasons, so that’s not a reliable indication of whether they’re happy.
I think it’s important to keep in mind the following words of wisdom regarding marketing:
“Marketing is not something you do to people, it’s something you do
for people. Marketing is the service of helping people make the best
possible decision.”
— George Silverman: Author & viral marketing expert.
I might add that to that last sentence “…the best possible decision FOR THEM.”
March 31st, 2009 at 1:54 pm
hi
High road and low raod should be extremely easy to seperate. do you lie to people, do you tell people to “steal this and steal that”, do you use offensive language and the list goes on and on. Personally I think the Net should treat advertising on the basis that every ad is being told to a person in person and not across the area of the internet. If you had to look a potential customer in the face, would you do and say some of the things that we see all the time here?
so to me the high road is the right way and the low road is the wrong way and we all know what the right wrong ways are. Common sense, respect and no lies is High Road, lying and cheating and falsehoods are the low road and we all know what that is as well. c ya
March 31st, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I think that this just reflects his point of view. Ask 100 IM’s and you get 100 different p.o.v’s.
What I think is happen is a dangerous “IM product overload” in the IM niche.
Each and every week we get the latest top notch product served, better, darker (secrets), faster profits and so on.
What’s happen is that normal folks STOP to believe us IM’s. Over 50% of those are rewriten PLR stuff, 70% simle crap, and the rest good stufft, but mostly nothing which we don’t already know or can get for free.
Look from a Newbies point of view. He has no idea what’s real and what not, chances to get scammed is huge, so by “complaining” about the hyped BS in Forums, suddenly all “make money” products become a scam. I’m active in scam(dot)com and can tell you that ALL Affiliate websites are seen as a scam by most users.
It’s OUR fault, WE CREATED THOSE SCAMMERS.
The IM niche needs URGENTLY a INDEPENDANT quality label. Have no idea how to resolve this but that’s the soloution in the offline business, so it’s as well a solution to products sold over the net.
I think the quality label has to be USER DRIVEN. A certain amount and relation of positive to negative quotes will allow a site to use a label or not (little bit similar to EBay seller qualification)
Remember that we all are as well CONSUMERS, not only Affiliates. A fair and trustful Internet will benefit everyone.
G.
April 1st, 2009 at 4:45 am
Wonderful post Guido. I think you are spot on when you say that the IM niche urgently needs a user driven, independent quality label.