The Quivering [Download]
Share Your Downside Openly to Increase Trust & Sales
Hands shaking and forehead beading with sweat, I tore open the box. I quivered with excitement as I cradled my Amazon Kindle for the first time.
I whispered sweet nothings into its screen and stroked its back as I turned it on and set it up. I downloaded several books and tested it out.
I swooned. I shivered. It was everything I dreamed it would be.
Until I took it to bed with me that evening, intending to read until late into the night. I searched for the back light switch.
Nothing.
Getting increasingly desperate, I played with all the settings.
Nothing.
I gasped in horror.
NO BACK LIGHT! I CAN’T READ MY KINDLE IN THE DARK! AND THEY NEVER MENTIONED IT ON THE WEBSITE!
As an avid reader, I’ve resisted e-readers for a long time. They were too expensive. I thought they’d read like a computer screen.
But when I tested a friend’s Kindle, I was convinced. I spent a lot of time researching, and decided on the version I wanted.
I never thought to research the back light issue because I just assumed it would come with one. How could it not?
So what could have been a gushingly pleasurable experience was tainted with disappointment.
I’ve since found out that the “e-ink” screen technology doesn’t allow for a back light.
Interestingly, had I known this before I purchased the Kindle, I wouldn’t have been disappointed at all.
But I was blind-sided. And I’m immensely bugged that they make no mention of it on their website.
And when you consider the depth of the information they do have on their site, the lack of that detail is extremely suspect — I think they purposefully hid it.
So now I’m doubly bugged. Make that triply bugged, since I had purchased a leather cover, and now I have to return and exchange it for one with a light.
Again, had they told me up front, I would have been saved of that hassle; I would have bought the lighted cover in the first place, problem solved.
The lesson: Don’t hide your downside. Share it openly.
Why?
- It manages the expectations of your customers, so you don’t set them up for disappointment.
- Transparency and authenticity increase trust.
- By increasing trust, you increase credibility.
- Bottom line: You sell more stuff.
This is the crux of the social media revolution: You can’t run, you can’t hide. No matter what you say in your advertising, you’re naked to the world.
Try to hide something and you’ll get caught. It’s inevitable.
So why not just beat people to the punch and state your downside up front?
All Amazon has to say on their site is:
“Unfortunately, current e-ink technology does not allow us to build a back light into the Kindle. It’s why it reads like a book in daylight, but you can’t read it at light without a supplemental light. Fortunately, we have many options available to allow for night reading.”
Had they said that, I would have been an over-the-top raving fan, and this post would have been much different. But I’m still too bugged to rave.
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The Quivering [Download] $10.45 … |
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The Proof Is In The Booze $5.99 … |
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Money $4.45 … |
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Quivering $1.98 … |
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Quivering: Webster’s Quotations, Facts and Phrases $28.95 Ever need a fact or quotation on quivering? Designed for speechwriters, journalists, writers, researchers, students, professors, teachers, historians, academics, scrapbookers, trivia buffs and word lovers, this is the largest book ever created for this single word. It represents a compilation from a variety of sources with a linguistic emphasis on anything relating to the term “quivering,” includi… |