The Verizon Website Is Surprisingly Honest About "Upselling" You
Reader Beth is impressed with the honesty Verizon displays in the title of the webpage where they try to sell you bundled telecom packages.
Beth says:
I'm moving, so I'm signing up for new Verizon Fios service. I noticed that the title of one of the order pages was highly accurate — "Upsell"
Hey, we love transparency.
Post a comment
Comments:
I remember going to McDonalds with my uncle once, when I was 12 or so. The register top card was backwards and the side facing us read "Remember to Soft Sell Apple Pies." He tried to get the cashier to buy an apple pie on her break throughout the ordering process and really creeped her out.
No sense of humor either when he pointed it out. I don't know why fast food workers aren't happier...
Of course we all know --- the cashiers do not say "DO YOU want fries with that?" they say "YOU WANT fries with that". A subtle difference which we all dismiss as an abuse of the language, but it turns an inquiry into a demand!
@KyleOrton: Funny, I've always heard that ignorance is bliss...
I remember the days that terms like "Up sell" and "door buster" were reserved for the back room, not the sales floor. The whole idea was that you didn't let the customer know how truly hungry you were to extract more money out of their wallet.
Our local McDonalds actually had "Smiles Free" on the menu for a while. Oddly, when you ordered a smile, you got the opposite. I suppose you get what you pay for.
T-mobile had a page that said this when I tried to access the Internet on my new G1. I thought it was mildly amusing.
To make sure they don't disappoint the IT savvy people, "UPSELL" is part of the URL.
@jdmba: I suspect that linguists would disagree with your analysis. In spoken English, merely deleting the word "do" from the front of a question isn't enough to turn it into an imperative. You would also have to change the intonation.
They are in business to make money and as long as they sell honestly there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Upselling is part of selling.
I saw that when I registered for FIOS a few weeks ago and thought it was hilarious. Nice to see it here, too.
.... Well, don't leave us in suspense, Beth! DID IT WORK??
@cuchanu: Upselling usually involves coercing customers into buying something too expensive they don't need. And it wastes everyone's time.
The worst is CollegeBoard sellups. When you sign up to take an SAT test you aren't allowed to check out until you click through a page or two of SAT prep books that they want you to purchase. Its ridiculous. I don't understand how we can use such a blatantly for-profit company as the standard for college entrance exams.
Wow, someone feels stupid now at the Verizon camp.
I hate upselling pages that retailers throw up.