Post by "Pop" Stran on Jan 17, 2005 10:57:09 GMT -5
"Test and Keep a $500 digital camera!"
"Test a $1200 laptop, and Keep it!"
...and a dozen more teasers designed to press your greed buttons.
The headlines and email subjects are flashy and dramatic, and the promises are shocking to say the least.
Each claims that some benevolent corporation is going to give away Billions of Dollars worth of SOMEONE ELSE's product to everyday consumers...and all you have to do is answer "a few quick questions".
First of all:
Who is spending over a million dollars on market research for a product that has already been released to the public?
Second:
Since when do beta-test organizations send millions of pieces of recruiting spam to the general public?
The manufacturers foot the bill for beta-product, and they will not send a $500 camera to every housewife in America with an email address...it's not smart business.
These producers do in fact perform beta testing on new products, and these tests are conducted by professional marketing firms using carefully screened guinea pigs hired for just this purpose.
Sometimes the testers are allowed to keep the product upon completion of the carefully monitored tests, but not too often...and hardly ever in the case of a $2500 PC.
These emails are another back-door method of recruiting suckers for the online survey scam we addressed earlier in the Definately Scams board.
Big Impressive Promises are a marketing con designed to keep the marketer's email from being swept away in the first round of inbox cleaning...and hopefully to even get it read by you, the target.
Be a little street-wise, and apply common sense to the promises.
When the Promise is big, but the offer is vague...Red flags should be popping up all over the letter.
Steer clear.
"Test a $1200 laptop, and Keep it!"
...and a dozen more teasers designed to press your greed buttons.
The headlines and email subjects are flashy and dramatic, and the promises are shocking to say the least.
Each claims that some benevolent corporation is going to give away Billions of Dollars worth of SOMEONE ELSE's product to everyday consumers...and all you have to do is answer "a few quick questions".
First of all:
Who is spending over a million dollars on market research for a product that has already been released to the public?
Second:
Since when do beta-test organizations send millions of pieces of recruiting spam to the general public?
The manufacturers foot the bill for beta-product, and they will not send a $500 camera to every housewife in America with an email address...it's not smart business.
These producers do in fact perform beta testing on new products, and these tests are conducted by professional marketing firms using carefully screened guinea pigs hired for just this purpose.
Sometimes the testers are allowed to keep the product upon completion of the carefully monitored tests, but not too often...and hardly ever in the case of a $2500 PC.
These emails are another back-door method of recruiting suckers for the online survey scam we addressed earlier in the Definately Scams board.
Big Impressive Promises are a marketing con designed to keep the marketer's email from being swept away in the first round of inbox cleaning...and hopefully to even get it read by you, the target.
Be a little street-wise, and apply common sense to the promises.
When the Promise is big, but the offer is vague...Red flags should be popping up all over the letter.
Steer clear.