ePOWER TIP: (full story)
Just
Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should! ...
In the last issue of
ePOWER! NEWS (Oct
2001) I showed you how, with just one simple
line of text, to have your site magically
“popup” on top of a REALTOR.com listing search.
Many of you implemented this trick right away
and thought it was very cool --unfortunately,
the Internet Empowered Consumers didn’t ...
A few days ago I was
"surfing" some listings in REALTOR.com and
discovered that someone had used my idea of having
their site automatically popup when their listing
description was displayed. Thrilled that someone
actually took action (you might be surprised just
how many don't...), I e-mailed this agent and
asked what kind of results they were receiving.
Well, they were getting
noticed all right --but not in the way they hoped.
Here is an excerpt from a consumer who was doing
some of their own searching on REALTOR.com:
----- Original Message -----
From: richard@*********
To:
**************************
Sent: Sunday, October 07,
2001 8:16 PM
As I go through the
Realtor.com listings your web page continues to
flash up on the screen of my computer. Maybe this
is a good marketing gimmick for most people but it
is not for me--it is irritating. Just wanted to
let you know that due to the rudeness of your
advertising, your "team" is not one that I will be
calling. If your screen is not purposely flashing
you may want to have someone correct this
situation.
The same day I received this
forwarded message from the sales associate, I had
dinner with Judy McCutchin prior to a speaking
engagement in Dallas. She had also modified her
REALTOR.com listings to trigger a popup to her
site. However, just that day she instructed her
Virtual Assistant to remove the special code
because she had received several consumer
complaints as well.
The Internet Empowered
Consumer Has Spoken
In retrospect none of this
should be too surprising. One of the five
principles of working effectively with the IEC is
understanding that they are in control --and like
it that way! This means they have a low tolerance
for any unsolicited attempt to interruptive or
grab their attention (i.e. popups, spam, etc.) All
of which begs the question: why did I tell you
about this method in the first place?
First of all, I did mention
in the article that this kind of negative consumer
reaction was a possibility. Secondly, it is part
of my job to keep you on the cutting-edge, which
means making you aware of all the possibilities to
improve your online business. And sometimes you
never know until you try. There may still be a
context in which this clever method of having your
site popup will be useful.
Based upon this recent
consumer reaction, I recommend that you do not use
the popup code described in last issue's article
for your REALTOR.com listings. And if you have, it
is probably wise to remove it.
This is been a great exercise
and lesson of just how powerful (and different)
the IEC is. The better we understand that
distinction (verses the traditional real estate
consumer), the more profitable we will be online. |
