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June 11, 2006
Yahoo uses "bait & switch" to manipulate people
I'm ticked off at Yahoo Small Business. Their "bait & switch" sales technique has cost me time and money. I would expect this from some other players, but not Yahoo. Here's the story . . .
Yahoo has been advertising web hosting at $8/month. This sounds pretty good to most people, including me.
But there's a problem. After you take many steps to order the Yahoo budget plan, you eventually see this error message:
A few months ago I thought this was a temporary error, a glitch in the Yahoo's system. However, after seeing this problem many times in ten weeks, I've changed my mind. (Why wouldn't Yahoo fix this problem immediately?) Right or wrong, I've concluded that Yahoo's so-called "problem" is a technique to manipulate people into paying more for web hosting.
We can all learn something by analyzing how this manipulation process works:
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Step 1: Get Psychological Commitment
I see that Yahoo offers a cheap plan for web hosting. I like the idea and make a psychological commitment.
Step 2: Frustrate
I try to order the budget hosting and fail repeatedly. My frustration grows. This emotion clouds my judgment.
Step 3: Offer Fast Solution
I discover a fast way to relieve my frustration and stay true to my psychological commitment: Order a more expensive web hosting plan. I order the more expensive plan.
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Note how my actions are not logical. Yes, I should have abandoned Yahoo and found a better host, ideally a company that doesn't have a perpetually broken backend or doesn't manipulate their users (take your pick). But we humans are not so logical. We're psychological. The sequencing of commitment, frustration, and relief is an effective way to manipulate people, even someone like me.
Two cheers for Yahoo!
-- BJ Fogg
(I'm still ticked off at Yahoo Small Business. I will phone them [800 318 0870] to insist on a refund and their lowest rates moving forward. Stay tuned . . . )
UPDATE (6-19): Calling the number above didn't do any good, but someone from Yahoo phoned me to say thanks for focusing their attention on this issue. Yahoo will change how this works soon, and they offered to make things right with me now. The Yahoo person who phoned me gets good marks for customer service.
Posted by BJ Fogg at June 11, 2006 08:27 AM
Comments
I think you want to believe Yahoo! cares about the user experience based on past dealings with them. They do a pretty good job in most cases but unfortunatly, Yahoo! Small Business has a bottom line and a revenue target that gets in the way of making the process work well.
I can't bring myself to believe that they would disable the low rate process just to make a buck, but I want to believe in companies I deal with. I have a Small Business account with Yahoo! and was pretty happy with the sign-up process but I choose the next higher level.
I bet you will get the rate after you track them down, but you having to do extra work to get it will cost them your trust in the long run. Not a good business strategy.
Posted by: Mark Carpenter at June 14, 2006 06:25 PM