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Value skew: What discernible difference ultimately turned you into a buyer or x-buyer?

Jadus

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Here's another negative value skew. I know a lot of people love Amazon but my newest experience was the 3rd in a row of utter frustration. I don't use it very much. Mostly to send my mother things in the states. For the last several days I've been trying to get a Mother's Day gift sent to her.

Negative skew #1: I picked out a gift for her last weekend but the shipping was too fast. It would have arrived well before Mother's Day. So, I delayed placing the order. The next day, it was still going to arrive too fast, so I delayed again. I rechecked it today and now the item is no longer available! Not only that, literrally everything else has an arrival time for AFTER Mother's Day.

Negative skew #2: The next product I picked for a gift (that will now be late) is supposed have free shipping. It says it right on the listing:

View attachment 43330

It also says it here:
View attachment 43331

But then, when I actually get to checkout, it shows this:

View attachment 43332

The only way to get free shipping is to join Prime. It doesn't mention that in the free shipping policy. To me, this is a deceitful practice. I know millions love Prime but I rarely order from Amazon and so I don't want to be paying for something that I won't use often. There is a 30 day trial, so I can just cancel it later, but that's a hassle to have to remember to do it. And if I forget, then I'm being charged for something I don't want.

Negative value skew #3: I wanted to call Amazon support to discuss this situation but finding a phone number on their website is next to impossible. I had to google it.

Negative value skew #4: Once I got connected to a real person, I was given absolutely zero satisfaction. There was no explanation for their bait and switch tactics. Nothing was offered to make me feel better about doing business with them.

I realize that it would be a tall order to go up against Amazon, but if someone with money could fix these negative skews; provide better shipping options, not try to deceive your customers, make it easy to get in touch with support and treat your customer like you'd want to be treated, there's a lot of opportunity there.
Update: To top off all of this, the package never arrived! After waiting an extra day and no delivery, all the robo-chat could do for me was to give me a refund. I'm done with Amazon.

I went directly to the Godiva website and placed a new order there. One negative skew there was that they required me to create an account. Never do that! You don't want put obstacles in the way of your customer's check out. In my store, accounts are always optional.

On the plus side, they had exactly what I wanted and the shipping options that I needed. (Since it's late, I had it sent 2nd day.) I'll use them again in the future and try to go directly to the source or a smaller retailer with other items I need.
 
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door123

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Nice, I'm thinking about switching to Gusto from Quickbooks Payroll ... same type of BS, any type of call to the company gets no where, and costs me hours of time and frustration.

Also, I dropped Quickbooks Accounting in favor of Zip--Books which is 10X better.

Anything Intuit buys turns to dogshit, MailCheat(Chimp) their latest victim.
Just switched over from quickbooks to zipbooks. Value skew: Cleaner UI and easier to use, Love their basic income report layout
 

MJ DeMarco

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Just switched over from quickbooks to zipbooks. Value skew: Cleaner UI and easier to use, Love their basic income report layout

Yes thus far I am very impressed with ZipBooks, looks like I will become a long-term customer. Not being "quickbooks" or having anything to do with Intuit is a value-skew in itself.
 

Danny_Cox

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Great thread, thanks MJ.

Positive skew:
- Desview T3 teleprompter: worked with my wide-angle lens
- Macbook: previous one did me 9 years
- IKEA houseplants: unbelievable prices
- IKEA wardrobes: no better options in budget
- oat milk: best calorie:taste ratio (+eco friendly)
- carrd.co: simple website builder that actually works, with hosting for just $20 a year.

Negative skew:
- Property rental: prices are inflating like crazy in UK cities right now, and demand is higher than ever. Hence, had no leg to stand on in negotiations and letting agent treated me accordingly. Trying to move to the slightly better scam of mortgaging by April next year.
- Elementor Pro (Wordpress plugin): this thing is hot garbage. Bloated, slow, and clunky. Elementor would routinely change things by itself, behave inconsistently, and generally be a nightmare for a beginner with no coding knowledge (which is exactly who their marketing is aimed at). Also, support tickets took up to 72 hours.
 
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mikecarlooch

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Quest Protein Bars -

The reason I purchase these bars even though I know other bars will taste a lot better is because of the length of time that they last.

I always wondered what was so good about these bars, and why quest is so popular.

Oh wait.. Yea, I could get the protein bars that taste like candy bars, but how long do they last? about 30 seconds.

Quest on the other hand, the way it's made makes it so that it takes longer to eat.

If only quest took out the damn sucralose and replaced it with stevia (product idea? protein bars that take a while to eat, made similar to quest, taste great, and are flavored with stevia?) I'd be a customer for life.

Or if someone could find a way to make a BIG protein bar that tastes good but has the same amount of calories as a regular protein bar? not sure if possible lol. But throwing ideas out there.
 

Two Dog

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My limited experience with Gusto seems positive but still too early to give 100% recommendations on.

Ya, QBO just go 4x more expensive because I needed more in my chart of accounts . I would like to replace it but for now, it's not worth my time to find and learn another platform. Focusing on more clients which will pay for the BS extras from intuit.
I've been using Gusto for about 4 years since it was called Zen Payroll. Nice, simple, straightforward.

However, they did just drop the lowest tier plan which effectively doubles the monthly price.
 

Akita

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I think that even if there are 100 reasons to buy a product, a single reason not to buy that hits the wrong nerve could be the deciding factor.
Also because of working against negativity bias.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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If only quest took out the damn sucralose

OMG this irritates the hell out of me. Companies advertise "all natural" and then list sucralose as a sweetener.

No, your product isn't "naturally sweetened" when you have this junk in it. Not sure how these companies continually get away with that. Sucralose is not a natural sweetener.
 
D

Deleted70138

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Negative skew:
Went into a supermarket to buy something worth eating, but literally every product has a sugar or palm oil inside. It's unbelievable how shitty food there is. Even roasted nuts had some kind of oil inside. Why would you add oil in nuts?! just roast them!
 

Jadus

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Negative skew:
Went into a supermarket to buy something worth eating, but literally every product has a sugar or palm oil inside. It's unbelievable how shitty food there is. Even roasted nuts had some kind of oil inside. Why would you add oil in nuts?! just roast them!
I couldn't agree more. Leave it to big food companies to make a healthy food unhealthy. I bought a bag of almonds the other day without reading the label. I must have know about this brand before but forgot. I read the label when I got home and couldn't believe the amount of crap they added!
 
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hammiesink

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Positive skew:

Dave's Killer Bread.

I use whole bread for everything, and I usually buy Western Hearth Whole Wheat Bread:

0001111008275


But then I heard the story of Dave Dahl, and how he got out of prison and worked for his parents' bakery (for the third time), and created Dave's Killer Bread. I started buying his whole wheat bread instead of Western Hearth:

61Pwwe4NBbL._SL1000_.jpg


His bread skewed positive for me:
  • A human story instead of a faceless corporation (notice I'm saying "his" bread)
  • Very specific description of "21 grains" (I bet Western Hearth has the same, but they don't mention it)
  • It's twice as expensive (it must be higher quality!)
  • It has a lot of 5 star reviews
Ultimately, I switched back to Western Hearth, so the positive skew became negative for me, for the following reasons:
  • Dave's has a lot of sugar in it; the whole point of whole wheat bread is a slower blood sugar burn
  • The price
  • I recognized I was being fooled by excellent marketing tactics, but not necessarily a better product
Despite my switch, I often keep in mind the factors that got me to switch to Dave's and still think about them as I study copywriting and marketing. E.g. a human for branding, a higher price indicating higher quality, etc.
 

ArmanK

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I think it would be great to have a discussion on value skew as it works in the real world. Mainly, post your experience with a product or service you recently bought, and the core buying reason WHY you bought it.

Or, post negative skew items, a core reason WHY you STOPPED buying from a particular company.

I'll copy an example of "negative skew" from @biophase who posted this recently in the Random Chat thread.

This will give us a great digest of value attributes that compel purchases in business, or compel x-buyers. The more discernible skew you present in your offer, the more sales you will attract. The less negative skew in your offer, the fewer buyers you will lose.

Simple examples of skew:
  • They answered my email in 1 hour!
  • They had this great feature that no one else had!
  • They were $12 cheaper per month
  • They had an ingredient I was looking for
  • Just liked the packaging
  • They had a great cause that spoke to my identity
Note: Your skew could also be an experience relating to customer loyalty: Wow, Widget Company did X for me and that really makes me loyal to them!

Simple examples of negative skew:
  • Too many upsells in the cart process!
  • Confusing checkout process
  • Shipping prices were insane
  • Contained an ingredient I don't want (Aspartame, Red-40)
  • The company turned into a political activist or became "woke" or "anti-woke"
  • Failed to answer my support question timely
Ill start.

I recently joined a fitness program and after I subscribed, the company offered me a "free fitness accessory". Naturally, I expected the item to be FREE, but have a $12 shipping cost -- so it still was a profit center. To my surprise, the item WAS free, and so was shipping! This totally increased my loyalty to this company.
I am moving to Austin, TX next month so went with my fiance last weekend to check out some potential apartments/condos.

We toured 8 places and the one we went with was definitely impacted by the good energy from the leasing consultant.

It was not the cheapest place and not even in the best location.

But his positive attitude and friendliness and willingness to ask us questions and show interest in what we had to say got us to go with his place.

It also probably helped that he gave us free red bull before the tour :)

We were willing to pay literally hundreds of dollars more per month.

The others werent nearly as personable and honestly didnt seem all that interested in winning us over.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Interesting dynamics why I just switched barbers.

Since I moved to Utah, I've been using a local, independently owned shop. Been there probably a dozen times. They do a decent job, really wasn't looking for another barber.

But I just switched today and likely will never be back.

#1) Availability: The last 6 times I've tried to book, the barbers I like to cut my hair are never available, unless you want your haircut next week. And I had 4 to choose from. As such, my hair is always unruly and unkempt, more so the nicely cut. I like to go every 3 weeks. Based on their availability, I've been pushing 5-6 weeks.

#2) Waxing: They also didn't offer waxing services, namely ear and nose hair removal.

#3) Better flexibility: The new barbershop I used has several chains around the area, they offer a monthly, fixed unlimited membership (I can go once per week) and they offer nose/ear/eyebrow waxing. In other words, I pay basically a slightly higher price but I get to go several times per month AND I get the waxing done when needed.

#4) Better consistency: I can tell the new barber has standards and systems in place. You get the hot towel, the neck and scalp massage regardless of who is doing your hair. The other place was like a crap shoot, sometimes they did certain things, sometimes not.

Value skew in action!
 
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Mathuin

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#3) Better flexibility: The new barbershop I used has several chains around the area, they offer a monthly, fixed unlimited membership (I can go once per week) and they offer nose/ear/eyebrow waxing. In other words, I pay basically a slightly higher price but I get to go several times per month AND I get the waxing done when needed.
This sounds awesome, doesn't seem like any in my city offer this.

I have been trying a couple of others recently as the last time I got my hair cut at the one I went to for 2 years (as it was most convenient), the barber spent the entire time on the phone when he was cutting my hair.
 

Ivan Koretskyy

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I refuse to go on Epic Games because of how they pay games to be exclusive. Including many of other missing values that their competitor Steam already have.
 

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Found a supplement online shop where i live(Switzerland). They got the perfect protein powder! With Stevia. No chemical Aromatics. Whey Isolate. It taste wonderful. Is smooth and dissolve fast.
 
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Felix Nachem

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Last time i needed help because my hosting service got an error i contacted the customer service, and they immediatly responded and helped me in seconds! In 3min the problem was solved and i can work again. Beautiful just, Beautiful.
 

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I think it would be great to have a discussion on value skew as it works in the real world. Mainly, post your experience with a product or service you recently bought, and the core buying reason WHY you bought it.

Or, post negative skew items, a core reason WHY you STOPPED buying from a particular company.

I'll copy an example of "negative skew" from @biophase who posted this recently in the Random Chat thread.

This will give us a great digest of value attributes that compel purchases in business, or compel x-buyers. The more discernible skew you present in your offer, the more sales you will attract. The less negative skew in your offer, the fewer buyers you will lose.

Simple examples of skew:
  • They answered my email in 1 hour!
  • They had this great feature that no one else had!
  • They were $12 cheaper per month
  • They had an ingredient I was looking for
  • Just liked the packaging
  • They had a great cause that spoke to my identity
Note: Your skew could also be an experience relating to customer loyalty: Wow, Widget Company did X for me and that really makes me loyal to them!

Simple examples of negative skew:
  • Too many upsells in the cart process!
  • Confusing checkout process
  • Shipping prices were insane
  • Contained an ingredient I don't want (Aspartame, Red-40)
  • The company turned into a political activist or became "woke" or "anti-woke"
  • Failed to answer my support question timely
Ill start.

I recently joined a fitness program and after I subscribed, the company offered me a "free fitness accessory". Naturally, I expected the item to be FREE, but have a $12 shipping cost -- so it still was a profit center. To my surprise, the item WAS free, and so was shipping! This totally increased my loyalty to this company.
So since so many replys are about a negative skew ill list my experiences with positive skew.

1. My gym. Is pretty expensive (50€ a month) and 15 minutes away. But the trainers are sick guys, the gym looks cool, is full of rich people, jacked people and hot girls and has great equipment.
It doesnt have a single stand out skew (maybe the people there and the R8s that are parked there all the time) but instead has so much going for it that I choose to do with the higher price and the inconvenience.

2. My Guitar.
When I bought it I was 16 years old and rather broke. I wanted to get a good guitar and went out with a budget of 400€.
Then I saw this beauty.

10062575_01.jpg


It cost 700€ but the just looks alone would have made me decide to butcher my piggy bank.
I still use it and I like the sound and playability so much that even 5k and 10+ Guitars I tried for fun didnt feel better.


Ig this shows that if the product is good enough, other things start to become irrelevant.

I love this one saying: 10k is a lot of money untill you see a new lambo on sale for 10k.
 

DCG

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I tried quest protein chips, they actually tasted really good and they have like 20 grams of protein.
 
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Last edited:

Leinad

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I recently bought a habit tracker off of amazon. There were a lot of other options I seen first but they all had various extra features that took away from the core feature I was looking for (a matrix of days for a month or longer which you can cross off, with headers for each habit name/description at the top of the columns). I ended up going with the more obscure, but plain and simpler design.

I usually look for good reviews too but this was a rare exception where this product didn't have any, but I took a chance because everything else I seen didn't do the core function I was looking for properly.
 

Kevin88660

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Professional insights.

I subscribed Bloomberg news report for $40 a month which is quite on the high end for general financial news report which is not even investment research.

The key thing about SVB’s collapse is maturity mismatching, made worse by T bills going down in value due to rate hike. Bloomberg nailed it.

The other articles from other publications are hypes of “Another Lehman”, without understanding that the difference on level of contagion.

Even since 2008 there is separation prop trading and depositors’ fund, in commercial banks.

Another legend in weight management/diet/exercise field is Lyle Macdonald who is able to digest complex information with research supporting opposing views and give a decent synthesis of them in a way that is practical to execution.

Lyle says that the key debate in intermittent fasting vs six meals a day is about finding what is suitable to yourself on appetite management. Typically if one works well naturally for you the other will be horrible to the same person. In short people who do well on fasting tend to binge when having more meals. And people on do well with multiple meals tend to feel extremely hunger when doing fasting.

But too bad lyle doesn’t have and product for subscription.

I haven’t heard any other guru talking about something practical but obvious. Most fall into camps like either fasting is everything or fasting is eating disorder.

Also I automatically unsubscribe any guru who says “calories in calories out” don’t work. It is a clear sign of lacking intellectual integrity to spin out whatever the fans like to hear.
 
Last edited:

MJ DeMarco

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Value skew: I just purchased a software product due to the level of documentation that was provided by the company. It was extensive.

Negative skew
: The company I passed on hasn't updated their product in over a year, which in the field I was looking at, might as well be 4 years.
 
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hrsh777

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I think it would be great to have a discussion on value skew as it works in the real world. Mainly, post your experience with a product or service you recently bought, and the core buying reason WHY you bought it.

Or, post negative skew items, a core reason WHY you STOPPED buying from a particular company.

I'll copy an example of "negative skew" from @biophase who posted this recently in the Random Chat thread.

This will give us a great digest of value attributes that compel purchases in business, or compel x-buyers. The more discernible skew you present in your offer, the more sales you will attract. The less negative skew in your offer, the fewer buyers you will lose.

Simple examples of skew:
  • They answered my email in 1 hour!
  • They had this great feature that no one else had!
  • They were $12 cheaper per month
  • They had an ingredient I was looking for
  • Just liked the packaging
  • They had a great cause that spoke to my identity
Note: Your skew could also be an experience relating to customer loyalty: Wow, Widget Company did X for me and that really makes me loyal to them!

Simple examples of negative skew:
  • Too many upsells in the cart process!
  • Confusing checkout process
  • Shipping prices were insane
  • Contained an ingredient I don't want (Aspartame, Red-40)
  • The company turned into a political activist or became "woke" or "anti-woke"
  • Failed to answer my support question timely
Ill start.

I recently joined a fitness program and after I subscribed, the company offered me a "free fitness accessory". Naturally, I expected the item to be FREE, but have a $12 shipping cost -- so it still was a profit center. To my surprise, the item WAS free, and so was shipping! This totally increased my loyalty to this company.
I once ordered a takeaway of fried rice and chicken kebab at a restaurant. Its a small restaurant with an open kitchen and only offers those 2 dishes. The owner had packed the chicken kebabs but the rice was still being made so he asked me to wait. After 5 minutes, the rice was ready and also freshly cooked kebabs had come. So he swapped the previously packed kebabs with the fresh ones and handed me my order.
Now i've become a loyal customer and tell that story to my friends (word of mouth).
 

Chris_Varick

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Positive skew - versapers slow juicers this thing really presses all Liquid out of the fruits really amazing and more than I expected (the fruit remains are as dry as sand)

Negative skew - did not experience myself but found it interesting. I saw a video of the configuration of the new Volkswagen ID4 or 7 cannot remember and you had to use the configurator to add 2 additional airbags they charge extra. I always though there should be no compromise in regards to safety at least to what I know I get this from TESLA therefore it is clear where the consumer decision will tend to
 

Chrisrod2597

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I think it would be great to have a discussion on value skew as it works in the real world. Mainly, post your experience with a product or service you recently bought, and the core buying reason WHY you bought it.

Or, post negative skew items, a core reason WHY you STOPPED buying from a particular company.

I'll copy an example of "negative skew" from @biophase who posted this recently in the Random Chat thread.

This will give us a great digest of value attributes that compel purchases in business, or compel x-buyers. The more discernible skew you present in your offer, the more sales you will attract. The less negative skew in your offer, the fewer buyers you will lose.

Simple examples of skew:
  • They answered my email in 1 hour!
  • They had this great feature that no one else had!
  • They were $12 cheaper per month
  • They had an ingredient I was looking for
  • Just liked the packaging
  • They had a great cause that spoke to my identity
Note: Your skew could also be an experience relating to customer loyalty: Wow, Widget Company did X for me and that really makes me loyal to them!

Simple examples of negative skew:
  • Too many upsells in the cart process!
  • Confusing checkout process
  • Shipping prices were insane
  • Contained an ingredient I don't want (Aspartame, Red-40)
  • The company turned into a political activist or became "woke" or "anti-woke"
  • Failed to answer my support question timely
Ill start.

I recently joined a fitness program and after I subscribed, the company offered me a "free fitness accessory". Naturally, I expected the item to be FREE, but have a $12 shipping cost -- so it still was a profit center. To my surprise, the item WAS free, and so was shipping! This totally increased my loyalty to this company.
Thank you for this MJ, I'm currently working on getting my first customer and this thread is very useful.
 
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f.laengle

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A few weeks ago I wanted to quit my gym membership and switch to another gym. The gym I had the membership was the cheapest one I found and it did the job while I was studying. I looked around a bit to see where I could go after I finished my studies. Like a miracle just a few days before I wanted to quit they anounced that they will upgrade all the gear. Now they have all new and modern equipment and a lot more weights. The amount of people hasen't changed and the price for the membership also stayed the same. So now I get better service than most other gyms in my area and I pay almost half the price. Made me stay with the gym I wanted to quit because they improved so much.
 

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Good:

I can still find something to eat without modified starch, acesulpham and so on.

It amazes me why some people can do it without it and others can't.









Bad:


1) It's impossible for me to understand fintech companies.

If you want to open ''bank'' account, you can't make it on your notebook/computer.

Only smartphone.

Only new version of Android and so on.

I understand that global business responds to new expectations, all, always and everywhere says ''smart'', but I think that there's some people who likes notebook/computer more than smartphones.

Besides, some people talk about spying on smartphones.

Perhaps a small screen is more convenient for some people, for me conversely.




2) General trend on the cola-type carbonated drinks market: delete drinks with sugar and press ''zero'' drinks.

I prefer Cola with sugar than ''zero'' with chemical ingredients.

Of course, all says about health and war with sugar, I heard that Cola want to eliminate ''Coca Cola cherry'' with sugar (my fav), later will be only ''cherry zero'' with substitutes of sugar.

The fight for choice has turned into prescribing the only option.
 

Manasseh Pawlos

New Contributor
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Value/Post Ratio
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Dec 20, 2022
11
14
Positive value skew: Local no-bullshit honey, sold in a shack on rural land.

They had great reviews on Google. Plenty of repeat customers praising the quality.

When I went there, I was greeted by an old couple. They had plaques and awards from a yearly honey contest. Spoke passionately about their product. Explained exactly why their honey was worth the price.

No added sugar. No sugars snuck into the bees' diet. No pesticides, herbicides, all the -cides. Tests and graphs comparing the properties of their honey to the typical store-bought honey.

They explained exactly why their honey was superior, had the data to back it up, and answered my own questions sufficiently. No arbitrary certifications or buzzwords. No branding to convince me to buy.

They made it clear they took no shortcuts with their product. Whatever price tag they chose to attach to their honey, it was worth it. So I paid.
 
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B-qiri

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
106%
Jun 6, 2016
53
56
Switzerland
I think it would be great to have a discussion on value skew as it works in the real world. Mainly, post your experience with a product or service you recently bought, and the core buying reason WHY you bought it.

Or, post negative skew items, a core reason WHY you STOPPED buying from a particular company.

I'll copy an example of "negative skew" from @biophase who posted this recently in the Random Chat thread.

This will give us a great digest of value attributes that compel purchases in business, or compel x-buyers. The more discernible skew you present in your offer, the more sales you will attract. The less negative skew in your offer, the fewer buyers you will lose.

Simple examples of skew:
  • They answered my email in 1 hour!
  • They had this great feature that no one else had!
  • They were $12 cheaper per month
  • They had an ingredient I was looking for
  • Just liked the packaging
  • They had a great cause that spoke to my identity
Note: Your skew could also be an experience relating to customer loyalty: Wow, Widget Company did X for me and that really makes me loyal to them!

Simple examples of negative skew:
  • Too many upsells in the cart process!
  • Confusing checkout process
  • Shipping prices were insane
  • Contained an ingredient I don't want (Aspartame, Red-40)
  • The company turned into a political activist or became "woke" or "anti-woke"
  • Failed to answer my support question timely
Ill start.

I recently joined a fitness program and after I subscribed, the company offered me a "free fitness accessory". Naturally, I expected the item to be FREE, but have a $12 shipping cost -- so it still was a profit center. To my surprise, the item WAS free, and so was shipping! This totally increased my loyalty to this company.
Subscribed to a physio therapy app with great and fast support (expected because advertised).

After not seeing any progress I canceled my subscription and stated my reason for it.

They wrote an email not only offering a reduction to resubscribe but offered me access to their support for another month no matter if I resubscribed or not.

I didn't resubscribe as it didn't help bit that was because of my problem, not their programm.

To this day I hold them in high regard and would recommend them immediately.
 

Keushei

Serial Entrepeneur
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Value/Post Ratio
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Dec 31, 2022
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United kingdom
I’ve been using MS-Excel since 1992. I’ve been paying the monthly MS-Office fee for years, switched laptop, and couldn’t figure out how to move the license over. It was just too complicated for something that should have been seamless.

So I cancelled and switched to Google Sheets, which is free anyway.
I know a way to get all Microsoft office for free. I've never paid a penny for it if you were interested. It's not bootleg or or anything along those lines, it's a programme you can opt into at Microsoft that not many know about, and those that do don't realise they offer free MS office as part of their programme.
 

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