One famous scene in Thor: Ragnarok is when Thor planted a shock disk on Loki, taking control when Loki tried to betray him—again.
Now…
I remember when I was watching the movie, I thought:
“FINALLY. How many times do we have to go through this? You betray me. I forgive you. You betray me again 2 hours later.”
This is unrealistic.
In the real world, customers are much more unforgiving.
I recall working with a client to help them create an “End of Product” flash sale. The idea is –
~ We are taking this product off the shelves
~ That’s why we are tagging a ridiculous 50% off discount
~ Once the inventory is empty, it’s gone
~ The deal is only available for 3 days
This is not a bad theme.
Believable reason why. Fantastic deal. Strong urgency. Never happening again.
Good job… right?
3 days later
I sent out the “Last Call” email, announcing the close of the cart in 4 hours.
I went to bed.
Enjoyed my weekend.
On Monday, I discovered that the team not only KEPT the offer open over the weekend… but planned on running it for another week.
So, I warned the client about potential “trust damage.”
“Yes, but we want to keep the offer live so we can liquidate some costs.”
Now, it’s officially out of my hands.
The result?
Yes, we did end up getting a few more sales through the “unannounced” extension.
BUT
I also notice ALL my emails are becoming less effective after this incident.
Daily campaigns. Flows. Promos.
Everything was hit.
Because we just sacrificed the trust we had worked so hard to build… for a few quick, liquidating sales.
Lesson?
Relationship > Short-Term Revenue
ALWAYS.
Talk soon,
– WYH