Focus groups help make your products better but in the main they don’t help you sell more.”

Thanks for explaining, Im with it now, these threads are a bit like a written focus group then? lots of people saying they dont like the marketing when without them knowing or expressing it, they really do like it.
Im surprised by your admission on product quality, i must say….I can see why you wouldnt use focus groups if all they do is help make your products better !!!! obviously its more preferable to have a process that doesnt improve a poor product that sells,than a process that does improves a poor product that currently doesnt sell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quality who needs it eh…

I’ve used focus groups throughout my publishing career and in the main what people tell you they want they don’t.

Focus groups help make your products better but in the main they don’t help you sell more.

This comment sums it up prety well.

Companies that are built by using mass marketing tend to develop their products similarly. They round the edges, smooth out the differentiating features and try to make products that work for the masses. They use focus groups to make sure products are ‘acceptable’. These products certainly don’t offend anyone, but acceptable is always the most risky strategy because acceptable is failing at an astounding rate in today’s marketing environment…On the other hand, the stuff we notice is the stuff we tend to buy.

http://wklondon.typepad.com/welcome_to_optimism/2010/02/why-focus-groups-can-cause-failure.html

That’s not to say we don’t listen to customer feedback because we do. Via mail, phone and email. So your statement that we are showing an “arrogant disregard” is a little unfair.

The overriding theme from our customers time and again is that we state all the facts in as much detail as possible. So that’s what we try to do.

Oh and they asked that we give longer guarantee periods. So we did – 90 days on almost all our products. 30 days is the minimum we offer on any product.

And finally on many advisory products we are able to delay payment until the trial period ends. That was a big thing for our customers and we are happy to deliver.

to continue the football analogies, even fergies finding out to his cost that he might get away with it once, but cant put out two seasons running an inferior squad, to the competition and expect to win.

Alls I’m saying is that to assume that you know better than a massive global company when it comes to what marketing does and doesn’t work is a little like (to continue the football theme) the fan in the pub assuming he knows better than a hugely successful manager, such as Fabio Capello.

But hey, who’s to say he doesn’t?! I’m actually a fan of Capello but I’m sure there are plenty of Blackburn fans out there that could do a better job than Steve Kean!

As we seem to have some footie analogies going on i’ll throw this one in;

“When the seagulls follow the trawler it’s because they think sardines will be trown into the sea. Thank you very much” Eric Cantona.

I will leave it to other readers to say what they think he was saying, and if they feel that it might be relevant to this current debate! I do not have a definitive answer, i’m simply ‘fishing’!

JohnU and everybody else – why do you you continue to use this type of advertising?

Have you considered that it might just work really well?!

Just a thought. Agora are a business after all…

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Ive never seen a product advertised in two ways, at the same time, (i.e. have a control system). so how can you possibly say it works when yes it might get 30 subscribers when another method might yield 300 or only 3. Without this it can only be said to work against the company target, and not its true potential.
The presentations from agora in the main are over long by about 15minutes, and for this punter a disincentive rather than an incentive. To call them repetitive is an insult to alan hansen “when you talk about commitment, when you talk about etc etc”, they are as patronising and unfunny as mark lawrenson and clearly designed by those as bad at the job and unthinking as alan shearer…
like motd time for a major overhaul…

I’m in danger of repeating myself from our normal discussions about marketing. We are not after a mass market with this product therefore the material is produced to ensure only those which are suitable join.

So we talk about the risks involved, the starting bank and in this particular offer how it is a slow burner but the longer you stick at it the more you’ll make. Just like Jim did.

The reason we produce the video’s in this format is so that people have to know all the facts before they decide to join. The problem with showing the order button first is that some people will just join without knowing all the facts and then decide it isn’t for them. That neither helps us or them, especially when we are trying to keep a strict control of numbers.

As you know with lay betting you have to control the numbers or the price is affected.

The numbers you state above was when this was reviewed some time back, but if you wish to email our customer services department they will happily send you a complete spreadsheet of results.

As ever we have given access to this service so that a more up to date review can be conducted.

As for pricing, it’s reflective of what can be achieved and the fact you do need to stick at it to see the returns. It is not a get rich quick system but will work if someone is committed. Also Jim was quite happy with the pricing considering the current economic situation.

JohnU and everybody else – why do you you continue to use this type of advertising?

Have you considered that it might just work really well?!

Just a thought. Agora are a business after all…