I’m a shopping expert – five ways to save 20% online & the sneaky tactics sites are using to dupe you into overspending
HAVE you headed online to buy a specific item you had in mind, only to find your shopping basket is filled with items that you didn’t plan on buying.
Well, chances are you’ve fallen for an increasing number of sneaky tactics online shops are using to try and encourage you to overspend in their stores.
Online shopping expert Paul Morris, who is the founder of Superb Digital, has spoken exclusively to Fabulous Digital to reveal the most popular ways sites are making you overspend – including shaming, scarcity tactics and using FOMO to pressure impulse buying.
Not to mention the five simple hacks to help you save 20% every time you shop online…
The eight most common upselling tactics used by online retailers
1. Shaming
Have you ever gone to click decline on a newsletter invitation only to see the damning message, ‘no thanks I’ll pay full price’?
Well, according to Paul, it’s a very clever way to make you feel like you’re about the take the “path of stupidity.”
He explains: “Plenty of retailers are now using the same approach when presenting bundle offers.”
2. Misleading notifications
The online shopping guru says that another tactic to look out for is misleading notifications, such as “This item has been looked at four million times in the last hour!!!”
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Other popular ones include: “Only two items left in stock!!!” and “FOMO, FOMO, FOMO!!”
He explains: “More often than not, these kinds of notifications are misleading at best, fabricated at worst.
“They’re designed to prompt an impulse buy and they usually work.”
Add-ons
Paul comments: “Whether it’s batteries for toys or screen protectors to go with your phone case, almost every online retailer will have a tranche of suggested add-ons to accompany every sale.”
He notes it’s the perfect way to increase your basket price while appearing to offer enhanced service.
Shipping
The online shopper expert goes on to highlight that by offering “free” shipping, which he notes is “never really free, but merely absorbed into the cost of the goods”, retailers are encouraging you to commit to a sale.
“By offering free shipping when you spend a certain amount, businesses are unashamedly asking you to spend more,” he explains.
Dynamic pricing
Paul says: “Also known as demand pricing, dynamic pricing is the process of changing product prices according to market conditions, location, browsing history, and even previous purchases.”
He goes on to explain that thanks to contemporary technology, all of this can now be managed automatically, via an algorithm.
“This creates the ultimate, responsive, and personalised way to make you spend more,” he says.
Limited offers
The online spending whizz points out how limited time offers “feeds directly into the fear of missing out (FOMO)” and are one of the most effective ways to encourage impulse purchases.
“It’ll leave you treasuring something that you probably didn’t even want,” he explains.
“Raising the question of whether we all need to practice a little more restraint and instead learn the joy of missing out (JOMO) instead.”
Bundle deals
Paul explains that much like add-ons, bundle deals are used to tempt you into spending more, by showing you how much better your purchase could be, if only you had these extra accessories.
“These offers are also similar to multi-buys and in all cases, it’s important to check that these deals are actually more cost-effective than purchasing two or more items individually,” he warns.
Tailored recommendations
The online shopping expert says: “We’ve all experienced that pique of curiosity when we see the line, ‘customers who bought this also bought THIS.’
“It recreates that sense of FOMO – if they have it, why shouldn’t I? And makes us spend, spend, spend.”
Five simple hacks to help you save up to 20% every time you shop online
Become a new customer. Repeatedly
The money-saving guru points out that the majority of online businesses offer a discount for new customers.
“If you have more than one email address (or create multiple) you can benefit from that discount multiple times,” he advises.
“If you’re a Gmail user this can be made even easier with the Gmail+, a feature that allows you to modify your email address by adding a ‘+something’ to the end of your username rather than creating multiple different email addresses.
“For example: hack@gmail.com and hack+work@gmail.com will both go to the same inbox.
“This should work for most newsletters as long as they accept special characters – always worth a go.“
Sign up for newsletters
Let’s face it, no one likes an inbox full of junk.
But Paul points out if you subscribe to the newsletters of your favourite brands, you can often access regular savings.
“You can unsubscribe any time you like,” he adds.
Don’t buy the first time
The money-saving whizz comments: “If you’re registered with a site and you look at the same product 2-3 times, they might email you about it, and sometimes with a discount code of around 5-20% off or even flash sales.”
Search for discount codes
Paul recommends typing the retailer’s name and ‘discount code’ into Google.
“You’ll usually find a list of discount codes,” he explains.
“Not all of them will work. But if you persevere, something will usually stick.”
Don’t forget to stack your discount codes
The online shopping expert says that one discount code doesn’t always exclude another.
“And it’s always worth trying your luck applying discount codes to sale items,” he notes.