The Upwardly Mobile

This is an advertisement I saw on CNN.com today.  It reads, “Obama is the New President!  $133,000 Mortgage for Under $679/Month!” I’m not one for pointing out the obvious, but those two sentences have absolutely nothing to do with each other. In addition to the fact that the ad doesn’t seem to make much sense, it states almost nothing about what the advertiser actually does, with the exception of the ominously vague “Calculate New House Payment” line that appears in tiny font at the bottom of the frame. If you do decide to click on the advertisement, you quickly learn that LowerMyBills.com, an Experian company, will offer you “free” lender matches after filling out a quick, two-minute form. Some of you may remember Experian as a company that recently got in trouble several times for misleading advertising and received a grade of “F” for customer service. What Experian won’t tell you, of course, is that “Britain’s most invasive company” hasn’t changed its practices much in the United States, and that your name, email, and contact information will be sold without regard to your privacy. All of this for something you could get for free by calling a few banks.  So why am I telling you this?

Today’s lesson is a simple one. Forget about the quick buck. Be honest. When you offer a product or service, try to actually provide some value instead of secretly causing your customers grief. In short, don’t insult your customers, stupid.