Thought from the Fool: AAP Sale over, and not a single wish lister bought it...

[FoolishFrost]

Thought from the Fool: AAP Sale over, and not a single wish lister bought it...

Well, the sale was fun, and several people jumped on it, but I noticed something strange: Nobody who had the products on a wish list bought it during the sale.

In fact, it seemed that people would buy one item on sale, and then add others to their wish list.

Not that it's wrong, mind you. But does anybody have a theory on this one? It seems to ignore every marketing concept I understand. Then again, perhaps it's just a fluke.

Anyway, Merry X-mas and a happy new-year!

Later,

 

[trancejeremy]

I think there are different degrees of "want".

There's "I want it, I want it, I want it", which generally is at the forefront of a person's mind, and they will buy it as soon as possible. (In some cases with me, this is almost literally a voice in my head, and buying it shuts it up).

Then there is "That looks cool/interesting/neat" which generally means they'll get it when they have extra cash and remember it. But that rarely happens

Things on wishlists fall into the second category. Because that's pretty much what wish lists are - ways to keep track of things you kinda want but don't want enough to keep it in your head. I don't think it's they just want to wait for it to go on sale, since generally the savings doesn't make a difference.

 

[PJ-Mason]

Well i put VoFT on my wish list, but it is the only thing on it right now. I'm not going to go scrounging for other things to put it over the dreaded 6.40. Oh well. I'm sorry for you, since its not your fault, but i'm not going to go and buy things i don't want just to get one thing that i do want.

I understand why they do that at RPGnow (to some extent), but from a customer standpoint i can tell you that that is the worst thing about RPGNow. In fact is the top two worst things about RPGNow!

I wonder how many of those that become "just browsers" when they get to the site, are people who followed the link and then found out that they couldn't buy it because of the equivalent of a cover charge?

 

[FoolishFrost]

Wow! That's a good point!

When I put things on sale, the minimum didn't go down. All I was doing is making it where you would have to buy something else too to reach the minimum.

That could explain alot. Thanks for the POV.

 

[philreed]

Wow! That's a good point!

When I put things on sale, the minimum didn't go down. All I was doing is making it where you would have to buy something else too to reach the minimum.

That could explain alot. Thanks for the POV.

This is a good part of the reason why a large sale, with lots of publishers, would be a good thing.

 

[The Sigil]

Wishlists...

Well, my own (anecdotal) experience tells me that "wish lists" are not really "prospective customers" in the sense that if you offer them a deal, they'll bite.

Case in point - a few months ago, I took the time to get a list of every customer who had put one of my products on their wishlist. I then took the time to create a coupon (I think it was 50% off or something) for every product.

I then e-mailed the coupon link to the customers, specific to the product they were buying, with a note to the effect of "I noticed PRODUCT X was on your wishlist at RPGNow.com and I would love to help you get your own copy. Here, have this nice shiny e-coupon and thanks in advance for your support. This is a one-time email sent by hand and I have not retained your e-mail address."

I believe two - TWO - customers "took me up on the offer" and used their coupons over the next two months (after which time the coupons expired). Mind you, this was after I took the time to carefully personalize everything for them (and offer a substantial discount).

So it seems to me that wishlists are merely a place for people to track stuff that they don't have to have "right now" until they get a little extra cash and get around to buying stuff on their wishilists. I know that's how I use mine. Then again, I've never gotten an e-mail from a publisher with a coupon for an item on my wishlist, either (which I thought was kind of odd, since RPGNow.com specifically notes that "maybe the publisher will send you a coupon" or words to that effect when describing wishlists - or at least they used to, haven't checked for a while).

--The Sigil

 

[Voadam]

This is a good part of the reason why a large sale, with lots of publishers, would be a good thing.

March 4 GM's day. I got a ton of stuff then last year and the year before from a bunch of different publishers.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Well, my own (anecdotal) experience tells me that "wish lists" are not really "prospective customers" in the sense that if you offer them a deal, they'll bite.

Case in point - a few months ago, I took the time to get a list of every customer who had put one of my products on their wishlist. I then took the time to create a coupon (I think it was 50% off or something) for every product.

I then e-mailed the coupon link to the customers, specific to the product they were buying, with a note to the effect of "I noticed PRODUCT X was on your wishlist at RPGNow.com and I would love to help you get your own copy. Here, have this nice shiny e-coupon and thanks in advance for your support. This is a one-time email sent by hand and I have not retained your e-mail address."

I believe two - TWO - customers "took me up on the offer" and used their coupons over the next two months (after which time the coupons expired). Mind you, this was after I took the time to carefully personalize everything for them (and offer a substantial discount).

So it seems to me that wishlists are merely a place for people to track stuff that they don't have to have "right now" until they get a little extra cash and get around to buying stuff on their wishilists. I know that's how I use mine. Then again, I've never gotten an e-mail from a publisher with a coupon for an item on my wishlist, either (which I thought was kind of odd, since RPGNow.com specifically notes that "maybe the publisher will send you a coupon" or words to that effect when describing wishlists - or at least they used to, haven't checked for a while).

--The Sigil

I did almost the exact same thing with Poisoncraft and got NO responses. (And this was before they upped the minimum checkout amount at RPG Now.) I don't personally use the WishList feature there. I wouldn't mind hearing from some more people who actually use it and what they use it for. PJ's plight is one example, but as our experiences suggest not the only dynamic going on here.

 

[CSB046]

I'm inclined to agree with trancejeremy. I use the wishlist feature primarily for things that seem vaguely interesting, but that I don't have a current use for. I don't want to forget about these items, so I put them on my wishlist. Every so often, I then go back and evaluate, removing items that no longer seem even vaguely interesting.

I do also use the wishlist to store small items that can "make up the minimum" when a mid-priced item comes along that I really want.

I sometimes do buy things off the list, but frankly, a number of items have probably been on my list for as long as I've been purchasing PDFs. To be realistic, I don't know if I'll ever end up buying them or not.

I have occasionally been "pushed" into buying an item when a vendor has used the wishlist feature to send me a coupon, but that may have been a matter of good timing (i.e., sending it at a time that the item suddenly seemed more useful). More often, I feel kind of bad that vendors can (apparently) see these items sitting on my list and have to sit around wondering why I'm not buying them.

 

[Cassandra]

CSB046 expressed almost exactly the way that I use my wish list also.

Since I became a vendor and have looked at the people who put OUR products on THEIR wish lists, I've wondered about what other vendors think when they see my name. "Oh, she's had us on her wish list for months. No use getting excited about that one." From this thread, though, it looks like I have lots of company.