You ask too much

A Twitter message today invited me to a Webex seminar that I might have been interested in attending. Unfortunately, they turned me away by requiring full registration information: name, email, address, all that.

OK, sure: if you are offering me something free, we both understand that you are trying to sell me something. You want to be able to contact me. Maybe you even think you have a right to demand this information as quid pro quo.

Let's be a little more rational about it, shall we? First of all, with the possible exception of my email address, I can lie through my teeth on that form, so it's more than silly to make those other things REQUIRED fields.

Second, no, you don't really have any right to that information. Your webinar is offering information about your product. I'll watch it, and if I am interested or have more questions, I'LL CONTACT YOU.

Finally - and this is what ticked me off here - if you already have my information, you don't need any more than my email. That was the case here and I just was not going to take the time to repeat data they already have. Yes, my web browser will fill in most of it as I start to type - that's not the point. YOU ARE WASTING MY TIME.

You may think I'm a big old grump. True enough, but do you want to sell only to cheery folks who never get annoyed by your sales policies?

Rule number one: don't annoy your customers because of your strong desire to sell.

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Tue Oct 13 00:01:05 2009: Subject: I am glad...   NickBarron


That I am not the only one who feels like this.

I really do not like having my time wasted filling in forms or giving out information I do not want to share. I punish brands and products that force this upon me and as such stay away from them or recommending them.

Good to know others feel the same about this, ignoring the obvious data collection angle.



Tue Oct 13 13:39:09 2009: Subject:   BigDumbDinosaur
http://bcstechnology.net

I wrote an article about this nonsense several years ago. It should still be around here somewhere.



Tue Oct 13 13:45:44 2009: Subject:   TonyLawrence


Possibly http://aplawrence.com/BDD/B1010.html ?

If not, all your articles should be at the /BDD index page - if I'm missing any, please let me know!



Tue Oct 13 19:24:45 2009: Subject:   RickBrandfass


I have an e-mail address specifically used for such occasions. I clean it out once a week, mostly without reading anything in there.



Thu Oct 15 00:48:21 2009: Subject:   BigDumbDinosaur
http://bcstechnology.net

Possibly BDD/B1010.html ?

Yeppers, that's the one.

BTW, I had to cut off part of the URL in order to skid around the anti-spam gorilla. <Grin>

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