GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - AVN cross-sells article, hear what the industry says..

kmanrox · 11-03-2008, 11:43 AM

http://www.avn.com/internet/articles/33061.html

Quote:

There isn't as much money in the adult-entertainment industry as there once was - or at least there doesn't seem to be. After a massive shift to electronic distribution and an influx of new content producers and distributors, at the very least the money that remains is spread among far more individuals and companies than it used to be. In addition, with the U.S. economy heading south faster than a flock of birds in late fall, an industry once considered recession-proof may be staring in the face the first honest-to-goodness recession in its history.

Consequently, adult-entertainment impresarios have become ever more creative with their sales and marketing tactics. Some methods - like social networking, consolidation, micro-niching and investment in new technologies - have proven beneficial, at least moderately. Older, tried-and-true tactics have been discarded as they've become less relevant to modern consumers. Some old standbys, though - long since discarded as unworkable or potentially problematic - have been given facelifts and trotted out as innovations.

Once bitten

One of the old marketing methods that has experienced a resurgence in recent months is creating quite a stir among industry insiders: pre-checked cross-sales.

Cross-sales and up-sells are nothing new on the Web. Ever since money began changing hands online, entrepreneurs have offered their virtual customers add-ons and related products - their own or those that pay a sales commission - as a way to boost revenue. It's an age-old tactic that was pioneered in the brick-and-mortar world: "Would you like fries with that?" "You really should consider an extended-warranty plan." "Wouldn't these darling shoes be just divine with that new suit? And if you buy them today, they're only $69!"

Adult webmasters adopted the technique with gusto - so much so, in fact, that aggressive cross-sale and up-sell attempts eventually became counterproductive and were abandoned. It's rare today to see pop-up and -under windows suggesting that if surfers didn't find what they sought at HardcoreMidgetMudWrestling.com, they might enjoy BlondeAmazonVirginLesbians.com, BaldChicksWithHairyDicks.com or InterracialTransvestitesFromMars.com instead.

That is not to say cross-sales and up-sells disappeared. Many webmasters simply moved the sales messages inside their members' areas, relegated them to permission-based email lists or included additional offers on their join pages.

A clever, if possibly misguided, variation on the latter tactic is what has begun to irk some affiliates and affiliate program owners lately. Instead of offering new members the opportunity to opt in to additional memberships at the same time they sign up for hardcore sex site A, some webmasters have begun requiring the signers-up to opt out by un-checking permission boxes that already are ticked for them (no doubt by a thoughtful marketer who has only the new member's best interests at heart).

That's what's known as a pre-checked cross-sale, and on its face, the method is not at all unusual. It's very common in the mainstream, as a matter of fact: The next time you purchase something from a mainstream retailer's virtual storefront or sign up for a free subscription at a newspaper's website, you very well may notice anywhere from two to ten pre-checked options at the bottom of the page affirming that you give God only knows who permission to flood your inbox with God only knows what. Web-savvy surfers know to pay particular attention to the wording in these helpful special offers or pay the unholy price.

In the mainstream, pre-checked cross-sales and up-sells are used most aggressively by websites that offer something for free. That makes sense: Selling users' email addresses or allowing "partners" to rent email lists is one way those generous souls who make the free offers pay their bills.

The situation is different, however, when users already are signing up to pay for something. Generally, buyers don't expect to be obligated to pay for something else they may not want simply because they pressed the "submit" button to transmit their billing details.

Something wicked this way comes?

Not surprisingly, the pre-checked cross-sales matter embodies a somewhat polarizing issue. Webmasters are either strongly opposed to the practice or strongly in favor of not criticizing the for-it camp. The for-it camp is largely silent, which leads one to wonder why. None of the affiliate program owners AVN Online contacted to comment for this article responded. Even the one who got to us before we got to him suddenly disappeared after we emailed him a set of middle-of-the-road questions that sought to increase our understanding of how pre-checked cross-sales build revenue. (It seemed to us the practice might be fraught with the potential for chargebacks.)

The experience left us wondering, "Are pre-checked cross-sales legal?"

Probably, attorneys say, at least within certain constraints. "It's not illegal if [the webmaster] gives users the opportunity to un-check [the boxes]," Seattle-based attorney Robert Apgood said unequivocally. His Chicago-based colleague J.D. Obenberger concurred, but said that didn't make him feel any better when he became the unwitting victim of some clever pre-checked mainstream cross-sales. "I'm going to reserve judgment about it [in adult], because I really haven't studied exactly what they're doing," he added.

Both attorneys indicated webmasters probably are operating within the law if the pre-checked cross-sales are clearly visible on a join page. They may be above the submit button or below it, but users should not be required to engage in excessive scrolling to find them and they should be in a type color and font size that approximates the rest of the text on the page. However, accusations of "deceptive trade practices" could surface - and possibly stick - if even a vague impression of trying to trick users is given.

"Being below the submit button alone is not deceptive," Apgood said. "If there's lots of space [between the submit button and the additional obligations], that probably would be considered deceptive. If the type is obscured, that's deceptive. In some of these cases [currently being debated in webmaster forums], the [Federal Trade Commission] probably is interested."

Apgood knows the FTC. He has defended a number of clients against FTC claims, most recently besting the federal watchdog in a lawsuit accusing Impulse Media Group of violating the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003. If the FTC takes an interest in pre-checked cross-sales, the entire adult industry could come under scrutiny, he said. "Like in the CAN-SPAM cases, [the FTC] may go after a half-dozen of the big boys to encourage everybody else to get in line," he noted. "People who are intentionally hiding cross-sales are engaging in deceptive trade practices and the FTC will go after them."

FTC representatives declined to comment.