What's a line you won't cross to grow, even if it'd work?
I'll start with one I've often debated: "urgency". As in, fake countdown timers, or saying "you have 1 spot left" when there are infinite spots available.
The annoying part is that they work. Conversion rates go up by a few percentage points. So saying no isn't some clever long-game arbitrage where I secretly win in the end. It's just leaving money on the table because it makes me feel gross.
My rule of thumb has always been: never do anything you'd be embarrassed to explain to the customer face-to-face. If I had to mumble through an explanation, then nope, out it goes.
But let's be real that this line moves more than I'd like to admit. Sometimes I've talked myself into "urgency" tactics that were a little manufactured, or onboarding flows that nudged harder than they needed to. The slope is real and I'm not standing as cleanly above it as I'd ideally like to be.
And there's a genuine cost. Competitors who'll do the stuff we won't sometimes just grow faster, and "I have my principles" isn't much comfort when they're winning.
So I'm curious where everyone else draws that line. What's something you know will work but still refuse to do?
Replies
making it hard t cancel might help the numbers but it doesn't build the kind of business i'd be proud of.
hidden fess are a deal breaker for me. i'd rather lose a sale than have someone feel misled after signing up.
it's easy to get carried away in marketing but i try not to promise features that aren't actually ready yet.
Some growth hacks work, but not everything that works is worth doing. tuust compounds just like revenue does.
never seeding fake endorsements. linkedin trained everyone that the recommendation section is just resume flattery currency. zero signal. so when launching a peer endorsement product the temptation to fake seed for day 1 optics is real. and stupid. one fake on day 1 kills the trust mechanism on day 365. shipping with embarrassingly few real ones beats faking abundance.
It's a genunie question and hard to answer. Urgency creation is not that serious in my opinion, because, unfortunately, ina crowded world and market some pressure to act is needed. It can also be made genuine, like really raising prices after the "just for one week" period.
I am still trying to figure out what will work (the marketing / distribution stuff is new to me) but for me I want to hold on to my integrity. I think it would be easy to get really caught up in the marketing hype. How do I keep the marketing genuine and honest in an AI world?
Fake scarcity is my hard line too: countdown timers that reset, "only 2 seats left" on infinite inventory. It works on the metric and quietly poisons the thing the metric is supposed to measure, which is trust. The tell is whether you'd be embarrassed if the customer saw your admin panel. I'd rather lose the conversion than have someone feel played the second they figure it out. People who buy under a fake clock churn angry anyway. (I work on DukieX, and we list where competitors beat us right on our own comparison pages for the same reason. Honesty compounds, tricks don't.)
I draw lines at quality of work.
I know the work done will satisfy the clients but I refuse to compromise on the quality. I'll be honest and extend the deadline but not give mediocre quality work.