Electric Said:
"I suspect that internet users are a harder sell because they're (dare I
say it??) SMARTER than the average consumer?
I mean with all that reading and research they do - one would think
they're an educated consumer, right?"

Wrong. Way wrong because your premise is wrong.

Wrong first because from among my clients have been people of
"education". Doctors, Teachers, government/ civic leaders/ Attys.,
Professors, MBA's, Etc. I have seen NO blanket Differential suggesting
that "Smarter is Harder to sell". Particularities of the web not
withstanding, Quite the opposite is normally true.

Secondly, Your premise is wrong, my friend, because it assumes that the
seller wants to mislead the buyer. If a seller has something of value,
the opposite is true. We want as well informed a customer as we can
have. It makes sense because the information they bring on board creates
empathy and shortens the sales cycle.

Also, what you don't seem to have factored in is the ability for the
i-net customer to aggregate the competition into one locale with a
search engine and how this affects the sales cycle. This means that the
options are all there and even though your offer may be best, some
people are going to go through the first 10 or so before they buy, for
fear of being wrong or wanting to reveal price points before the
decision. If anything, this is the nature of the challenge, and it's not
a Buyer dynamic at all, but a rather a Media dynamic factor.

Therefore, it's got notta do with being "smarter", bub. Untwist the
premise.

BTW The internet is a clearing house to all types of people, and you may
be interested to know, my friend, that the average web buyer is making
an EMOTIONAL buy and is about 22 years of age.


So much for your taboo theory. Take care.

~zion