Internet – Page 35 – Mouse Print*

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Blurred Lines: Can Readers Distinguish Ads from Content?

March 12, 2018 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Some websites, even very reputable ones, sometimes blur the distinction between editorial content and advertising. Of course, consumers have a right to know what they are reading is an advertisement when that is the case.

To that end, the Federal Trade Commission has created advertising guidelines for websites that use ads that look like the surrounding non-advertising content (“native advertising”). It encourages them to make clear disclosure to distinguish advertising content from regular new stories or natural search results. But are those disclosures really working? To find out, the FTC just published a study where Internet surfers were exposed to various webpages and asked to identify the advertising, if any, on those pages. The FTC also modified those real pages with simple changes it thought might better identify sections that really were advertisements.

Here is a sample Google Shopping results webpage when searching for computer tablets, and an FTC-modified version of it better highlighting the advertising on it:

Google only inconspicuously disclosed on the top right of the results page that the links listed have been paid for by the sellers (“Merchant links are sponsored.”) [Note: We’ve added the red arrows.]

The second image reflected a minor modification by the FTC putting the word “Ad” right before each link along with an information bubble explaining that.

The FTC found that few viewers even noticed Google’s disclosure in the upper right corner. In the modified version, the word “Ad” stood out much more clearly.

Here is another example of tweaks made to advertising that appeared at Time.com in their mobile version:

In the original Time version, the two “Around the Web” stories are paid placements with poor disclosure (“sponsored content”) in small type. The FTC’s version made clear this was “paid content” by centering that disclosure above the two stories and adding the word “Ad” under the one on the left which was an advertisement.

Although the FTC study (“Blurred Lines: An Exploration of Consumers’ Advertising Recognition“) was limited, some generalizations can be drawn from the results:

Using some of the common sense disclosure techniques … can greatly increase the likelihood that consumers will recognize an ad as an ad. Minor modifications, including changes to disclosure language, position, text size and color, and to other visual cues such as the borders around or background shadings of ads or ad groupings, can in combination substantially increase the likelihood that a consumer recognizes an ad as an ad and reduce the potential for consumers to be misled as to the commercial nature of paid search and native ads.

Websites could easily make changes like these with minimal effort. The question is, will they?

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When it Comes to Price, Shoppers Like to be Fooled

January 15, 2018 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Back in 2013, StubHub changed the way it priced tickets on its website moving to an all-in model that included all service charges and fees. Under this pricing method, the price you saw was the price you paid. How novel and how pro-consumer! No surprise charges or extra fees. But here’s the problem: when buyers used ticket comparison websites, StubHub’s prices seemed higher compared to the other sellers that posted artificially low prices without including all their added fees. As a result, StubHub’s sales went down dramatically.

So in 2015, StubHub reverted to its old way of pricing tickets — showing a lower price, and then tacking on hefty fees. Here, for example, is the price they advertised for seats on the “Green Monster” at Fenway Park for a particular game just after re-instituting the original, old system:

And when you clickthrough to order tickets, this is the surprise you get:

*MOUSE PRINT:

$90 in fees!? Of course, to add insult to injury, Green Monster M2 seats can have a face value of just $110 to $165.

Within days of advertising low-ball prices again, StubHub was able to significantly increase their market share, according to the Wall Street Journal. [Story not free]

Now fast forward to today, and see what StubHub is doing now. After you choose your tickets (in this example two $125 tickets) and BEFORE they disclose what the fees are and what the real total price of your order is, the system forces you to enter your credit card number and name and address.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Maybe this is a technique to make you feel more committed to buying tickets even if you experience price shock when the final cost is eventually displayed to you.

We shouldn’t have to put up with practices like this, but we do. And judging by their increased sales when they advertised a price before fees were added, we tolerate that practice too.

We seemingly like being tricked into thinking we are paying a lower price or getting a great deal even when we are not. The poster child for this somewhat irrational behavior was J.C. Penney, when its new president, Ron Johnson, a few years ago did away with their phony 50% off sales and discounts. Sales plummeted. And then Ron Johnson lost his job. New management reverted back to advertising big discounts from inflated regular prices, and guess what happened? Sales starting jumping back.

What does this say about us as shoppers?

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Did Toys”R”Us Really Make a Mistake in its Posted Return Policy?

January 8, 2018 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Every December, Consumer World releases its annual survey of retailers’ return policies and this time around it found that three stores had tightened their policies since the year before. One of them was Toys”R”Us.

In 2016, the toy chain had a two-tier return policy: 90 days for most items, but only 30 days for various electronic goods like cameras, video game hard, computer hardware, etc.

*MOUSE PRINT:

In November 2017 when Consumer World visited websites to find the current return policies, the Toys”R”Us policy had changed. “Computer hardware” which had been in the 30-day category the year before now was in a new separate section of its own indicating only a 15-day return period.

*MOUSE PRINT:

So Consumer World reported that Toys”R”Us had shortened the return period from 30 days to 15 days for computer hardware in its December 18, 2017 report. (Keep this date in mind.) On that same day or the day after, in planning for a TV segment on return policies to air just after Christmas, staff from the Today Show contacted retailers to confirm the changes that Consumer World found. Toys”R”Us reportedly told Today that it had not in fact changed its policy to 15 days for computer hardware, and that it was still 30 days.

Taken aback by the possible error, MrConsumer doubled-checked his verbatim copy of the Toys”R”Us policy captured in late November and sure enough it said “15 days” for computer hardware. Surprisingly, however, a visit to the ToysRUs.com website on December 19 — a day after the report was issued and just after the Today Show contacted Toys”R”Us — revealed that the policy now said “30 days” for computer hardware.

*MOUSE PRINT:

December 19, 2017

What MrConsumer said upon seeing that Toys”R”Us apparently had changed its website after hearing from the Today Show can’t be printed on a family website. He did some sleuthing however, and discovered through the miracle of Google cache, what the website said the very day before the company heard from the Today Show, December 18.

*MOUSE PRINT:

December 18, 2017

Consumer World asked the company why the policy had been changed back to 30 days and whether it was the result of the Today Show contacting them. MrConsumer was told in a phone call that the 15-day policy was listed in error and that the company changed it as soon as it learned of the mistake.

A review of archived copies of their returns page reveals that that whole separate section singling out computer hardware for a special shorter return period was added and has existed online at least since August 2017. The return policy signs in a T-R-U store checked by Consumer World on December 20, however, said “30 days” for computer hardware.

So what do you think? Did Toys”R”Us make an innocent mistake in their posted return policy online or did they backtrack when they found out that the change was going to be part of a news story on national TV?