5 Online Marketing Tactics Consumers Hate

All marketing techniques are not equal. In fact, there are a ton of ways online marketing not only drives consumers away but turns them off from a product or company altogether. There is a fine line between nudging a consumer to take action and making the process more trouble than it’s worth. Here are five marketing techniques that won’t be doing your business any good, anytime soon.

1. Forcing Sign Ups or Payment to Access Full Content

All online brands want to increase their user database, so urging customers to sign up to a newsletter or create an account is a common tactic. However, barring your reader from accessing your content without signing up – or without paying – seems to have the opposite effect. Because so much content is available online for free, charging people or adding an extra step for them to access your content just drives them away. You should focus your efforts on making content easy to access so users can engage more easily with your website and look to advertising and advertorial content for revenue instead.

2. Too Many Pop-Ups

One pop-up is acceptable but repeated pop-ups can be downright frustrating for online users. Whether the content is the same or not, the interruption for the user usually does more harm than good. Users will either avoid your website, or turn pop-ups off in their browsers and miss out on your exciting announcements. If you really want to share interesting info, think sidebars and email blasts instead of disrupting the user experience at every turn. If you do go along with the single acceptable pop-up, make sure it adds value or promotes some sort of offer. Just throwing information that your reader may deem useless won’t have a positive effect on your business.

3. Overuse of Retargeted Emails

It’s a well-known fact that retargeting ads and emails are extremely effective in generating sales, but overusing them can be just plain creepy. Retargeted emails are the ones that casually remind consumers about a product they’ve been scoping out. A friendly reminder can be useful, but bombarding your potential client’s inbox with pushy reminders that you know what they’re browsing for just irritates people – and can make them feel as though your business is a little too Big Brother. Although users know not much is private online, the constant reminder that you’re watching them is more likely to turn them off completely.

4. Invading Personal Social Media Accounts

Many brands are guilty of this one and more and more consumers are just plain fed up. Asking to follow an individual’s private Instagram account or friending them on Facebook is generally not appreciated, and neither is spamming them with your pitches afterwards. You can like posts and interact with individual users to get your brand noticed, but try to refrain from crossing the line into their personal space. It’s the equivalent of knocking on someone’s door and asking to use their bathroom, and then hanging out for two hours to sell them a product they never asked for.

5. Overusing Keywords

It’s no secret that using keywords throughout the body of your texts can higher your rank in Google, but too much of a good thing isn’t always better. Aside from Google blacklisting your pages when its bots detect overuse of a specific keyword, users themselves can and do notice. Keywords should be implemented a few times and should always be incorporated casually. The reader shouldn’t be able to detect your keyword by reading the piece. You have to focus on including SEO keywords and LSI keywords (related keywords) together without overuse. Think of keywords as an add-on to your content, not the focal point of it. Your content still needs to draw readers in and maintain their interest first and foremost.