Just wanted to share
[2022-09-27 12:05:55 PM] : Just wanted to share a negative example of a course page: https://reactbootcamp.com/challenge
This guy sells a React bootcamp. Already on that page he uses dubious marketing tricks like a waitlist signup that redirects to the landing page (oh coincidentally the course is currently on sale), fake countdowns, and enormous discounts of 90% or so.
I didn't buy of course but today I received an email that he offers a free 5-week React challenge. Sounds really interesting with 20hrs of videos and so on. He repeats free like a hundred times in the email and on that page.
Finally after reading a lot of content (which is written well imo) there's an email field and... a checkout form. You can purchase the free course for only $249 (same as his bootcamp btw). No other option available.
Made me a bit angry tbh so I thought I share it here :joy:
Edit: alex pointed out that this seems to be a kind of "money back" challenge where you get the course for free if you finish it in time. Smart move in fact [File hidden by Slack limit] [File hidden by Slack limit]
3 Replies
[2022-09-27 12:19:53 PM] : hm… “789 Real People™ who have transformed their careers with the React Bootcamp”… and yet 319 twitter followers :thinking_face: [File hidden by Slack limit]
[2022-09-27 12:40:35 PM] : He ranks close to the top for "react bootcamp" and links to his page from a few popular freecodecamp and dev.to articles. Smart moves imo. I fear he actually makes money with this.
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[2022-09-27 01:48:12 PM] : It seems like the "free" part is tied to a challenge, which isn't NEARLY as clear as I would make it but seems to imply that if you actually complete the course in 5 weeks, he'll refund the price of admission.
[2022-09-27 01:48:16 PM] : > Finish the course in 5 weeks or less and send me your own final code for the projects we build throughout the course and the course is 100% free.
[2022-09-27 01:48:30 PM] : > 'What if I don't finish in 5 weeks?'
>
If it takes you a bit longer or want to take the challenge at your own pace, you're in good company.>
On top of the 5-week challenge, you will still be getting over $1,400 in bonus course content to continue to take your React skills and portfolio to the next level.[2022-09-27 01:49:07 PM] : also implying that if you don't finish in 5 weeks and get the refund, the bonuses make it worth it [2022-09-27 01:50:43 PM] : I totally agree that feels shady, though the underlying challenge idea is pretty good since it's about getting people to complete the thing they signed up for! ...but it needs to be a LOT clearer how the "free" part works. maybe a reframe to a "money back challenge" or something like that [2022-09-27 01:51:26 PM] : reminds me of the loss aversion goal trackers, like betting against a personal weight loss goal or savings goal or something, where you have something on the line if you don't do the thing. [2022-09-27 01:51:37 PM] : but agree that it's poorly communicated [2022-09-27 02:19:07 PM] : alex thanks for pointing that out! I obviously didn't read that properly. You're completely right and he actually says pretty clearly that he refunds people who send him the final code. But the rest is still somewhat unclear. So if you don't make it you can keep everything at $249, but if you make it you can keep everything for free?! [2022-09-27 02:19:45 PM] : I agree that this is actually a pretty good idea. Even a partial refund could be motivating. [2022-09-27 02:22:33 PM] : And the funnel is also smart: • Sign up for "waitlist" • Redirect to sales page • Send email sequence to convince people who didn't buy directly • Send this money-back challenge to convince people who still didn't buy. Worst case you give stuff away for free and have people who are likely very happy and hopefully endorse you. Best case you have people who don't make it in time and you keep the money. [2022-09-27 02:23:38 PM] : So apologies to the creator of this course. Seems like a smart approach (with some shady touches) [2022-09-27 02:52:01 PM] : yeah i mean, I had to look REALLY hard to understand what the "free challenge" actually meant, and still couldn't find it spelled out. [2022-09-27 02:52:11 PM] : i even looked in the terms and conditions and there isn't anything explicit about it in there [2022-09-27 02:52:26 PM] : so I still put this on shady side of center, not because of the technique but because of the execution [2022-09-27 05:35:23 PM] : the webpage redirects me to the freecodecamp profile :thinking_face: [2022-10-03 08:37:36 PM] : Thanks for sharing that Johannes it was an interesting read! Gosh… to your point:
Finally after reading a lot of content (which is written well imo)You can definitely see some PDF ingredients in it… [File hidden by Slack limit] [2022-10-03 08:38:19 PM] : …and his visuals are interesting. [File hidden by Slack limit]