Secret recipe + Open method.

Related Terms:

What it is

A secret recipe presents the method of one seller as the exclusive route to success, usually with the suggestion that ordinary advice failed because the decisive knowledge has been hidden. It is the exact system, the one framework, the formula experts will not share or the shortcut available only inside a course, book or community. Expertise can be real and some methods are proprietary, but neither makes one approach inevitable for everyone. Certainty and privileged access do the persuading without the evidence to support them. Successes are shown without the much larger number of people for whom the method did not work, while time, money, prior skill, timing and luck disappear behind the recipe.

Our sources

These are the sources we have read, verified and can account for, drawn from real cases, scientific research and journalistic reportage. They are not exhaustive.
If you know of one that belongs here, reach out.

Sources list.

Your move.

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Other tactics + flips

The tactic

False scarcity

False scarcity is designed to make an opportunity, product or service seem more rare, and therefore more valuable than it actually is. This plays on consumers’ fear of missing out and loss aversion, rather than allowing them to buy out of genuine desire.

The flip

Real availability

Honesty about what is actually available, and when something really is limited, the reason why. Invented exclusivity is the part to drop, since an invite-only offer can simply be announced to the people being invited. When quantities are genuinely short, an alternative for the people who miss out.

The tactic

False urgency

Urgency that was manufactured rather than real. A countdown to a live event tells people something true, while one that resets on refresh only applies pressure. It works on the sense that you have to act now or lose out forever, so people decide in a hurry instead of working out whether it is right for them.

The flip

Real deadlines

Room to decide without pressure. A closing date and time says what a ticker says, without the countdown. Honesty about timing, so a last chance is only called that when it is one, and a word about when the offer comes round again. Deadlines that were announced hold.

The tactic

Charm pricing

We judge prices based on the leftmost digit of a number. Charm prices use the left-digit-effect to make a product appear cheaper than it is, bypassing the conscious choice of the buyer. They are only created to generate more sales and do not benefit the buyer in the least.

The flip

Transparent pricing

A price rounded up or down, with the nines left out. Tax and charges can be in or out as long as the page says which, and the currency wants to be unmistakable, since a dollar sign covers a lot of ground. Where a platform owns the price box, as on Amazon or Apple, the round number can still be the one in your own marketing, even if checkout differs.

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Secret recipe + Open method.

What it is

Our sources

Sources list.

Your move.

Other tactics + flips

Follow our moves.