Getting Slimed with Deceptive Marketing
Whenever one of my web domains is up for renewal, I receive a letter in the mail from Domain Renewal Group, a dba of Brandon Gray Internet Services, Inc.
Despite verbiage that says otherwise, it appears to be a bill. Further, there’s an attempt to conflate the need for renewal with the option of renewing with them (and therefore transferring the domain).
The letter looks like a credit card application, as indicated by the 5-point gray font on the back that constitutes the registration agreement.
“You must renew your domain name to retain exclusive rights to it on the Web, and now is the time to transfer and renew your name from your current Registrar to the Domain Renewal Group. Failure to renew your domain name by the expiration date may result in loss of your online identity making it difficult for your customers and friends to locate you on the Web.”
OMG! A domain crisis alert! I presume that if I act now, I can still remain the master of my domain AND receive the set of faux pearls absolutely free!
The form letter seems less excitable than previous editions, and I suspect this is due to complaints about deceptive marketing practices. Still, it’s a fundamentally annoying approach, and for some, still remains deceptive.
You can register a domain name with a popular TLD for anywhere from a few dollars a year to maybe twelve bucks. These ass-hats whip you up into a frenzy about the risk of losing your domain, then try to tell you about their great deal of charging you only $30 a year to renew.
Times are hard and will likely get a bit harder this year, and slimy business practices like these will increase. Whether it’s Domain Renewal Group, eNom, Wild West Domains or NameJuice, it’s the same company trying to deceive, instead of making a compelling argument to switch to them. Yeah, I’m writing this to shame the vermin, and to convince everyone who receives such a letter to throw it away with just a little added velocity.
The future of digital experiences will be built by strategists who grasp the full array of emerging business, social, and technical models. Specialties in user experience, branding, application design, and data science are laying the foundation for richer user experiences and business models breakthrough products and revenue based marketing.
Comments are closed.