A chat with my neighbor who runs a small bakery made me doubt our whole 'fear sells' approach

We were talking about her new website and I started my usual spiel about highlighting cyber threats. She cut me off and said, 'Honestly, Claire, when I see those scary pop-ups about hackers, I just click away. It feels like being yelled at.' That hit different because she's our exact target customer for basic security packages. I've been pushing 'fear sells' for three years, but her reaction felt really honest. Has anyone else found that scare tactics are starting to backfire with regular small business owners?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery_black2mo ago

Honestly, switching to calm language like @wendyprice mentioned worked for me too. My clients just tune out the yelling now.

wendyprice2mo ago

My dentist's office just switched to a new booking system because the old one's warnings were so frantic. The receptionist told me they picked the one that just explained things calmly... no red sirens.

river_allen2mo ago

Totally get why they did that. Those old systems treat every little thing like a five alarm fire. My vet's old software would flash "URGENT: PAST DUE" in huge letters if you were just confirming an appointment time. It makes you feel like you did something wrong when you didn't. A calm message like "please confirm your visit" works so much better.