I did snorkeling at elephant beach today. Or rather, I was tricked into doing it and then I volunteered to pay for it after the fact without any nudge or anything. How? By using a fairly sophisticated business model IMO.
So here’s how the snorkeling at Elephant beach at Havelock island works.
- You get a “complementary snorkeling pass” with the boat ride you book to get to the beach. (And the boat ride is the only way to reach the beach as well).
- Once you reach the beach, you are briefed about the snorkeling and the corals and it is revealed that your complementary snorkeling is to qualify for the real snorkeling along the corals. If you fail at this “test”, you are not allowed to do the rest of it.
- At the end of the free snorkeling, you get a option to continue. This is the real deal. with corals and all. And you dont need to stop, you dont need to pay to continue. And you are already in the snorkeling gear. Very hard to say know at this point.
- You do the whole guided snorkeling thing. (which I would recommend btw). And they will click pictures and videos with a gopro.
- After everything is done, you need to pay the fees ONLY if you want the videos and photos from the gopro. The crazy thing is, everyone pays at this point, because if you do something and did not post on instagram, did you even do it?
Honestly, I wanted to leave without the grams. but my dad insisted (read forced) that I should take the photos and videos.
There are more than a couple of techniques at play here. First, you are lured with a complementary sample, then there is the illusion of “test” playing on scarcity principle then there is literally zero friction to continue to the paid snorkeling and finally you only pay for the bragging rights and show off. And people are willing to pay big bucks for them bragging rights.
It’s simply brilliant.