Tried out a French Masterclass advertised on Instagram
Despite trying to rid myself of dependency on the big tech companies, I still sometimes fall into the temptation of going scrolling around Instagram.
I found a good account on Instagram that had funny French videos. Eventually, I got ads to try out their two-hour Masterclass. As someone who is always on the look-out for improving my French, I tried it out.
Before the Masterclass
We were advised to join a Facebook group (that I have since left) and a WhatsApp group (that I have also already left). There were excessive reminders by email and WhatsApp. Two days before the Masterclass! Twenty-four hours before the Masterclass! Two hours! One hour! Fifteen minutes. Both on my WhatsApp and on my email. That was quite too much. No unsubscribe button either.
The “Masterclass”
I was expecting a lesson for beginners given that they did not screen for the French levels of who is coming or not. They did however discuss some theory on how to learn languages and why Duolingo and the like don’t work. At this point, I started getting suspicious that this was a sales pitch. And I was not wrong.
I stopped paying attention and did other nerdy stuff while the sales pitch misleadingly advertised as a masterclass went on. I was curious how to market a course should I eventually make one in the future.
After an hour and a half of hyping, we finally get so close to revealing what this Masterclass was really about. They wanted people to subscribe at a Frenchies learning club. They talked and talked for another half hour about what it was about - it had AI, it had teachers, etc.
Thankfully, a moderator accidentally revealed the link to the pricing page too early and I managed to click it. 200 dollars. Per month. Not per year. And 1500 dollars a year. At this point, I was sure I would not take it. No judgment on the price, I’m sure it’s could be good value! But the poor people who didn’t see the link kept asking in the chat how much it would be.
It would be another fifteen minutes before they reveal a price. I say a price because they would eventually give discounts. I am not a marketing expert but I’ve read a few tactics and this is one of the slimy ones that I dislike. You say that something is times as expensive at it should be then discount it by 90%. What a deal right?
Conclusion
I definitely got an ick from the way we were treated and how our time was (not) valued. We expected a tutorial in French but were deceived into attending a two-hour sales pitch.
Overall, if what they presented as their French learners club functioned correctly, I think the price would have been quite justified. But with all the deceptive and annoying marketing dark patterns they used, I lost a lot of trust in them and I am less convinced that what they promised in this sales pitch is not as good as they make it out to be. It’s just a feeling, I’m obviously not going to join it.
I made an exception by following an ad on Instagram. Never again. Although I’m seeing that ad for free boxers which eventually traps you into a subsciption. That seems nice. Maybe I’d try that out? It’s free anyway.