"FREE" is the MOST EXPENSIVE commodity.

Hacking the Hackers II: "Awoof" no dey run belle again, na money e dey run now.

You are the Price, Awoof is the Currency.

If you’ve been following this newsletter, then you’d have read where I exposed how big companies profit from your data and why companies like Facebook and Google let you use their services for free because other companies pay heavily to place Advertisements on those platforms.

So, your data is what they sell.

That’s why Google lets you use GOOGLE MAPS for FREE. Why? They have access to your location.

Simple!

And since they do, they can better target you with Ads that are meant for your location bracket. Now you get right?

But the question is, why will companies spend millions of naira on advertisements?

I mean currently, TEMU is running over 4,400 ads on META in Nigeria just this November.

Meta Ads Library

Do you know how much each one of those ads cost to run?

So the question is, why do they do it?

That money they are spending on you is called Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and you’ll pay it back to them with plenty of gains due to a concept called CLTV.

It is why companies can afford to give you promo. They know that while you’re eating awoof, they will soon be running your pockets. They play the long game.

You’ve heard it said to you “awoof dey run belle.” Let me tell you the ‘HOW.’

NO, CLTV IS NOT A TV BRAND

CLTV is “Customer Lifetime Value.” It is the amount of money they are able to squeeze from you before you opt out of their service.

And since most subscriptions are charged on a monthly/yearly basis, the CLTV in this case is measured by months/years.

Photo by Jacob Padilla on Unsplash

CLTV is where companies make their profits. It is where they suck you especially if you are on a subscription plan.

YOU FORGET, THEY SWIPE.

You sign up for Spotify, and they tell you they’ll give you 3 months of premium access FREE.

Awoof eater that you are, you put your card number and activate it.

3 months is a long time and that’s enough to suck you in.

You probably would have forgotten (which they always bank on. It is their no. 1 prayer point every morning they enter their office).

And you that any small thing you’ve shouted, “omoooo, that meeting na today? No vex, plenty things dey my head” Or “but I left the keys on the table na, why are they in my pocket?” these companies will love you so much because you’ll forget to cancel your subscription.

Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

I know some of you at this point are like, “well, money no dey the account sef.” Yeah, I’m not talking to you. This works for people that are not broke.

So maybe your brokenness has value after all.

But let’s say, on a lucky day, someone sent you 5k to use and “hold body.” Spotify didn’t waste time, they swiped it out. You start cussing on them.

Sorry to inform you. Your CLTV has started counting and you’ve become customer no. 945,956A on the Google Spreadsheet or on their CRM.

Well, what about products where you don’t use your cards?

Read on.

LOYALTY PAYS … THE COMPANY

Another factor that boosts CLTV is BRAND LOYALTY.

Since I started using NIVEA cream in 2018, I haven’t used any other brand. And since I started using RIGGS in 2023, no other body spray nears my skin.

Photo by NIKHIL on Unsplash

Now let’s say that the company used 45k to acquire me as a customer through ads. If the price of one NIVEA cream is 15k and I use 3 Nivea cream in a year, then they’ve recovered their CAC in one year.

(This is a long shot. Some companies recover way earlier than this. Some even recover from your first purchase).

That means that by 2019, they’ve recovered the money they spent to acquire me.

By 2020, they are making 100% profit (45k) on me alone.

And since we’re in 2025, they would have made a 500% profit on me since the time they onboarded me.

Now imagine they have 1 million buyers across just the country.

Imagine again that they didn’t even pay to acquire me. That I saw my friend using their product and I liked it and started using it.

Ohhhh yummy!!! Sweet inflow.

Profit right away.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING

The winners in this game are Telecom companies.

Telecom companies will give you free sim cards. They call it ‘PROMO.’ They can even choose to give you 20 GB free each.

But your LTCV is fire.

You’ll buy data all your life. You will be sucked dryyyyy.

I lowkey think it’s because of these guys that the term was coined.

You become a sweet, delicious orange juice that “keeps giving.”

You are a land flowing with milk and honey.

And we all are (especially in this part of the world).

MTN are even worse (in a legal way).

Google

I remember there are these plans on their app (juicy ones) that once you buy it, the option no longer becomes available.

You’ll have to move to a higher plan.

You think you are wise abi?

Even if you’re not on something like this, there’s a marvelous concept meant to cage you, and you probably haven’t thought of it like that.

It is called ROLLOVER.

You’re asked to buy the same plan or maybe another one to rollover your data.

In your head, it is saving you data because they won’t take your remaining data away or you wouldn’t have to download ‘plenty movies’ on your phone to exhaust the data before the expiry date.

Google

Just imagine that Ad.

In their heads, their CUSTOMER RETENTION tactics is doing wonders, and it is really working.

See, there are many serious backends meant to keep you in the loop. And now that you know them, you still HAVE NO CHOICE but to indulge them especially when it comes to Telecom services.

They’ll continue to suck us. Too bad!

300% SIGN-IN BONUS

Bet companies are wild. They are on another level.

They onboard you with a 300% bonus. In your head you go, I put 100k, I get 300k.

Is this true? Technically, Yes!

Google

But there are loopholes:

• You can’t withdraw till you place a bet that crosses a certain fixed amount.

• The money they give you is not actual money. They are vouchers, and how do they work?

The vouchers subsidize the amount you place on every bet. So if the whole thing is worth 20k, you’ll probably end up paying 10k for the value of 20k.

In the end, they told you they’re giving you money, but you’re actually the one giving them. That 300% bonus has no actual value till you actually win a bet. And what are the odds that you will win?

In the end, they won. They didn’t have to wait till 3 months to recover their CAC. They start recovering it from the moment you decide to sign in. They start from the first bet you place.

Dey play.

IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT

I told you last week that what you buy from flash sales and discounts is not really the product, it is the “FEELING OF VICTORY,” the feeling that you have cheated them and gotten more value for less pay.

So let me share something with you from a book I’m currently reading.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

As a buyer, the anticipation of purchasing a good seems more rewarding than getting the good itself. It is why you are always excited to buy something (if you have money). Or wish to buy it when you are BROKE.

But that’s also why before you buy something - a new cloth, a new shoe, a new phone - you’re very excited. But you’ll probably not be as excited when you actually have it than when you were expecting it. Some even start questioning why they bought it in the first place.

So whenever you see these promos and discounts, your dopamine spikes due to the ‘ANTICIPATION OF A REWARD.’ That’s how they get you and it’s not your fault

……UNTIL TODAY.

So remember, when any company onboards you through free promo or 7-day trial, the dopamine of the CEO too spikes because he knows the cow will soon be ready for milking.

But if there’s anything you should take away from this newsletter, it is the knowledge that CLTV is where they milk you.

Well…

You can just be like me who makes sure there’s no money in the account and after they’ve sent me like 17,000 emails to renew it, I just cancel the subscription and move on or register with another email (the naija blood runs through me).

Did this newsletter change how you see free things? Let me know below!

Com toda a humildade,

Precious.

---

If this opened your eyes, you probably have friends who need their eyes opened too. Send this to a friend today. Spread the word.

Please, if you really enjoyed this or you want to open a discussion, Leave a message in the comments. You could also suggest marketing trick you think I should talk about next.