Spend Less is a free Chrome extension that detects when a website is trying to sell something, delivers a beautiful message to help users think intentionally about the purchase, and sends the user somewhere else if they realize they just fell for marketing.
Hello Product Hunt! 👋
My name is Howard Wu. I'm a former lawyer, current preschool owner, and beginner indie maker. This is my first post on Product Hunt!
A year ago I happened to read an article about drop-shippers, which sent me down an internet rabbit hole of articles about online marketing and digital sales hacks. I realized that billions of dollars and centuries of time have been spent learning about what makes people want things. Digital marketing experts have distilled principles of psychology, neuroscience, and computer science into "marketing hacks" that push users into "frictionless sales funnels." I was turned off by a lot of the vernacular--seeing humans merely as "clicks" to be "converted."
As I read more about how online sellers leverage psychology and neuroscience to separate people from their money (expiring discounts, "limited" quantities, etc.), I thought that there should be something that takes all that knowledge and uses it to help users spend less money online by pointing out marketing gimmicks, hacks, and strategies at the same time a website is trying to sell something.
I couldn't find an extension that fit the bill, so I had it made. Here's how it works:
- Spend Less detects when a user is on a website that is selling something.
- It delivers a beautiful, motivational, and informative message to help the user be aware of the sales tricks, or keep in mind their budget, personal financial goals, or environmental impact.
- If the website is where you planned to be, simply dismiss the message and Spend Less won't interrupt you again during your session on the website.
- If you realized that you've gotten sucked into another sales funnel though, click the button and Spend Less will send you somewhere beautiful and interesting (where nobody is trying to take your money).
The extension is 100% free. There are no ads (which would defeat the purpose), and Spend Less collects zero personal data. This is just something I thought should exist in the world.
Please let me know your thoughts, and I would love to connect with anyone else who's interesting in helping human beings untangle their brains from the more exploitative aspects of technology.
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Anania