[importantbrian]

I agree with your broader point that you shouldn't just assume large brands always know what they're doing but other than the 404 example I'm not sure these are actually indications of companies not knowing what they're doing.

> Those companies that have a Sign-up for our email and get 10% off your first order pop-up, you mean?

I get that this can be annoying but plenty of companies do A/B tests and find that it works for them. I suppose it could mean they're just following some fad and don't know what's going on, but it doesn't have to mean that. This is especially true for companies that have long sales cycles or are in categories where lots of comparison shopping is common. Getting someone into your email funnel can be more important than anything else.

> Those companies that ask you if you have a discount coupon just before you enter your card details for something you are already buying?

Where else in the funnel would you have them apply their coupon? Maybe my perspective is different because we do a lot of offline advertising, but if someone comes into the site off of a print coupon they're going to expect to be able to put it in somewhere and get their discount. If we don't put it in the order flow they're either going to not purchase or we're going to get a lot of customer service calls from people trying to redeem their coupons.

[dazc]

Fair comment. I think we can agree there are case where such things can be used to great effect but that there also are businesses throwing money around and hoping something sticks.

One big mistake businesses make is seeing another business doing something and assuming it must be working. Which is one of the points the OP was making.