How to Ethically ‘Bribe’ Your Customers to Buy From You
September 27th, 2008 by Mark Pocock
You know, you don’t always have to lead with your product all the time in your sales letters.
If you’re offering some free bonuses (you are aren’t you dear reader?) and those bonuses are strong offers or inducements in themselves, your prospect will buy your product purely to receive the bonuses. This especially works in a long sales letter form when your reader is getting to the end of the letter near the close.
Strange but true. And this tactic is always worth bearing in mind when you’re putting together your next offer.
However there’s another way you can use this.
You can also bribe your prospect into buying from you. Make your free giveaway so irresistible to your market they’ll buy from you just to get their greedy hands on your free bonus.
And I’ll prove it to you right now. As I nearly succumbed myself.
Received a great letter selling a natural health product through the mail last week. However, bold as brass, the letter quickly led with a great FREE bonus.
Let me explain.
The 6 page letter was selling a trial supply of a natural health formula which not only slows down the ageing process but also helps to reverse it. Three seperate pictures of scientists. A great offer of just £5 for a trial supply.
And here’s the kicker;
You also receive a free pair of binoculars value £59 with a field and sea range of 50 miles.
Duh.
Got absolutely nothing to do with health supplements. But if you take your target market this was aimed at - the over 40’s - whose eyesight is perhaps starting to be affected then this makes perfect sense.
The potential customers are probably active and like to stay young . And are probably into walking. Hence the binoculars are a great idea.
After all who wouldn’t want to spend £5 to get a free gift woth £59?
Anyway straight up in the letter - the second paragraph - the company leads with their free binocular offer. Yours FREE to keep…just for accepting a free no-risk trial.
This letter reminds me of the famous Omaha Steak letter which did a similar thing leading with a free calculator.
Why didn’t I bite?
Good question.
I probably would have done just to get the binoculars. Not that I needed a pair of binoculars or the health supplement.
Only one thing held me back. You had to send the reply card with your credit card details out of the country. To Switzerland. And that put me off for security reasons.
I wonder how crucial that one factor was in the letter’s response rate.
I guess the company is based there to get round the stringent laws governing health supplements in the UK.
Take a look at it yourself - Direct Mail Letter
Until next time
Mark
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