Is E-commerce being threatened by the Freebie Hunters?

Hi All,

I have been running a little marketing test on my new E-course (called To Our Success).

The E-course is sent by autoresponder every 2 days for a whole year (i.e 183 lessons) - each one with an 'Action Point'.

So - quite reasonably - I thought that I would charge something for it. $97 was a reasonable figure in my mind as each lesson can be reasonably long.

But...after a lot of manual tweaking and head-scratching - I thought that I would offer it to my list - and one or two other places for free - and only ask for 5 referrals in exchange for the course.

I also have set a deadline of 31st October - which is a 100% cast-iron certainty - as I will be pulling the course to use as part of something bigger.

The friends email addresses are only used the once - and, of course, not added to my mailing list.

I know that some people don't like this refer-a-friend concept - which I am happy to accept.

But guess what?

I've lost track of the amount of people who have either said:

1) I haven't got 5 friends - so can I have it for free anyway?

2) You said it was free - yet I have to give you five friends as referrals!

And there's me - trying to do an honest thing - get their help in increasing my 'exposure' in return for a full-on course for an entire year!

It's bad enough knowing that a proportion of my ezines don't get through because of spam filtering or AOL!

But...it's just a shame that there is such a 'freebie' culture when people like us are trying to run an honest business!

Am I right to expect something in return for my E-course?

Or am I just kidding myself that because so many people are literally giving valuable information away that I should do the same?

What does anyone else think?


Here is the E-course....

Just my opinion, but I think the problem is with asking for referals.

I firmly believe that most of the techniques of modern (especially "internet" and most direct) marketing preclude the possibility of getting referals. Think about it: direct marketing is sent to people's homes. It is private and is written to take advantage of the seeming privacy of the commuication (why does all direct mail look like a letter? even on the internet???). In private, many marketers will promise benefits or make offers that would sound bizarre to anyone outside their target market. Most people wouldn't want to admit to their friends that they purchased a product called, for example, Gimme My Money Now -- after all, what would their friends think of them? (that they're greedy or desperate or both.)

I'm not saying that you are marketing this way, but it's the standard that you are likely being compared against, especially if you are offering a free report on the internet.

If you want to grow by referals, you may want to look into marketing theory that is designed to enhance word-of-mouth. You'll find some similarities with direct marketing, but also many key differences.

Best,
Phil


The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing by George Silverman

Hi Gary,

It sounds like you've certainly put a lot of "sweat" into creating your course... It's only fair that you be compensated for it by those who want it.

I think one reason people are reluctant to give their friend's names and email addresses, is they might be afraid that their friends will be spammed, or something like that. Maybe you need to put an assurance that they won't be spammed, and that they can remove themselves from the course at any time - something like that? (I'm just thinking out loud....)

Another thing is that many people might be hesitant to put their friends' names down before checking with their friends first. They don't just need five friends - they need five friends who are interested in the topic of your course. That could also cause a delay too....

And Phil also made some excellent points as well. :)

Anyhow, there's a few thoughts on this.... I don't have much experience with "refer-a-friend" type promotions, but I think they seem to work better with very generic type of stuff (eg. jokes, greeting cards) that EVERYONE's interested in. It might need to be "adjusted" when applying this approach to specialized info products which only appeal to a niche market.... But I haven't quite thought this through....

- Dien Rice

Hi Gary-
I'm new to this, but having read over some of the other
marketing material with creative ideas :

- You benefit from a year's regular email 'coaching'.
I didnt ask for coaching. I want to see WIIFM now, not 280 days later to find out what tip #140 is all about.

- They benefit from it as well if they decide to sign up.
This is conjecture, and not very convincing at that. How do "they" benefit?

- I benefit because of the added 'exposure'.
Ahhhh, YOU benefit. Thats WIIFY, not WIIFM.

I happen to like your site, forum and previous works. The spam issue is one to be considered, and 5 is too high a number and too much of a time hassle to enter.
Two or three would be a more managable number.
Your end result would/could be the same, just a bit longer time frame.

I would purchase an ebook of this in a heartbeat knowing the quality of your previous works, but 97$ is a stretch, which is the value YOU equated with it. I know this runs diametrically opposed to your intent for this project, but just my 50 cents worth looking at it from a newbies perspective.

Much success with this endeavour Gary.

Gary:

People are very reluctant to recommend something (refer friends to it) when they haven't even received it yet.

Referrals work because the TRUST the Referer and Referee have built between each other.

Think about what you are asking people to do...

It's like asking a total stranger to recommend your restaurant (which they have never been to) to their friends in exchange for a meal.

A person is not going to do that.

Yet, that is exactly what you are asking them to do.

It's hard enough getting a person to give you the name and number of someone who may be interested in what you offer, immediately after you have taken care of their needs. Let alone before taking care of their needs.

As for Free or Charge... stick to one and go with it. Drop this "sitting on the fence" garbage.

It's either worth $97 or it's not. You either sell it for $97 and be done with it, or give it away entirely.

But giving me something for Free with ther "Threat" it is going to be sold for $97 in a few days, just doesn't make a lot of sense.

If you have a history of doing this... and your visitors know, then it may work. But I'm betting the visitors do not know you from a bar of soap. So raising the price from $0 to $97 is NOT believable.

The fastest way to stop people wanting your stuff for free is to not give it away for free. Period.

Michael Ross


Want to know what The Great Ideas Letter is all about? Click here for details, Press and FAQ.

> Gary:

> People are very reluctant to recommend
> something (refer friends to it) when they
> haven't even received it yet.

> Referrals work because the TRUST the Referer
> and Referee have built between each other.

> Think about what you are asking people to
> do...

> It's like asking a total stranger to
> recommend your restaurant (which they have
> never been to) to their friends in exchange
> for a meal.

> A person is not going to do that.

> Yet, that is exactly what you are asking
> them to do.

> It's hard enough getting a person to give
> you the name and number of someone who may
> be interested in what you offer, immediately
> after you have taken care of their needs.
> Let alone before taking care of their needs.

> As for Free or Charge... stick to one and go
> with it. Drop this "sitting on the
> fence" garbage.

> It's either worth $97 or it's not. You
> either sell it for $97 and be done with it,
> or give it away entirely.

> But giving me something for Free with ther
> "Threat" it is going to be sold
> for $97 in a few days, just doesn't make a
> lot of sense.

> If you have a history of doing this... and
> your visitors know, then it may work. But
> I'm betting the visitors do not know you
> from a bar of soap. So raising the price
> from $0 to $97 is NOT believable.

> The fastest way to stop people wanting your
> stuff for free is to not give it away for
> free. Period.

> Michael Ross

Ted has often said that 'freebies' are tricky. Business people assume just because it's 'Free' it's going to be in demand and Ted says nothing could be further from the truth. He's tried giving away numerous 'free' items as an incentive but quickly learned "That if you can't sell you can't give it away either".

Take care,

Mike Winicki

Thank you all for your wonderfully honest (would I expect anything less? lol ) responses!

It's certainly easy to get 'attached' to a project - and therefore become defensive when it is pulled spart so clinically!

But...

I'm not that sort of man!

So far, as a test - it is going reasonably well...

1) Out of just over 2,500 page views - 606 people have subscribed to the course.

2) This means that I have been 'exposed' (for want of a better word) to perhaps 3,000 people who had never heard of me before.

3) Also - through the sign-ups from non-subscribers of my ezine - and from my ezine pop-up on the site - I have gained in the region of 700 new subscribers in 10 days.

4) As far as I could track - I also sold approxinately $100 worth of product to those new susbcribers (measured only by recognising the name when making manual updates etc)

So - reservations aside - it has been a useful exercise.

Obviously - the $97 pricing is perhaps arbitrary as I the E-course will probably be part of something 'bigger' - but I do certainly stand by the 'value' of the content.

I agree that the copy isn't ideal (I knocked it up in a day) - but it was a project that I had on the 'back burner' for some time - and I wanted to see how the concept would fly for a non-joke type referral 'thingy'!

700 free subscribers and some sales (so far) is not a bad way of testing the concept - but I don't think that I'll be doing it again!

To Our Success!


13 days to go....