Pay what you want restaurant

[Dien Rice]

Hi Erik and everyone,

I just came across a "pay what you want" magazine trial subscription offer... It's mentioned on direct response copywriter Ivan Levison's website... (Note that Levison did not create this promotion - he's just reporting it...)

Here's an explanation of the offer...
http://www.levison.com/march_2008.html

And here's the result...
http://www.levison.com/april_2008.html

In a nutshell, the trial offer was for Inc. magazine. Quoting from the first link above...

The outer envelope contains teaser copy that reads:

Pay-what-you-want subscription offer.

It’s true!

Inside the #10 envelope is the order form which says (in part)

/x/ YES! Please send me my FREE issue of Inc. to preview.
I understand that after I have received my preview copy, you
will send me an invoice that I can return with the PAYMENT
AMOUNT THAT I DECIDE.

The buck slip reads:

Too Good to Be True?

Not so. We are offering you this unheard-of opportunity to determine
your own subscription rate for 12 issues of Inc. because we believe that
after reviewing your FREE issue, you’ll find Inc. speaks directly to YOU
with a highly specialized understanding of the mindset, interests and information
needs of the entrepreneur. Act quickly. This offer is time-sensitive and
non-transferable.

How did it turn out? Quoting from the second link above...

I recently heard from Patrick Hainault at Mansueto Ventures (the publishers
of Inc.) who came up with the promotion. As he said he would, Patrick
filled me in on the results which I'm passing along to you right now.

Patrick wrote:

"Results aren't final but the "pay what you wish"package will likely garner
less than 40% of the response we've received for the control against which
it was measured...."

So, this test with "pay what you want" didn't work out. But it's interesting to read about - and it's true, you should test, test, test....

(See the full story at the above two links!)

Best wishes

Dien