In the marketing world there is a line. They (marketers) call it the free line. Many marketers pontificate about “moving the free line” That is, providing some fabulous stuff free up first to encourage people to either sign up for something more expensive, or something that will have a recurring cost that will eventually end up to be more expensive,or have a higher profit margin for the provider.
These campaign methods can run off the rails and end up damaging reputations and bank balances
1. The FREE stuff being offered is attractive but the ongoing content is not.
This is what seemed to strike the Mike Filsaime campaign earlier this year, and the first cab off the rank in the major launches that focused in signing up as many punters as possible for a content continuity subscription.
Let me be totally transparent here; I signed up with NO intention of continuing into the paid subscription. Having brushed with Mike’s stuff before I know how his email lists worked and I was not willing to be voluntarily bombarded by a gazillion continuing emails. Some people might like that, I do not. I wanted to see what this campaign was all about, how it worked, and what could be learned from it.
When the free (well for the cost of postage and handling) stuff came it was pretty obvious that the “printed content” was of inferior quality. It looked cheap and shoddy. When you are used to seeing flashy shiny websites, a matt printed thin newsletter type publication is NOT going to excite your subscribers. If you are conditioned that the magazines you subscribe to have decent quality paper, glossy photographs and professional typesetting, then you will expect the same from something more expensive.
Couple that with the obvious delivery issues that Mike was having and I think some valuable lessons were learned by high-end marketers by this initial campaign. With the mastermind group of marketers out there that revolve in the same circle I wonder if the decision for Mike to go first was a strategic one…if there is nothing to compare to, maybe you can get away with delivering crap?
Compare that to the Frank Kern Mass Control 2 launch where opening the “box” was a carefully orchestrated “experience” combining the luxury-colour black, the exciting/dangerous colour of red, piece on piece of top quality “stuff” all topped by the icing yellow sales letter (to stand out like dog’s balls I bet!). But for all of that Frank’s stuff ended up with
2. Great free stuff but ongoing subscription not worth the ongoing cost.
Transparency statement, I was prepared to go on with the subscription IF the cost was worth it, so i was up at 4am to sign on the dotted line.
I like Frank’s stuff. He is a pretty smart dude and I can see where he is coming from. Why wouldn’t you want to attract affluent cashed up customers who can afford $300 a month, month after month? If there is one thing I have learned in the last two months is this.
Some people are really, really “generous” in how much they will spend to …… [insert burning ambition here].
So Frank is looking at these people as a source of income and he will continue to get them too. I just don’t think I can afford to be that “generous” with what I spend without getting the content I need. This is not a case of not implementing and sitting on my hands while there is great information…. it’s just not $300 a month worth to me. (Still love Frank and his stuff though!)
Another free line pitfall is
3. Free stuff attracts people who have no idea whether they are in the right place or not
I am contemplating leaving a paid site I have been around for a couple of years because the “free trial” has brought in a group of people that really should NOT be there.
Pitched at a certain level of expertise, i have always looked at this site as a place where you don’t muck around, you get down and dirty with like minded and experienced people and do productive stuff. It would never occur to me that there would be people who would sign up for something and have NO IDEA what on earth they signed up for. Can you say “membership level miss-match”
Sure if that kind of person keeps paying it is all well and good for the owner of the site. Especially if the experienced paying membership decide to help these people out (free employees yay!). For the other experienced members the choice is to disappear for a month and hope that the people there for the freebies disappear, or cancel membership. At this stage I am sitting out for a month (and slowly gritting my teeth I am paying for the privilige) and if things do not improve with people leaving then I will be clicking the cancel subscription button in Paypal.
I can appreciate that getting the balance right between free + ongoing income is going to be a difficult one. As soon as someone gets it “right” I hope they stick to it like glue and reproduce over and over because great freebies + value for money ongoing subscription + some form of membership gatekeeping, will earn more money and reputation points for that person than going for the big bang greed slam.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Great post Allison, and very true that many people are drawn in by the free stuff (and the hype around the launches) who shouldn’t be there in the first place. Maybe I’m naive (and not a good marketer) but I would prefer to have fewer buyers but offer them excellent ongoing content and know that every single one of them can and is benefiting from what they are getting. I would rather qualify people by telling them exactly who it is and isn’t going to benefit.
I also think the free stuff dilutes the overall impact of the main content. Not the free stuff coming from the marketer themselves, but all the free stuff offered by other marketers to tempt more buyers. Suddenly you find yourself with a lot of diverse material to wade through (that doesn’t necessarily complement the main product) plus you are on everybody’s email lists (and sometimes tied into another continuity payment). If the marketer really wants to impress me, he should get all his “buddies” to let me have their stuff without having to sign-up to their lists and then let ME decide whether I am impressed enough to want to hear from them on a regular basis
Phew! Stepping off my soap box now!
October 7th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Sadly (or maybe not), this is exactly why I tend to shy away from free stuff in general. I’m sure I’m missing out on some good things out there, but I’m so leery (cynical) about the potential downsides – incessant emails, struggle to get off the list, missed the line about continuity payments, being charged when I never signed up – that I run the other way. Says something about my general perception of internet marketing, huh?
October 7th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Eben Pagan talks about moving the free line. He encourages us to think like entrepreneurs not employees and ‘give’. Giving creates a connection on which trust can be built which in turn creates a relationship.
For me, too many people are paying lip service to the free line. They are throwing together any old rubbish – preferring quantity over quality – and then wondering why they have mass cancellations. They have, IMHO, missed the point completely. The free line is there to build trust and credibility not to hook reluctant people in and make it difficult for them to leave. Never has a marketing tactic had such a vicious backlash – ask any marketer who has gotten it wrong.
On the other side of the free transaction are those who haunt the internet seeking freebies, never willing to invest in themselves and bemoaning their lot. Sylvia Fortin recently published a couple of reports on IM sins and these turn the spotlight on both seller and buyer – which made them an interesting read.
I have either had a similar experience to Alison with a membership site or we are members of the same site. The doors were opened to extend the free line and to build trust but the timing I think was unfortunate as it came on the back of another free experience. The membership site is simply not structured to provide the handholding the new members need. The opportunity will be self levelling in the end BUT at huge cost because trust is broken. Those who step up for the trial are going to feel bitter and let down because their experience does not match their expectations. The vicious backlash strikes.
The underlying driver in the free line is to build trust. Trust can only be built if there is integrity in place. Anything else is smoke and mirrors and people will see through it. The free line is there as an opportunity for sellers to demonstrate that they know their stuff and are therefore worthy of the buyer’s investment (of time or money).
For me, the free line fiasco has come about as a result of people ‘lifting’ a tactic and implementing it without bothering to understand the underlying strategy. I don’t know whether it’s funny or sad.
Marketing may have evolved with the advent of the Internet but in true Darwinian style, those being marketed to have evolved as well! We forget this at our peril.
I believe the free line has a place and is particularly important in an anonymous market such as the Internet but I believe it is there to build long term business relationships over time not to create a quick cash fix.
Apologies for going on at such length.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:09 am
Allison great post and I have to say I agree, although I’d like to refer to the internet marketing scene as a whole rather than any specific product. There seems to be a trend lately where the focus for many marketers is to offer the bare minimum they can get away with in order to charge people money.
Now, you’re always going to get that in this game, there’s always a percentage of people who are inherently selfish in that regard, but the thing that compounds the issue for me is when I get emails from other marketers talking up their “buddy” and starting to devalue words such as “overdeliver”, “bargain”, etc, when most likely they haven’t even seen the product in question and are just promoting it in order to either grab some quick commissions and/or to garner favour when they are ready to promote their own product.
So here’s what I think about building and maintaining trust and loyalty. If you want your customers, prospective customers, mailing list members and website visitors to TRUST you, it’s not about just giving away something for free. It’s about BEING HONEST. I just personally start to feel let down by a lot of these marketers when they keep promising stuff that turns out to be subpar.
Giving away something for free is great, if what you’re giving away has true standalone value, but the I think the value in doing that is not so much in building trust and loyalty, but in the demonstration of the value that is to come. If people like what you gave away, then the assumption is what they’re paying for is going to be even better. I think trust and loyalty is only built over time by being honest, providing value and showing that you aren’t going to compromise people’s trust in you just to make a quick buck.
Anyways I could keep rambling but I think I made my point.
October 7th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I agree with many of your points Nathan and Allison. The value of the ongoing has to be enough ROI to justify the ongoing cost.
Also, the selling anything and everything without at least reviewing it and preferrably put the tactics to work successfully is a burner.
I hate when they do that and insist on reviewing any product I’m going to represent to people who trust me. If the person won’t do a review copy to me them I’m outta there.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I am traveling in the same circle as you are Allison, and being circled by the same group of sharks. Talk about trust betrayed. Mike Filsame may have gone first, but when Andy Jenkins allowed his “friends” to shower me with last year’s leftovers for the price of my opting in to receive their latest pat on the back product I felt like nothing more than chum at a shark feeding frenzy. What trust is left after that?
Donna Fox was asked by another member of this shark pack where all the female marketers are. Frankly, I’m glad there were no representatives swimming in the bloody STSE2 waters. I’ve had enough and am ready to let the “secret” of the Secret Women’s Business Network be that there is an abundance of good honest work and reward for all of us and that there is a real and open way to share what we have and know.
Yes, we all need to move the free line…back on to the dry land of the real world of value.
Liz
October 7th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Wow I am not alone
Thanks everyone for such honest comments. Liz yours especially resonate with us at the SWBN and you are SO on the mark (and that is really gratifying to know that there IS a group of people who prefer the “old fashioned” concepts)
Look out for the SWBN watching what everyone does, then doing the opposite
*wink*