A shuffle for your thoughts

By on December 15th, 2009 In Marketing

Today I received another in a long line of offers to take a demo of a product in exchange for a gift. This time I have been asked to spend 30 minutes learning about Marketwire’s News Dashboard Monitoring service or its MediaHub media management solution and I’ll get a $50 gift card to Amazon.com. By the way I found this e-mail in my Spam folder.

A few weeks ago I was offered an iPod Shuffle for 30 minutes learning how Vocus PR software can make my job easier. An iPod Shuffle runs about $60 so the Vocus offer is actually worth more! Vocus actually has a different offer where if you take a demo of Vocus PR Software you receive “a $50 gift card of your choice!” Oh joy!

Vocus also likes to provide us with “free” white papers on hot topics that say just enough to whet your appetite and then they follow up with a sales call for Vocus software.

I think gift card offers are annoying. If I’m interested in buying new software I do research on my own, then buy the product I want based on the information I’ve gathered. Frankly I’d rather take the demo without the gift because that way I don’t feel guilty taking the demo and not buying.

Does anyone think these kinds of offers work? I think paying $50 for a lead is crazy in these economic times and it makes me think the company’s margins are too high if they can afford that kind of promotion with no guarantee of a return. Then again, I’m no expert on sales conversions so maybe their cost-to-convert works out in the end even with the $50 throwaways.

Still, ultimately I feel like the “gift” is an insult to my intelligence. That being said, I love Amazon.com so don’t be surprised if I sit through 30 minutes of B.S. and deflect a half dozen sales calls in exchange for getting a few new CDs this Christmas!

Comments

Felice Appell Says:
December 15th, 2009 at 1:22 pm

I agree with you; unfortunately, though, most of us won’t respond without some kind of light at the end of the tunnel.

Jared Bodnar Says:
December 16th, 2009 at 9:59 am

As a 100% B2B marketer, we run promotions like this for some of our clients. One of the biggest challenges for our clients who are selling these types of solutions is just getting in front of the decision maker to conduct an online demo or extol the benefits of their software. Hence, this is where the end-user incentive comes in. They figure if the incentive is compelling enough, they will get 30 minutes of someone’s time and hope that person is a qualified lead. If they’re not in the market for the product right now, at least they’ll have the information so they’ll think of the company when they are ready to buy.

I see both sides of this issue, but I guess the short answer would be that if it didn’t work, there wouldn’t be so many offers like this. It’s not dissimilar to many consumer promotions (buy a bottle of cologne, get a free duffel bag), just on a larger scale because the cost of the product or solution is obviously higher. We caution our clients not to offer items that are too costly, because many companies have policies against this and there are certainly ethical considerations. However, I wouldn’t look at these offers as insulting. People’s time is valuable, so offering an incentive to learn about a company’s products should be looked at as a fair exchange for your time–not a bribe.

Linnea Maxwell Says:
December 17th, 2009 at 10:14 am

$50 for a qualified lead doesn’t seem crazy depending on the value of the initial sale and lifetime value of the customer (potential for upgrades, add-ons and referrals). There’s always the possibility the seller got a discount on the preiums so it may cost them less than $50.

These days, however, you may find buyers asking for $50 off the purchase price instead of another iPod of lesser quality than the one they probably already own.

Greg Taylor Says:
December 17th, 2009 at 11:31 am

I agree the cost per lead is only relevant to the overall lifetime value of the client and the initial ticket price.

Deb Krol Says:
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:40 pm

I’ve been deluged by these offers on both email and via Twitter. I’m at the point of removing anybody who sends me another one of these! I have always been very leery of these offers, because of the high-pressure tactics used by folks who give away hotel stays, TVs, etc. in trying to sign folks up for various pitches–not to mention the time I have to sit through those pitches! I could have made a lot more money just sitting at my desk and writing…so PLEASE, no more Twitter or email pitches!!

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