I can’t tell you how many times I’ve suggested that a client use bonuses with their copy only to hear, “But I own an ecommerce website. I don’t use sales letters.” Bonus offers are not by any means exclusive to sales letters. In fact, bonuses were around long before direct mail or online sales letters came into being. And they’ve stood the test of time because everybody loves getting something free.
Retail & E-tail Bonuses
Whether you’re walking through a store or shopping online, you can find bonuses at every turn. Gold Toe just ran a promotion where you could buy a six-pack of athletic socks and get one bonus pair free (making it a seven-pack).
Computer manufacturers are famous for loading up on bonuses especially during the holiday and back-to-school seasons. For example, you can find laptops that come with a free printer or digital camera in just about every store during these times.
Travel Bonuses
Cruise companies got in on the bonus act many years ago. It’s typical to find packages where you purchase passage on a voyage and receive a free excursion or free cruise dollars to use onboard.
Even Disney – who is famous for charging full price for everything – is now offering bonuses to attract more visitors to its parks. A click to their website as I was writing this article uncovered a free Disney dining plan with the purchase of a four-night package.
So, as you can see, bonuses are not just used in correlation with info products and sales letters. Does that mean you should throw everything you can think of at your site visitor in an effort to get his/her attention? Absolutely not.
The Unwritten Rules of Using Bonuses
If you ask most copywriters who have had success with using bonuses, you’ll find we play by many of the same unwritten rules. The bonuses you offer must:
1. Be Applicable – If you’re selling steaks, you wouldn’t want to offer a personal CD player as a bonus. Why? It makes no sense. It’s not related to what you’re selling. A better idea would be a grilling utensil set, an apron branded with your company name or maybe a collection of marinades and rubs.
2. Have Perceived Value – Whether it cost you a lot or a little, the bonus needs to be valuable to the recipient. Using a bonus ebook or report is a great example here because the ebook didn’t cost you anything monetarily. It took some time to pull all your thoughts out and put them into book format, but the digital product itself doesn’t have a cost. However, the information you share through the ebook with your customers may be extremely valuable to them. With the information you provide, your customers may gain new skills that make them more profitable, etc. Even though the ebook had little or no tangible cost, it was perceived as valuable.
3. Not Overload the Customer – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen information products in particular that offer a long, ongoing list of bonuses. I kid you not… 10, 15, 20 ebooks or reports: way too much for anybody to practically use. This type of hype may work on newbies and those unfamiliar with the Internet, but for the most part they are viewed as a lame attempt to garner sales. Many times, the bonuses offered in these situations are given away free on almost every other website of a similar nature and, therefore, their value has significantly declined. (Go back and reread rule #2.) More is not better. Better is better.
Retail & E-tail Bonuses
Whether you’re walking through a store or shopping online, you can find bonuses at every turn. Gold Toe just ran a promotion where you could buy a six-pack of athletic socks and get one bonus pair free (making it a seven-pack).
Computer manufacturers are famous for loading up on bonuses especially during the holiday and back-to-school seasons. For example, you can find laptops that come with a free printer or digital camera in just about every store during these times.
Travel Bonuses
Cruise companies got in on the bonus act many years ago. It’s typical to find packages where you purchase passage on a voyage and receive a free excursion or free cruise dollars to use onboard.
Even Disney – who is famous for charging full price for everything – is now offering bonuses to attract more visitors to its parks. A click to their website as I was writing this article uncovered a free Disney dining plan with the purchase of a four-night package.
So, as you can see, bonuses are not just used in correlation with info products and sales letters. Does that mean you should throw everything you can think of at your site visitor in an effort to get his/her attention? Absolutely not.
The Unwritten Rules of Using Bonuses
If you ask most copywriters who have had success with using bonuses, you’ll find we play by many of the same unwritten rules. The bonuses you offer must:
1. Be Applicable – If you’re selling steaks, you wouldn’t want to offer a personal CD player as a bonus. Why? It makes no sense. It’s not related to what you’re selling. A better idea would be a grilling utensil set, an apron branded with your company name or maybe a collection of marinades and rubs.
2. Have Perceived Value – Whether it cost you a lot or a little, the bonus needs to be valuable to the recipient. Using a bonus ebook or report is a great example here because the ebook didn’t cost you anything monetarily. It took some time to pull all your thoughts out and put them into book format, but the digital product itself doesn’t have a cost. However, the information you share through the ebook with your customers may be extremely valuable to them. With the information you provide, your customers may gain new skills that make them more profitable, etc. Even though the ebook had little or no tangible cost, it was perceived as valuable.
3. Not Overload the Customer – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen information products in particular that offer a long, ongoing list of bonuses. I kid you not… 10, 15, 20 ebooks or reports: way too much for anybody to practically use. This type of hype may work on newbies and those unfamiliar with the Internet, but for the most part they are viewed as a lame attempt to garner sales. Many times, the bonuses offered in these situations are given away free on almost every other website of a similar nature and, therefore, their value has significantly declined. (Go back and reread rule #2.) More is not better. Better is better.
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