So here’s the thing:
Long term readers of my rants and raves know I’m not a big fan of “moving the free line” — where you continually give away more and more free stuff in your emails so that people miraculously think, “if this is the stuff he’s giving away free, the paid stuff must be truly astonishing!”
Yeah, I kind of don’t think so.
In fact, it makes you kind of a chump.
And, someone people may even despise.
At the very least, it’s far less profitable than learning how to sell.
But don’t take my word for it, Fonzy.
Good, old fashioned psychology backs elBenbo up on this. Specifically, some research from Psychology Today a few years back where they analyzed why nice guys who give and Give and GIVE (and never demand anything in return) so often get dumped, friend zoned, cheated on by their woman, etc.
It’s not a malicious thing anyone is doing purposely.
It’s simply human nature.
The person who does all the work, invests most, and does all the favors falls in love (the marketer working like a mule to give away freebies), while the person who does nothing, invests nothing, gives nothing back, often feels no love for the giver at all (the person who sees all your free stuff, nods, then goes and buys from elBenbo giving me their lovin’ instead…)
What?
You don’t believe it?
It can’t be?
Well, you can believe whatever you want.
But, this is why so many emails with lots of free stuff go unread, un-acted on, and un-bought from, while emails that give little or no value (if done correctly, something few people understand) get lots of sales, generate loads of happy customers, and keep people coming back for more.
Yes, it’s counterintuitive.
But, it is what it is, so whaddyagonnado?
Anyway, this is a deep subject.
Way too deep to go into here.
But never fear:
I go into way more detail about it on pages 6 and 7 in the upcoming October “Email Players” issue. There’s a reason blokes like me (and this spans lots of different markets and products) make out like bandits with email, while people preaching “give lots of stuff away free in emails!” are more likely to be worried about how to keep the lights on and meet payroll.
It’s all about the psychology (not writing “tricks”), babycakes.
More in the October issue.
Here’s where to subscribe:
Ben Settle
