Let’s say you and I meet in a bar. We make small talk and I learn you’re a cartoonist. Ultra-cool, man!
Now, I’m mad about good cartoons. I especially love the cartoons I see each day in my daily desk calendar from The New Yorker magazine. But I digress.
We talk about classic cartoons…Calvin and Hobbes…The Far Side….you get the picture.
Then you tell me you’re going to publish a book with your cartoons in it. Cool, again!
You pop the question
Would I be interested in seeing a couple of sample chapters so I could decide whether or not I’d like to buy it?
Of course I say yes and you ask me for either my email or snail-mail address so you can send it to me, right?
I mean, you’re not going to to just pull it out of your briefcase and hand it to me and walk away hoping that:
- I’ll remember you 45 minutes later.
- I’ll remember to buy your book three months from now.
- I’ll bookmark your website (if the address is on the sample chapter).
I mean… it would be a colossal mistake not to ask for that information, right?
Enter the gaping void
The folks over at TheGapingVoid (a very cool site where some neat cartoons are born) have just such a book and, guess what?
Yep, it’s due out in three months. And they kindly ask if you’d like to download two sample chapters to preview. Still, very cool because it’s look like a book I’d like to buy.
But when I clicked on the link to download the sample chapters, guess what happened? It downloaded instantly.
Um, isn’t that what’s supposed to happen?
Where’s the conversion?
As any BAR reader knows, giving away something in exchange for nothing is noble, but it’s not a ‘conversion point.’
Recall that a conversion point is where your blog and a customer cross paths. It always involves a transaction of some kind and it should invite your reader/customer to become deeper involved in your blog-religion.
Becoming Irresistible: The Giveaway
When I wrote Becoming Irresistible, I too gave away sample chapters. However, I used the names and addresses I asked for in exchange as a separate mailing list of potential buyers.
It’s kind of like seeing a new car in the middle of a shopping mall and filling out the ‘Win This Car!’ coupon. Your name goes on a list and you receive all kinds of marketing information from a dealership or Hawaiian vacation tour group.
I used my sample chapter list to sell about 40% of the people who downloaded the sample chapters. Some on that list bought the book, some the audio program, some even engaged me for consulting at a much higher price.
The lesson?
Never underestimate the power of a conversion point.
Giving away two chapters of a book is a great idea. But without any transaction? Not so much.
Hi Baz,
I understand the separate mailing list, but how do you ensure that once they buy the product, they won’t get any more messages sent to that special list?
I recently went through this kind of process. I downloaded sample chapters & agreed to receive email tips in exchange for my email address. Once I bought the book, I think I just unsubscribed myself from the tips because I didn’t need them anymore as I had the book.
So, should it be automated, or should the email messages be like ‘tips’ that end up being ‘redundant’ once the sale is made, and people remove themselves if they choose to?
@Trisha – Hey there, Trisha! I’ll answer your questions in order.
1. Most mailing list services (I use Aweber) allow you to automate this process by segmenting lists with an ‘If this…then’ type of command. You can also removed names individually from a list.
2. An automated removal is best. Whether automated or manual, l removing a customer from a specific product up-sell list should occur without the prospect-turned-customer having to do it themselves. I think they appreciate the courtesy of the merchant doing this for them.