Is 'Free' Always A Good Thing?

by Glenn Fisher

Something for nothing...

A lot of people would say there’s no such thing.

When we see that magic word ‘free’... what actually goes through our minds?

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Well, a lot of people - myself included - automatically put up some resistance when we see that seemingly innocent word.

I’m sure you’ve thought it yourself...

‘What’s wrong with it; what’s the catch; how come it’s free?’

It’s a reasonable reaction. That’s how we’ve been brought up to think.

But here’s the problem.

A genuinely free offer is a great offer. And it’s an offer that could work very well for your business when attracting new customers.

So, how do you break down that resistance to the free offer; how do you get your customers to see that your offer is genuine?

Now, there is some good news to begin with...

You see, the fact is, when we see ‘free’, deep down we really do hope it is free.

So, we automatically look for reasons why it is free.

What we’ve got then is someone making a free offer and someone wanting to take advantage of a free offer.

All good. But it’s that resistance in between that we need to eliminate.

How? Or a better question: why?

Go back to what I said earlier: why is that resistance there...

I’d say 7 times out of 10, people assume there’s a catch. And I’d say on 7 of those occasions there is.

Let’s not sugar coat it - there’s always a catch. But it’s not necessarily a sinister one...

I sometimes put together free guides for you. Why? Because I want to provide value to you. I want to develop our relationship.

So, the ‘catch’ there is that you only get my free guides if you continue to read the bulletin and we’re able to develop a relationship.

Not a bad compromise, right? And that’s why you’re probably happy to take a free guide in that circumstance.

But sometimes the ‘catch’ might be monetary. You might be offered a free guide if you pay X for something else.

That’s still a good and genuine offer.

But the key to this kind of offer is to be honest about the so called ‘catch’.

Remember, the potential customer will be thinking ‘why is this free,’ so if you explain clearly that the reason it’s free is because you want to increase the value to the customer when they purchase the other product - the free offer is justified and the resistance is broken down.

If you try to trick people, if you claim something is free without giving the whole picture, believe me, your business is doomed...

You’ll lose any trust you have with your customers and you’ll find it impossible to develop a relationship with any new customers.

So, that’s the ‘catch’ element of the resistance people have to the word free. You just need to be clear and honest about what the ‘catch’ is. Show your customers respect and they’ll respect you.

But I mentioned that an assumed catch was only the problem in 7 out of 10 cases, what about the other 3?

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Well, in these cases, the pure fact that the product or information you’re offering is free might put people off.

They’ll think, ‘if it’s free, surely it can’t hold any value?’

Does the free product you’re offering have value?

I hope so.

If it doesn’t, put it in the bin right now and start again.

But chances are the product or information you’re giving away does hold value. So, how’d you get this across to the customer?

It’s not difficult and you might already have guessed. But a lot of people forget to do this - I’ve forgotten myself in the past.

You simply need to state what the free product or information would be worth were it not free.

Simple, right?

But I was speaking to Brian Edmondson of the Internet Money Club whilst I was in Florida last week and the testing he’s done on this little tweak has increased the effectiveness of his free offers enormously.

So, if you’re upfront as to why the product or information is free (what the ‘catch’ is) and if you inform readers of how much it would cost if it weren’t free - you’ll be able to effectively break down that natural resistance we all have to the word ‘free’.

Not only will your customer be able to enjoy the genuine benefits of the free offer, but you’ll get the great response you were hoping for.