Years ago, a friend of mine… who built up a $200 million travel club business from scratch… told me his entire philosophy of direct response marketing could be reduced to just two magic words:
The Offer.
He told me he had tested every variable imaginable both online and offline – lists, headline, body copy, colors, text sizes, formats, you name it. But when push came to shove, he said, nothing — absolutely NOTHING — produced sales like an irresistible, no-brainer, “you’d have to be crazy not to accept it” offer.
That was his specialty. He would cobble together 50% to 75% discount offers from airlines, car rental agencies, luxury hotels, restaurants, and cruise lines and put them all together into a package that he’d sell for something like $49.95 a year.
The offer was simply incredible. If you liked to travel, you’d have to be crazy not to accept it. Why pay $350 a week for a car rental when you could get the same car for $125? You’d pay for his service with a single coupon!
Yet too many marketers and copywriters spend an enormous amount of time on every other element of their marketing campaigns and very little time thinking through their offers.
People aren’t stupid. They know a good deal when they see one.
That means that, as a marketer or copywriter, you have to really ask yourself some tough questions: What’s in it for the customer? Is the offer you’re making something that is SO GOOD — such an incredible deal — something that provides so many overwhelming benefits — that he or she would be insane not to accept it? If not, you have work to do.
Crafting an Irresistible Offer
The best resource I can think of for marketers to bone up on creating superb offers is Mark Joyner’s now-classic The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less (John Wiley, 2005). You can pick this up used at any decent bookstore or order it from Amazon.com.
I don’t have time to go into all of Joyner’s theories right now, but let me just summarize a few key points. For Joyner, the Irresistible Offer has three basic elements:
- An incredibly HIGH Return on Investment (ROI) for the buyer…
- A TOUCHSTONE or instant summary of your offer… and
- Believability.
The TOUCHSTONE is what is unique about Joyner’s approach - and the part that’s difficult for marketers to achieve.
Examples are Domino’s Pizza’s “Pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free” or Columbia House Records’ “10 CDs for 1 Cent.” Another good Touchstone is from Federal Express: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” That tells you immediately what they are offering - and, if you have a package that HAS TO BE THERE, it’s irresistible.
Believability is something everyone understands. If I offer to make all your wrinkles disappear overnight, I have to have some pretty heavy credibility enhancers. But if I can tell you I can make your wrinkles FADE in just 7 days, you might believe me - especially if I’m an MD and I have loads of case studies to back me up.
The final point that Joyner doesn’t really discuss is the target audience. The best offer in the world will flop if you make it to the wrong group of people. You can’t sell ice to an Eskimo, as the saying goes, but you CAN sell ice… a lot of ice… to a thirsty crowd on a hot summer day.
Improve Your Offer for the Win
Bottom line: Whenever I work on a new promotion, one of the things I try to do is evaluate the offer with the client. Could it be stronger, more dramatic?
Are there some additional services or products we could add that would strengthen it? What about throwing in free shipping? Are there some customer-service elements we could add that would make the offer irresistible? (A computer store near me regularly offers to come to your home and set your computer up for you – for free.)
Oftentimes, potential offer enhancements are buried, bundled in with the product. A marketer’s job is to dig them out and “denominate” them, as Jay Abraham likes to say.
The point is: Take the time to really flesh out your offer and you’ll have orders flying in from every direction — via call centers, email, your website, fax machine, FedEx, mail, even carrier pigeon.
The secret to success in copywriting and marketing really does begin with those two magic words: The Offer.
About the Author: Robert Hutchinson is a direct response copywriter, Ninja marketing strategist, author, and “copy critic.” Visit his site for more great advice from Robert.
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Sounds like we’re watching the Godfather here . . .
We’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse . . .
Stanley F. Bronstein
MrAchievement
Attorney, CPA, Author & Speaker
Thank you for another great chunk of useful information!
I agree with the last part of the post. It depends not only on ‘ The Offer ‘ but also how you present it. Presentation and Marketing is the key and if you make a tempting offer, you need to make sure that all the needy hearts out there get to know about your kick-ass offer. Only then your offer would give you a real ROI.
I KNEW this once, back in the day!
I’m not kidding…
…but I FORGOT it in the midst of the swarm of marketing info and theory!
The Offer!
Thanks for the reminder.
The copywriter doesn’t determine whether there will be an offer, however.
There *has* to be an offer, or there’s no need for a copywriter. But the copywriter can help make the offer better by advising the client.
Not only can the copywriter advise the client, but he must LOOK for the offer that is there (as opposed to just lauding the product itself).
Robert, this is great. I just wrote about this topic on my own blog a few days ago. Amazes me that the majority of marketers don’t seem to “get” the importance of the offer. And then, when they do have a great offer, they bury it as if it will somehow diminish the value of their product.
Example: Client sent an email to 1200 people. He was giving away 10 VAIO laptops; you just needed to upgrade your product to enter. Seems like a no-brainer —- great odds that you might actually win one. But he wasn’t even excited! He wanted us to downplay it. I, of course, persuaded him to let the offer stand out. Looking forward to seeing how it improves conversion.
Great comments, everyone! I agree with people who say that the offer “alone” is not enough. Of course that’s true.
Certainly, the key part of a copywriter’s job is to hone and refine the offer, to push the client to take their offer from “okay” to “great” to “irresistible.” Typically, that involves ramping up the risk reversal (the subject of another article) but also adding on service and ancillary products to really create a no-brainer offer.
I agree with @Terry… somehow between all the marketing and all the hustle and bustle of the ever-changing Internet - I’ve forgotten the most important part… Duh!
Great reminder!
Maria
Very powerful article. I’ve already responded to some of your offers already! I will be utilizing these techniques and suggestions as we craft new promotions and create landing pages. These statements extend through many aspects of every business.
Hey Robert, thanks for the nod. You’re totally right that the offer only makes sense relative to the target audience. TIO is one part of a larger picture I call The Great Formula: 1. Create TIO 2. Present it to a Thirsty Crowd 3. Sell Them a 2nd Glass. I really wish what I call the “Core Imperative of Business” (that is: make an offer) was taught as a starting point and ending point in marketing training. As Terry points out all too well above: people often forget this fundamental thing.
Ah, nice to see Mr. Joyner stop by. Remember, Mark’s book was the focus of one installment of the Copywriting 101 series I did two years ago. The Irresistible Offer is one of the best marketing books you can buy.
Great advice! It’s always useful to remember the fundamentals–we get so carried away by all the other stuff they become forgotten.
Now, I’ve just got to figure out how to write The Offer
I’m not a marketer. I know very little about marketing (although I’m learning). This post made more sense to me than anything I’ve ever read about selling. Thanks for this one. I get it now.
Mark: Yes, I know your Great Formula. Even have that book as well. I’ve been a huge fan for years. And I, too, have been thinking seriously about Auckland, the perfect locale for a copywriter. My wife and I are compulsive fans of “Outrageous Fortune.”
It depends on the offer and on the presentation, and in my opinion it depends if you get as customer esteem or not. If you feel cheated or underestimated the best offer isn’t worth anything.
Convincing people your offer is worthwhile.
Great post. And music to my ears.
If it doesn’t have a compelling offer and it can’t be tracked it isn’t direct response. It’s sales promotion or worse advertising sent through the mail. At $700+ CPM (includes postage, production, list rental etc.) Direct Mail is a very expensive media to use to get an ad message out.
Hey Robert, if you guys ever swing through Auckland to check it out let me know and we’ll do dinner. It’s just enough city for a city boy like me - dropped smack dab into a chunk of land humans forgot to mess up.
Auckland? Are you serious? My hometown, home to some of the dullest, dour, poe-faced people on the face of the planet. What makes it the ideal place for a copywriter? (I live here by the way so Im allowed to slag it off - Im also trying to kick out into the writing game - dominated at the moment by 24 year old girls with “communications” degrees.)
Apple wouldn’t be where it is today with the iPod if they just followed your advice of having a “you’d have to be crazy not to accept it” offer. Could turn out suicidal going down the cheaper, cheaper, cheaper road.
Julian, lower-price is not a dictate of TIO at all. Cost (which isn’t just price, by the way), is only one of the “Big Four Questions” that should be answered by your TIO.
Julian, and not only that: You’re assuming that Apple’s “offer” vis a via the iPod is merely the unit itself. But au contraire.
The real “offer” of the iPod extends to iTunes and the entire music revolution that Apple successfully engineered.
And believe me, that offer is quite irresistible and is precisely why Apple has had such great success: “No longer do you have to pay $20 for a CD just to get the single song or two you want. You can buy ONLY the songs you want… for 99 cents each… and you can create instantly customizable song sets you can easily share with your friends, transport anywhere and tuck into a coat pocket.” Tens of millions have responded to this offer precisely because it met an overwhelming desire.
Robert - you nailed it. Big Question #4 is a huge factor in iPod ownership now. There are so many intangibles built into owning one …
Julien, Apple is killing traditional music distribution with one offer (99 cent songs) to cash in on another killer offer (aesthetic design that makes your media mobile in a way that also makes you appear cooler).
Apple understands an irresistible offer… so well, in fact, that you don’t recognize it. That’s genius, but a lot harder to pull off than the strategies Joyner recommends.
Yes, it’s true every time: if your offer sucks, your sales pitch will bomb, no matter what you invest in it!
And conversely, a great offer will pull the sales, even with an average sales presentation.
Offer a solution to your prospects and ensure it is presented in up-to-the-minute graphics for credibility.
The offer alone is not enough?
What about this:
“Paris US$220″
Will that sell in a landing page? In a panflet?
Curious…