One Time Offers

[dehawkinz]

OK,

First of all the disclaimer - this is a personal point of view, and in no way bears any reflection on the views of StartXchange, or the Admin, nor do I claim any endorsement from either.

I am going to launch on one of my periodic rants against the accepted wisdom of too many internet marketers, so if you are easily offended, move on to another post :)

I joined a couple of programs today, I will not mention which ones to avoid embarassment to their owners, and was subjected to no less than 3 pages of One Time Offers (known in the trade as OTO).

So what is my objection to OTOs?
Because 99% of OTOs are shoved down the throats of new members who have just joined a program, have probably only a limited idea of the usefulness of the program, but the owner is wanting this new member to buy the offer of some unknown value. The stated value that the owner places is irrelevant as they are not yet proven.

What does this tell me about the owner? They have NO idea of what I want, why I joined their program,or even who I am.
Therefore I can only conclude that they are solely interested in parting me from the contents of my wallet, and have no interest in me or what I want.

I take a simple approach to OTOs on joining a program - IGNORE IT, you have proved your shallowness as an owner.

Incidentally I take the same approach in the real world, subject me to your mindless marketing, and I will give you the attention you deserve - NONE

PLEASE NOTE: I am not objecting to OTOs that are offered to members who have been a member for a period of time, and so have had a reasonable chance to assess the program, and its value to them. Indeed I have taken advantage of such offers.


OK, Rant over :)

DeHawkinz

[xxclixxx]

Uh oh do I smell an infraction? =P

J/K. Did you like my OTO? (the newsletter subscribe box hehe)

[dehawkinz]

LOL

As I said, it is the OTOs that are inflicted on joining,before you even have a chance to get to your members area for the very first time, that I am ranting about.

As an example, you ran a special a few months ago for discounted upgrades, but that was for existing members who had therefore had a chance to properly evaluate the service, and benefits of upgrading. This is the kind of OTO I think is a sensible, responsable method of treating customers.

PS If I went too far - feel free to 'moderate' my post to the bin :)

DeHawkinz

[kerberos]

Hi.

I know exactly how you feel, to bad it is like this.
I fully support your statement.
Great post

Regards

Ole

[ameastre]

You should hear my husbands rant about the quoted values on TV commercials (basically, he says if it sells for 19.99 then it's only worth 19.99, not 399.95). :D

I do agree about the newbie OTOs though. My "favorite" (as in, the worst) are the ones that blab about how their ebooks are different from the other ebooks and how their ebooks are worth hundreds of dollars. And the ones with the "hot" software that in reality people can get the same service (and information) for free without downloading suspect software.

[gide83]

I totally agree with this post. I confess I used it in the past stupidly
replicating what promo tools I was given as an affiliate, but really
too bad and boring.

[drkelp]

Totally Agree. Make an offer when you have had them happy for a while. That is why WBI is very effective at selling downlines to existing members who already know the benefits.

Cheers

Grant

[palladan]

I'm in agreement with your post.

Something I have seen that makes me crazy is when you are offered a product for say $29 and click not now, then you are offered it on the next page same site for $19, click not right now and then they say..OK here is my final price of $3.00. I say to myself.."This person has no credibility!" What about the person that was impatient and clicked the first offer..were they stupid or just ripped off?

[davejo99]

:(

Hi dehawkinz

On the whole I do agree with what you are saying.

However, recently I took up the offer of an OTO at one site ( I won't mention it for privacy reasons)

I basically upgraded to a "PRO" Member for half Price.

The Result was I made over $400 commission

Althougth I do Realise I would still be in Profit had I upgraded at the Normal Price.

Best

Dave

:(

[inge]

So far you've had several "agrees" and one example that an OTO has been good. Coincidence! :)
You generally have NO idea what the real offer is with OTOs. Their intention is to catch the user off-guard, and to give him an offer he "can't refuse".
One of the untruths about OTOs is that they are once only. I've had many of them several times after removing the cookies. If I don't accept cookies from the sites, they tend to come again and again - or disappear completely.

One word of pricing: The price of $19.95 is meant to give the impression that it has been squeezed down so much the customer HAS TO buy. My thought is that it has been raised to make it look that way.
A prize of $19.95 should really have been $10.
A prize of $399 should really have been $200.

About OTOs: When the price has been set to 50% and the seller makes 100% even then (for something that has no value) you should wonder: Is this an honest person that you would want to do business with?

[nsant46]

I totally agree whit you, deha...,
Noemi

[celticdreams]

I also agree.

I have never agreed to the OTO concept. I can understand a limited time offer (let's say within the first 2 weeks of joining a program) - that way, a new member has time to evaluate the program and see what their needs are.

[ronlwhit]

OK,

First of all the disclaimer - this is a personal point of view, and in no way bears any reflection on the views of StartXchange, or the Admin, nor do I claim any endorsement from either.

I am going to launch on one of my periodic rants against the accepted wisdom of too many internet marketers, so if you are easily offended, move on to another post :)

I joined a couple of programs today, I will not mention which ones to avoid embarassment to their owners, and was subjected to no less than 3 pages of One Time Offers (known in the trade as OTO).

So what is my objection to OTOs?
Because 99% of OTOs are shoved down the throats of new members who have just joined a program, have probably only a limited idea of the usefulness of the program, but the owner is wanting this new member to buy the offer of some unknown value. The stated value that the owner places is irrelevant as they are not yet proven.

What does this tell me about the owner? They have NO idea of what I want, why I joined their program,or even who I am.
Therefore I can only conclude that they are solely interested in parting me from the contents of my wallet, and have no interest in me or what I want.

I take a simple approach to OTOs on joining a program - IGNORE IT, you have proved your shallowness as an owner.

Incidentally I take the same approach in the real world, subject me to your mindless marketing, and I will give you the attention you deserve - NONE

PLEASE NOTE: I am not objecting to OTOs that are offered to members who have been a member for a period of time, and so have had a reasonable chance to assess the program, and its value to them. Indeed I have taken advantage of such offers.


OK, Rant over :)

DeHawkinz

K.I.S.S.
( keeping it short an sweet)
Amen,
The Strong Arm Sales Tactic's

Surf On,
Ron

[suryan]

Tim, if you are still showing that comparison page to the free members while surfing you should never need to use a OTO to entice members to upgrade. I haven't seen it since I upgraded ages ago but that was what got me to upgrade. Show me the numbers, and if they clearly indicate the benefits of upgrade it should work every time (if the member can afford it).
I loved seeing all the you earned so much from this and so much from that, but if you were upgraded member you would have earned this and that. The differences are astounding.

[xxclixxx]

Thanks for the reminder Su!

[pcgaru]

I totally agree, I have come across so many of them and it just wastes my time.
Thanks for bringing out.

Michael

[mrsdrake]

I just joined a new exchange today and was shown an OTO. I was tempted to take the offer because it was a great offer.

However, I think I will instead cancel my account with them.

Why?

There were so many typos and misspelled words in the OTO pages that I felt they just threw it together in a couple minutes. I don't want to be a member of a site with an owner like that. I want an owner that respects the members and takes time to proofread all the pages he puts on his site. Sloppy work will not encourage me to stay.

[suryan]

It could be that English is not the owner's native language and he/she is doing the best they can.

Or, you could be right and it's just sloppy work. ;)

Just thought I would point out another possible reason for the spelling errors.

[mrsdrake]

Yes, I thought of that. It would make sense, but there were other clues around the site. I'm going to give them a little time and see what happens. It's a fairly new site.

[inge]

It could be that English is not the owner's native language and he/she is doing the best they can.
....
Just thought I would point out another possible reason for the spelling errors.

Well, all the more reason to have it checked.
In a forum like this spelling errors and bad grammar is easily excused. On a website or CV or anywhere else where it counts for the impression it makes on readers, YES, I think it's sloppy work and I would have trouble trusting the person behind it.

Besides, some "foreign" people actually spell a lot better than most Americans! :)

[xxclixxx]

Besides, some "foreign" people actually spell a lot better than most Americans! :)

LOL I've received emails from "foreigners" correcting me before =P I think they might notice it even more because a second language you might not know so well, so if it's not worded correctly it might be way more confusing.

[lajab5]

Agree with this post. I'm about ready to quit on site I'm with...about once a week since I've joined (about 2 months ago) I get the "ONE" time offer, I just go to the bottom and ignore......not to big of a problem, just annoying.

[inge]

I joined another TE today (no need to say which one) and before I had even looked at it, they offered a year's upgrade for half price.
Probably a good and nice offer, but I hadn't tried the TE yet! The least you should expect was a chance to know its real value!
If the TE wasn't good enough, I would have all the trouble getting a refund, and how do you know you can trust them before you've had any kind of contact?
I wonder, do the OTOs work for anyone, or are they just as stupid and annoying as pop-ups etc. ?

[xxclixxx]

The OTO's make the owners of those exchanges LOTS of money. It's made me want to do similar, but I just have a different style I guess. I think many people purchase the OTO because they either know the owner from a previous website, or the person they were referred by convinced them of it's worth.

Me personally I'm in the same boat as you guys, I'd like to try it first before paying. But on the other hand these owners know they can make a good amount of money, and the members buying it are getting a big discount. Of course every kind of offer has the negative seller end, but the people I know doing it it's a great deal.

I also wonder about the "one time offers" that come up more than "one time". I wonder if it's a programming error, or if it's on purpose. Maybe I'll ask some owners.

Tim

[inge]

Whatever method you use, I think it's impossible to guarantee that it's sent only once. Even if you sign up, if you delete your cookies, change IP address etc., I beleive you can have the offer again. However, sometimes if you have signed up already, you won't be able to act on it without breaking some TOS.

[xxclixxx]

Well if it's done based on username, then you should only see it once as long as you have one account =P

[ameastre]

A good piece of advice that floats around says something along the lines of:
If it doesn't look like you care, then your customers won't either.

While I was originally reminded of that advice by the language reference (regardless of which language you type, proofread), it can also apply in many ways to OTOs and the sites that use them (good or bad).

One rare, but carefully done OTO, is far more profitable than a weekly to every login OTO.

[topflight]

Hi

I got mix emotions about OTO's. I have responded to some that were good and responded to some that made me feel stupid.

Try now to weed out the bad ones based on prior deals.

I use to work in a discount store, in the stock room handling recievings and placing price tags on the items. Everything was at least 500% mark up and sometimes 1000%

Some items that did not sale at low prices were placed on a different table and a sign placed on it with a higher price tag that said "marked down for quick sales" they usually sold out with this tactic.

[ask4gus]

Hi Ronwhit ,
I always thought that K.I.S.S. was short for KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID !
But maybe they are both correct.
In regards to OTO's . I agree with most of the comments here. They are really only cash grabs. I wonder if the site owners /Gurus have been peeking into some of the politicians manuals. For OTO substitute TAX grab's

[silverguru]

wow...we live and learn ;)

[jaz4u]

Please, please, please, join my community [removed] - I have only read a couple of Your posts and love your 'straightforward approach' - Your English is fine :)

I am creating this community from scratch and would love to have You as a community member!

[earthgifts]

I agree on the OTO thing. I think it would be fair if owners presented the OTO maybe a week after joining. This way people could "try on" the program first. If it's a good program, they may actually get MORE people willing to spend their money with them.

I joined a TE a couple weeks ago and took the OTO because it was one of the best deals I've seen in a long time, and after trying the program I think it was well worth it. I took a chance (which I don't usually do) and it paid off, however that's not the norm.

Oh and incorrect spelling is a pet peeve of mine too! It tells me the owner is not serious about his business, that he couldn't take the time to spell check, or have others proofread it first. I've passed up many programs just for that one reason. :(

[kerberos]

This way people could "try on" the program first. If it's a good program, they may actually get MORE people willing to spend their money with them. :(

Hi folks / Jackie

You said it, I would not in any way go for an "top Premium" subscription if I not knew anything about the program.
That happened to me the other day, I signed up to Magnify, got an OTO of $14.99 for highest premium account upgrade, I couldn't even dream of that the "normal" price was $29.99 :eek: a month, so I turned it down.
But after surfing there I kind of like the whole aspect and would like to upgrade, but NO WAY to that price, so my decision is and without breaking any rules, to delete my account there, and then sign up again.
This is not a bad thing to do I think because of the look of the OTO, there where no headlines og first lines telling me that I would never see this offer again, so a inexperienced person wouldn't even know that it was a OTO.
Another thing is that its a bad thing to offer such "low" prices on a monthly subscription I think, when other long term members pays $10 more a month...uhh.

Well anyway, you can say what you like...but this is how I handle OTO's :rolleyes:

Regards

Ole Rasmussen

[mysticblu1]

Pennies worth. OTO's anoy me as well. DOn't know what the product will do for me yet, but have to go from free try it out to buy it now is 1 second! What would be nice was that you can try in and in the first reasonable period have an option to upgrade at a discounted rate, AFTER you tried it. Like a Try It Offer (TIO). That would be an endorsement of the product as well. Some sites do it and I love it, and PROMOTE them to!