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The Eight Components of

Irresistible Direct Response Offers
By Clayton Makepeace,
Billion-Dollar Marketer, Publisher and Editor, The Total Package
Dear Business-Builder,

Let’s take a look at one of the most often-

overlooked and under-appreciated part of every
direct response promotion: The offer.

The way I see it, “The Offer” is much, much

more than the price you’re charging for your
product or service. In fact, I count EIGHT major
components that great offers share — and we’re
going to take a detailed look at ALL of them in
this issue.

This is crucial stuff: While most market-

ers and copywriters spend most of their time
developing major themes, headlines and
opening copy, we often sleepwalk through the copy that showcases
the offer.

We’re all guilty of it -- and that’s a big, BIG boo-boo: A compelling

offer can easily boost response and average sale amount by 20 percent, 30
percent or even more!

In contrast, an ill-conceived offer can depress or even kill response --

and it can also drive your fulfillment costs into the stratosphere, leaving your
ROI in the dirt.

So grab a cup-o-Joe and get comfortable. Unless I miss my guess, just

thinking about the offers you make on the Internet, in direct mail, in print
and in your TV and radio promotions is about to add big bucks to your
bottom line.

Welcome to the days of ...

“But Wait --There’s MORE!”
In the old days, merchants and customers hammered out most
purchases face to face. The buyer haggled for the best price and asked the
merchant to sweeten the pot by adding something extra.

The 8 Components of Irresistible Direct Response Offers

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The advent of mass marketing changed all that, of course. Today, direct
response consumers are accustomed to having your best offer presented to
them on a silver platter.

And now as never before, the pressure is ON. With every passing day,
our prospects are exposed to ever-more-amazing offers — especially on TV,
in the mail and on the Internet.

Click on your TV and you’re likely to see Vince Offer hawking ShamWow
— and tossing in a second set of the strangely-absorbent material for free.
Or Anthony Sullivan — complete with British accent — cutting his price in
half by giving you two Swivel Sweepers for the price of one — AND adding
two mini-sweepers to sweeten the deal.

It’s getting ridiculouser and ridiculouser.

When I first launched Health & Healing back in the early 1990s, we
offered a total of four free gifts: Two with your one-year subscription, one
more if you signed up for two years, and one more if you responded within
ten days.

I submitted sales copy for a health newsletter that offered a total of

SEVENTEEN free gifts!

What’s that you say? You don’t sell cleaning cloths, sweepers or health
newsletters?

Doesn’t matter. The simple truth is that your prospects are being
conditioned to expect the moon — not just by your competitors, but by
every direct response marketer out there. Any marketer who ignores this
sea change in consumer attitudes does so at his own peril.

What’s more, if the number of free gifts prospects expect you to offer
has more than quadrupled, the rest of every great offer has also become
more intense and complex.

Anatomy of a Power-Packed Direct Response Offer

Just about every great offer you’ll see is comprised of eight major
components:

1. Rationale: Great offers begin with a clear, credible explanation of

why you’re about to give away the farm.

Maybe it’s a “Special Introductory Offer:” You’re so sure that once the pros-
pect experiences the benefits your product provides, he’ll be a customer for life.

Or, maybe you’re so worried about a current or impending crisis in his

The 8 Components of Irresistible Direct Response Offers

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health, finances, happiness, — whatever — that giving him all this good stuff
is the only ethical thing an ethical person like you could possibly do.

Whatever your rationale for the amazing, astonishing, truly spectacular

offer you’re about to make, put it up in lights!

Better yet, use it to position yourself as a concerned advocate and your

new customer’s greatest champion.

2. Discount: Several things to think about here ...

 IRST: It’s important to establish your regular price and make it

F
seem like a really good value.

To make your regular price believable, specifics are crucial.

 ell your prospect where your product has been offered or sold for full
T
price or even how many thousands of folks have paid the full price
for the product. (In his Internet promotions, one of my buddies even
includes a link that opens a separate Web page on which the product
is offered at full price!)

 hen, demonstrate why even at full price your product is a scream-

T
ing deal. Show how your product will save them or make them many
times your regular price.

 ECOND: Present your discount in a way that dimensionalizes your

S
role as your prospect’s advocate and champion.

 fter stating and justifying the regular price, I often say something
A
like, “But it’s so crucial that you get this help now, I don’t want you to
have to pay that much ...”

 ow BIG a discount should you offer? In cases when my client

H
allows me to establish pricing, I always go for the 50% Introductory
Discount.


“You SAVE HALF!” and “HALF-PRICE OFFER” and “HALF-OFF!” have
great visceral appeal. Anything else feels kind of stingy -- anything
more strains credulity.

 HIRD: Take the time to marvel at the piddling amount the prospect
T
will pay. Here again, comparisons will serve you well.


When possible, quantify the monetary benefits the product will deliver
and compare it with the almost insignificant price.

 reak the regular price down to a daily or weekly figure and compare it
B
with something far more trivial that they spend more on without even

The 8 Components of Irresistible Direct Response Offers

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thinking about the expense: A gallon of gas, a cup of Starbucks, etc.

3. Purchase Options: Depending on what you’re selling, determining

how many purchase options you offer the customer can be a thorny decision
to make.

The key is to offer a low-end price point that will get you maximum
numbers of new customers, PLUS one or more higher price points to
increase your average sale and return on investment.

In the newsletter industry for example, we typically offer a one-year

and two-year subscription. (As a rule, the two-year subscription costs
somewhere around 1.8 times more than the one-year subscription. That
gives prospects a strong incentive to choose a two-year subscription.)
On some occasions, a three-year option is also offered, usually as an
impulse item: “Join me for two years for just $179 and get a third year for
just $19.95!”

When selling nutritional supplements, I’ve found that a maximum of

three quantity options is generally best. Prospects may be invited to order a
one-year supply, a six-month supply or a three-month supply, for example.

The key here is to avoid presenting prospects with too many

choices. Your chances of losing the sale increase with every extra second
your prospect spends trying to decide which offer to go for.

4. Payment Terms: For most of my clients’ new customer acquisition

promotions, cash with order is king. But once a year or so, I also work with
Boardroom on a “bill-me” promotion.

On the other hand, when crafting promotions for my clients’ customer

files, I often consider other types of payment plans -- here are just a few
options you may want to consider ...

 ayment Plan: When your key price point -- the level at which most
P
of your customers will respond -- is relatively rich for prospects’
blood, consider a “ThreePay” or “FourPay” offer.

 ou collect the credit card number with the order, then bang it for
Y
one-third or one-fourth of the total amount each month for three or
four months.

 doing so, you effectively lower the perceived price point in your
By
prospect’s mind and should appreciably increase response.

“’Til Forbid:” When your products are delivered regularly -- weekly

or monthly for example, this can be a great way to go.

The 8 Components of Irresistible Direct Response Offers

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 ou collect the credit card information up front and then bill the card
Y
at regular intervals (monthly is most common) until the customer tells
you to stop.

 egative Option: You’ve seen this kind of offer most frequently in

N
book club and CD club promotions.


Each month, the customer is notified of the “Monthly Selection” and
an “Alternate Selection.” At that point, one of three things happens:

I f he fails to respond, the Monthly Selection is automatically sent and

his credit card is billed.

 he indicates he would rather have the Alternate Selection, it is sent

If
and his credit card is billed.
 nd if he indicates that he does not want any selection that month,
A
nothing is sent and his credit card is not billed.

 he key advantage to all three of these offer types is that each one
T
lowers the perceived price point.


Instead of signing up for $348- worth of books per year for example,
the prospect perceives he is only signing up for $29 per month.

5. Premiums: These are the free gifts that prospects receive along with
the product they are purchasing.

Typically, in newsletter offers, premiums are timely special reports that

provide important information and advice on topics closely related to the
theme of the promotion.

Why are special reports such great premiums? Two reasons:

 A) T
 imely special reports that can promise tremendous profit
potential have a far higher perceived value than a hard-cover book
(perceived value: $29.95) or any other free gift you could possibly
offer, and ...

 B) P
 rinted reports cost only pennies to print and mail, and they can be
delivered as PDFs or e-Books on the Internet for free!

When chosing the topics for the premiums you offer, it’s important to
make sure that each one emphasizes and clarifies your main theme and/or
your product’s USP.

It’s also crucial to create a premium structure that makes the highest-
priced purchase option far and away the most appealing to the prospect.

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In a campaign for an investment newsletter we just completed, our main

theme focused on tremendous opportunities in natural resource stocks —
gold stocks in particular — and our main premium was a list of the editor’s
seven hottest gold stocks.

Two-year subscribers were offered additional reports listing the seven

hottest silver and platinum stocks ... the seven greatest energy stocks ...
and the seven best alternative energy stocks to buy now.

Prospects were faced with the choice of getting one free gift with a
one-year subscription or FOUR free gifts with a two-year sign-up: A real
no-brainer if you ask me -- especially since they take no risk whatsoever
with your super-duper ...
6. Guarantee: The stronger your guarantee, the better. One year
guarantees tend to be the most common today. However, I have written
Rodale promotions in which you could return a book at anytime in your
lifetime for a full refund!
Cheaping out is the biggest blunder you can make in a guarantee. Offer
a 60-day or 90-day guarantee and you’re going to get a blizzard of refund
requests two or three months out.
Delay your customer’s decision date for a year, and you’ll find that
refunds fall precipitously.
Whenever possible, tie your guarantee to your product’s performance.
Set a specific benchamark: “XYZ will double your money in gold stocks every
three months, or just let me know and I’ll refund every penny you paid.”
In cases where you have significant production costs -- or when there’s
a temptation for shady customers to take advantage of your generosity and
get your product for free -- you may need to require that the prospect return
the product or “the unused portion” in order to exercise his right to a refund.
If on the other hand, you’re selling something that costs very little to
produce -- a newsletter, for example -- you’re better off telling prospects
that in the unlikely event they decide to cancel, they can keep everything
they’ve received from you completely without cost or further obligation.
7. Urgency Premiums: Prospects earn these additional free gifts by
responding quickly to your offer.
Typically, these “Early-Bird” gifts are given to anyone who responds
within 10 days. However, in Internet promotions, they can be for anyone
who orders in the next ten minutes!
And I’ve used another type of urgency premium very successfully over

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the years ...

See, I figure that time is the essence: Every second that passes after
I’ve presented my offer is an opportunity for my prospect to bail out on me.
Normally, in my direct mail promotions, some 60 to 80 percent of my
orders arrive by telephone. That means 20 to 40 percent of my prospects
are ordering by snail mail.
And that means they have to take time to fill out the order form, detach
it, fold it, put it in the envelope and drop it into a mailbox.

Now, I’m willing to bet that significant numbers of prospects get part of
the way through that process and then fail to follow through. In short, I sold
them, but I’m not getting their orders.
The truth is, I do NOT want them to order by mail. So why not offer an
extra premium for using the phone instead?

Combining a 10-day “Early Bird” bonus PLUS an extra bonus to

incentivize folks to order by phone has been a key component of some of
my biggest winners ever.

8. Fulfillment Considerations: We Americans are not known for our

patience. Instant gratification is big for us.

Giving out our credit card info and then cooling our heels for four to six
weeks stinks -- and I’m willing to bet that millions of sales are killed every
year in this country simply because the prospect assumes it’ll be a coon’s
age before his product and free gifts arrive.

So if you can deliver faster, why not shout it from the rooftops?
I have a client who ships his product the very next business day. And
I have reams of testimonials from customers who were amazed that their
product arrived just three or four days after they ordered it.

Think I mention THAT little gem of a fact in my promotions for him?

You bet your bippy I do!

Also: If you’re not charging for shipping & handling of your product or
premiums, why not put THAT up in lights? In an industry that routinely
charges $6.95 or even more for S&H, your customers will love you for it!

Get OUT of the Offer Box!

A few months ago, as I was happily reviewing the results a new control
had produced on its first outing, I had an idea.

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Funny how many little stones can accumulate in your shoes before you
notice -- but as I looked over the piece, I realized that one of the premiums
had been bothering me all along. Reason: It had almost no connection at all
with the product or the main premium.

I quickly called the client and suggested a test: “Panel A” would be the
control as-is -- WITH the oddball premium, and “Panel B” would be the
control WITHOUT it.

To my surprise, Panel B won in a landslide. Not only did eliminating that

premium lower our fulfillment cost, it also increased our response rate and
average sale!

Turns out, the “HUH?” factor had been turning folks off!
The moral of the story: Always test your offers! Allocate cells in every
roll-out to test at least one component of your offer. Test a stronger, longer,
more specific guarantee ... new titles for your premiums ... higher and lower
price points ... new payment options ... the works.

I’ll betcha dollars to donuts you’ll be thrilled with the results!

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

P.S. If you haven’t already, go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com to sign

up for more response-boosting strategies for growth obsessed marketers
and business owners.

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www.MakepeaceTotalPackage.com - 800-827-0940 (U.S.) or 828-456-9277 (Int’l)