Opinion: Just a Thought

The dream of every direct response advertiser is to acquire not just a sale but a loyal client. It's one of the reasons that a payout for a sale to station partners can be higher then the sales price of an item itself. It's all about the upsale.

An upsale during the initial purchase and ongoing upsales afterwards. Sometimes, however, the idea of the upsale is wishful thinking. Repeat phone calls from telemarketers are perceived as a form of harassment and avoided, mail is thrown in the junk bin and email goes straight to spam.

It's a lofty goal to get an upsale on the first call and while it does happen, a longer term strategy is necessary.

We propose the idea of the freebie. When a client makes an initial purchase they receive a credit towards a future one. This may require enrollment in a free club. Now the client is engaged. They have money with the marketer to redeem. The marketer has already determined a sales price that takes into consideration the virtual credit received. The first-time client is then presented with ways to redeem their points or credit.

It's important that incoming phone calls have a correct caller ID and emails are appropriately titled so that clients know who is contacting them and respond.

Knowing they have a (type of) funds to retrieve, clients will be much more likely to not ignore future marketing attempts and the likelihood of an up sale will increase exponentially.

enzo@directresponse.tv