Forum Moderators: buckworks
Currently I'm offering a "free widget" to my customers. Basically they purchase a widget and get a coupon good for an equal value on a future purchase. I'm getting a lot of hits on the word "free" but it is people looking to make their own widgets. Do any of you have suggestions of how I could word the free offer without using the word "free?"
Thanks for any suggestions!
Bonus
Bonus Coupon
Buy 1 widget, and your next widget's on us
Special offer
Gratis.
On the House.
I think being specific is best whenever possible. "Special Offer" will still generate a lot of curiosity clicks, I suspect.
Slap up some banners, or AdSense or something on that page. The traffic may be more or less worthless from the POV of sales, so just use the volume, and make that bandwidth pay
The word "Free" has some magic in it
Win, Save and Free. These are three words that always increase clickthroughs.
And I'm not sure how regional this term is, but a LOT of people on the southwestern U.S., at any rate, refer to all sorts of "buy one, get one" deals as BOGOs in everyday conversation... Never encountered it in the midwest, though. Just a thought...
Thanks for the suggestions. I did modify my keywords so I'll have to wait and see how this affects traffic. I agree about "free" increasing click throughs but with the widgets I'm selling it is the design itself that people are interested in. So it is likely people using the word "free" in their search are not looking to purchase the widgets but rather to make similar looking widgets themselves.
Thanks again!
Seriously, there are a few stores that use this terminology in their print and TV advertisements, so some customers will be familiar w/ them.
I agree with the others - definitely try to capitalise on the traffic somehow - certainly dont cut it off.
Is there anyway you could cater for what these people are coming to your site looking for? If you ran a brick and mortar widget shop and people arrived asking for blue widgets all the time, but you didnt stock them, what would you do?
Put a big sign in the window saying, "we dont stock blue widgets" or put some blue widgets up for sale? ;) Expand and diversify!
Scott :)
I actually saw a store do this, and shook my head everytime I passed it, 6 months later they were gone.
Actually, the type of sites where these people do purchase things are the suppliers of products sold to make widgets. It is an extremely popular hobby so successful websites dealing with "supplies" do show galleries of completed widget designs on their sites, list the products needed to create them and then sell the supply widgets to the customers. My site, on the other hand, is trying to sell the completed widget that I create in an alternative fashion. People searching for "free widget designs" would be looking for ideas to copy using their stock of widget-making supplies. That is the reason I wanted to change my keywords to try to decrease this type of traffic.
I have diversified into three other product lines using similar technical skills to create these products and I'm finally getting orders for them. I am doing very well locally so the slow startup of the online business is okay.
Thanks again for the comments!
Currently I'm offering a "free widget" to my customers. Basically they purchase a widget and get a coupon good for an equal value on a future purchase. I'm getting a lot of hits on the word "free" but it is people looking to make their own widgets. Do any of you have suggestions of how I could word the free offer without using the word "free?"
IMO, don't change a thing unless the clickthroughs on "free" are from paid / PPC listings. everyone wants something for nothing and "free" is the best way to get people to your site. at worst, those coming through on "free" use a bit of bandwidth etc - but getting them in means they could buy on impulse. if they are coming in from PPC listings, change your listings to be more accurate.
IMO, don't change a thing unless the clickthroughs on "free" are from paid / PPC listings
Crazy_Fool brings up an excellent point. There have been times when I thought "hey, I could just make one myself", and I'll even start searching for patters/templates/etc. Then reality hits ;)
You could also do an article on making widgets, from the "easier said than done" point of view, and how it is actually much more cost effective to buy them (from you, of course!) than it is to make them. You could likely convert some of that "free" traffic into actual paying customers.
And even without that, I would be willing to bet at least a few of your customers became paying customers because they surfed in looking for "free". Or they may remember you when they try and make it themselves, and discover it actually wasn't as easy as expected.
[edited by: TallTroll at 2:12 pm (utc) on July 21, 2003]
[edit reason] typo [/edit]
