Chapter 6 The importance of having an offer

What exactly is an offer?

Your offer is basically the end user benefit, that is what your prospect will get in return
for doing what you ask. This may be something highly tangible such as a consumable (a case of
wine, a book or an item of clothing for example). On the other hand, your customer may not be
buying a tangible product at all, but something that gives a feeling of security (such as an
insurance policy).

The promise of a solution to a problem

If you have the solution to a specific problem, and you do not have lots of competitors
offering similar solutions, you may merely need to tell people they can buy this from you.

A specific promotional device

Such a device might be timed and include incentives or discounts. For example, some
companies make ‘early bird’ offers where the prospect is offered a discount or free gift if they
order by a certain date.

Quality – the best available

If you use this claim, make sure that quality is important to your prospects. It would not
be worth making such an offer to a group of prospects that buy solely on price. Therefore, it may
be worth segmenting your customers and varying your offers according to their buying
behaviour.

Value – best at this price

This works well for many marketers – just make sure you can sustain your price or even reduce
it further when the competition reacts.

Availability – ‘only from ourselves’

If you have exclusivity on a product which is in demand, you may not need to make any more
detailed offer than ‘Now available from . . .’.

Reassurance
Every advertiser tries to persuade you that theirs is the best product on the market. As a result,
advertisers’ claims are devalued by prospects. However, if you can quote a credible third party
endorsing your claims, it is much more believable.

Added value
Customers also respond well to offers of help. So telephone helplines and free advisory
booklets can be very successful.

Better performance or technical superiority

This is another area where testimonials help you achieve greater credibility. Everyone expects
you to say that your product is the best, and to a certain extent your statements are discounted.
Promotional offers
When discussing offers, many people think only of discounts and ‘buy one get one free’
approaches. These are certainly offers, but, as we have seen, not the only ones.

Using prize draws and competitions

Prize draws have been working well for many years. Many people like the chance of
winning something, especially when all they have to do is send you their name and address.

Competitions
There are two major differences between a prize draw and a competition. A competition
requires the entrant to satisfy some test of skill, although this often requires minimal intelligence.
Competitions can be used to ensure that a customer pays close attention to a catalogue
or leaflet. A typical example would be where a mail order company asks entrants to match
silhouettes with photographs in the various sections of their catalogue.

Using incentives in marketing

There are two main ways of using incentives – in return for a purchase and in return for
a trial. The former works quite well in consumer marketing, but less well in marketing to large
businesses.
Many businesses and all public offices and government departments will flatly refuse to
accept any form of consideration in return for placing orders, but, whilst this can be understood,
a sensible seller can often find a way of offering an inducement which does not contravene the
regulations in force.

Balancing response, conversion and long-term positioning

Every business would like to improve the cost-efficiency of its marketing budget, and, as we
shall see in Chapter 10, there are numerous devices that will increase response. In your quest
for more cost-efficiency, be aware that although making powerful offers will increase the
response you attract:
 generating response is only the first step, even if you sell direct and a response is an
order
 the eventual profitability of a direct marketing business depends on total customer
satisfaction with your product and your promises – repeat sales are generally a highly
important factor given the cost of acquiring new business
 it is therefore highly dangerous to over-stimulate prospects and indeed to over-promise
regarding the quality and benefits of your product
 unless your product lives up to the claims, you will suffer in three ways – you will have a
higher than expected level of returned orders; you will not be able to sell additional
products to disappointed customers in the future; and dissatisfied customers will each
tell several people, losing you an unknown amount of future business.

As mentioned earlier, offering incentives in return for enquiries will increase your enquiry
levels and reduce your conversion ratio. There is no set rule about this. You need to test in your
own market place and find an offer that produces the best balance for your own business.