I first learned the “market test” concept from Jay Abraham. He had convinced a major publisher of financial newsletters to offer a dozen of them for, like, $19. Normally, each subscription would have separately cost as much as $200 or more. So this was giving away the farm.
The idea is that… if you really do have a great product , why not let your potential audience get a good taste of it? Then, basedon the obvious value delivered, you will pick up the customers at full price at renewal time.
This both appealed to and horrified the newsletter authors. Their egos insisted they really did have the best product, so of course they would be the ones getting the full board renewals. But their practical side also knew they would have to spend the entire “‘trial” period being at the top of their game… and they were competing against other experts just as qualified as they were.
Jay made a fortune off that idea — because he also introduced the concept of getting paid on a “royalty” of how much his market test ads mailed. And they mailed a lot. So he got a piece of the action. This was new territory back in the mid-eighties. Jay truly was a pioneer in marketing .
The “market test” goes way back in marketing history, however. Claude Hopkins talks about it, and many of the oldest ads on record offer such a trial.
However. .. you will notice in this one-page ad that there isn’t an actual trial period offered. Rather, it’s a money off test. And the explanation is given in detail in paragraph four. (I normally do not write such long paragraphs, but we had to combine several in this piece for space reasons. Better to cram the copy together a bit, than have to cut it.)
This really is a great deal, and it pulled in tons of names. What you have to do then is analyze the new customers over the course of the next couple of years. In many markets, “cheapies” that come onto your house list through bargain offers never ever can be convinced to pay full price . You will forever have to create deals for them. In other niche markets — where the “passion index” is high — it pays to bring in names at almost any cost… because once they see what you have, they will want it all. At any price.
Click here to see the “One-Time-Only Market Test” ad.
(It will open in a new window or tab, so you can toggle between the ad and Carlton’s commentary.)
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