TIME-SENSITIVE! Here's an interesting product launch to watch

[MrPhelps]

Most product launches are pretty ho-hum these days.

But here's one that's worth watching. The pre-launch started today (Mon, 9/13), and the actual launch is Wed 9/15.

http://su.pr/9bsXPZ

There's a book named "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely where he talks about a very interesting phenomenon whereby if you present three purchase options to someone and they have a specific kind of relationship, around 75% of the people will pick the most expensive option.

This guy, CJ Parker, played around and figured out how to make this approach work with online sales. This product is a report and something else that discusses his findings.

I'm not sure how this could apply to offline marketing. If anybody decides to buy the report, I'd love to set up a little group to discuss how to employ the methods he's teaching.

-David

[DavidCarrington]

I got this product about 8 or 10 days ago. It's a 21 page report and a few graphics.

It's about how to create "upsells" based on having 3 offers - "Good, Better or Best". Then how to make it EASY for MOST (like 96%) of the visitors to buy your BEST (most expensive) offer.

It would be REALLY EASY to apply it to offline marketing.

Here's a simple example:

"Good" Offer: Get their business listed on Google Maps - $499.99

"Better" Offer: Get their business listed on Google Maps and Yahoo Maps - $749.99

"Best" Offer: Get their business listed on Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, Yelp, BOTW and get them 10 NEW PR 4 (or higher) backlinks a month - $750 (plus $50/mo).

[MrPhelps]

I got this product about 8 or 10 days ago. It's a 21 page report and a few graphics.

This report was originally put up as a WSO for about a week two months ago, and to my knowledge has not been offered since. And that report was 60 pages or so.

I saw where another marketer is also selling something along similar lines recently. I'm sure we'll see several copy-cats.

If you read Ariely's book, you'll see that this is NOT what his research was about. That's not to say this approach won't work, but it's not what CJ's report is about, as far as I know.

There's nothing "irrational" about this example. It's classic product positioning.

Ariely discovered that when the offers in question bear a certain relationship to each other, and are not merely "bigger offers at lower cost" like this example, then people will tend to go in one particular direction about 75% of the time (or more).

The example he started out with was the one from the site of "The Economist" magazine.

They were getting $120 a year for print subscriptions. Subscriptions were falling off, and they decided to start selling DIGITAL subscriptions to the same material for $59. Consumers did what consumers do when presented with two substantially identical offers where one is priced less than half of the other -- about 90% started to choose the digital-only option. In other words, the digital subscriptions started to cannibalize their print subscriptions, which really killed their overall profitability.

This created a problem for the magazine. The cost of maintaining their printing facilities was fixed; as print subs dropped, and the price of those subs fell, their profits fell at a faster rate due to the fixed overhead. Furthermore, digital subs generated lower revenues, but did nothing to cut their actual costs. They also found that subscription rates did not increase -- they simply shifted to a lower-priced option.

Then their marketing guy did something on a whim. He offered both the digital AND the print subscription for the same price as the print subscription alone.

Curiously, consumers shifted their buying patterns instantly. Nearly 80% started to pick the new combination offer. Not only that, but subscription rates INCREASED.

Ariely identified this as an example of very irrational behavior on the part of consumers. Looking at either the digital option or the print option, and the effects they had on subscriber rates, there's nothing to explain why consumers would shift their buying habits en mass, or even why the subscription rates would even increase.

I forget if it was that example or others, but tests were run where the first offer was offered followed by an upsell (one-time offer) for the second one for just the price difference. They didn't do much more than 10%-15%. Also, this approach tends to be very price sensitive.

-David

[MrPhelps]

CJ has just delayed his launch another day b/c he found someone had posted a pre-release copy of the report on a pirate site and is selling it to their own members.

Does that suck or what?

-David

[DavidCarrington]

What I have was being sold on WF starting on 7/7/10 and up until 9/14/10 here:

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...-equation.html

It must not be the same as what you are talking about as this one is only 21 pages BUT IT IS by C J Parker

[MrPhelps]

Looks like that's probably it. You're right. (I'm not impressed with his launch. I really don't like "blind" launches like this where they get the resellers to promote it but nobody really knows what it is until it launches. And there have been two delays for various reasons.)

Anyway, it wouldn't surprize me to see a bunch of copycats show up. Ariely has sold a LOT of copies of his book.

If you work out the math based on Ariely's research, it's pretty impressive. The trick is to figure out how to translate that into a viable online offer.

You probably don't need CJ's info for that. Just a copy of Ariely's book, which is now out in paperback.

[BradyIrvine]

I signed up for CJ's program. I liked his salesletter and offer of helping to create bonuses for my information products. (Yes I "fell for" the upsell with the continuity program) It is fairly basic so far, it comes with some templates and videos and stuff which I haven't really spent much time with. The membership site finally launched today but hasn't been populated with any information yet. It promises among other things to do a detailed review of a marketing book every month.

[MrPhelps]

It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds. I hope there's some real value there for you.

-David

[BradyIrvine]

Well I'm certainly willing to share/discuss any portions of it that any of you are interested in.