SURVEY MAGIC
Send this report to me by auto-responder
If you're a netrepreneur like me, you're always looking for promotion ideas that really
work. Here's one that worked for me. It is not original. But very few
ideas in this world are. If you're interested in a case study that you might want to
copy, read on.
SURVEY ON WHAT?
When I first started promoting my web site, I thought about a survey. I'd read that
they can be an effective way to collect leads. But, survey on what? Suddenly,
it hit me. Why not ask people how to promote my product? This is not a
commercial, so I won't tell you what my product is. Let's say it's bedpans. A
survey on "Bedpan Marketing". Sounds ridiculous, but stay with me.
I made up a series of questions. Some were multiple choice. Some were fill in
the blanks. Your imagination is probably already telling you what type of questions.
What type of bedpan do you
prefer? What is your favorite color? How much do you spend for your bedpans?
Ever bought any on the Internet? You get the idea . . . The survey form
was added to my web site.
AN INCENTIVE
To get people to fill out the survey (which, of course included their e-mail address), I
needed some incentive. I used my primary product. I offered each of the first
30 people to fill out the survey a free bedpan. They could choose their color,
finish, etc. I also offered a free bedpan to the winner of a drawing to be held on
October 31st (about six weeks after the ad appeared). Everyone was promised an
e-mail with the results of the survey by November
15th.
PROMOTION
How to promote it? I used Kingdom Classifieds (http://www.interking.com).
Three reasons. Their ads are full page, inexpensive and (most
important) they "promote" each ad as a separate web site to all the popular
search engines. Unfortunately, they don't pay commissions for referrals. Dang
the bad luck!!
I tried a couple of other promotions. I posted a notice on Compuserve. I tried
two or three other classified ad sites.
DID IT WORK?
I was astonished, to say the least. The day after the ad appeared in Kingdom
Classifieds, I got 99 completed surveys in my e-mail box. I got the 30 free bedpan
winners in the first three hours! In the six weeks up to October 31st, I received
355 completed surveys. Virtually all came from the Kingdom Classifieds ad.
Yes, it worked.
HOW MUCH DID IT COST?
Well, ignoring my time (that's free, right?), about $182. The free bedpans cost me
about $60, including payment to my fulfillment company who sends them out. The
postage was about $90 ($3.00 per bedpan) and the shipping boxes cost 86 cents each.
The Kingdom Classified ad cost $6.00.
IS IT WORTH IT?
I think so. I have 355 interested leads, so far. Of the 30 free bedpan
winners, seven have sent me glowing testimonials so far. These are all on my web
site now. I will use them in all my other promotions. All 355 of these people
are getting follow-up e-mails from me about every three weeks.
Oh, and not incidentally, I have an interesting consensus on how to market bedpans on the
Internet -- how much to charge for them, the favorite colors, etc. I did tabulate
the results and sent a summary to everyone who participated.
MISTAKES?
Yes, we learn from them, too, don't we? Remember the drawing for the free bedpan and
the 30 free ones to the first surveys? Well, I sent the 324 people who didn't get a
freebie a message congratulating them on winning SECOND PRIZE. They could buy a
bedpan at the reduced price of $39.95. Not cool. I got several
"flames" saying that a "prize" should be something free, not costing
$40. Two people bought one, but the "flames" outnumbered the sales about 4
to 1. Needless to say, the flamers were removed from my prospect list.
WHAT NEXT?
The Kingdom Classifieds ad is running again. I changed it around, offering the
Second, Third and Fourth place drawings a "two for the price of one" deal.
No free bedpans for the first 30 this time. In the first two days after the
ad came up, I had 106 responses. I plan to keep doing it and refining
the ad every 6 weeks or so. Not as snappy a response as the first one, but plenty
good enough. I expect them to continue to float in at a reduced rate for the next
five weeks until the January drawing.
Each response gets added to my follow-up list, which is automated to send up to seven
follow-up messages to the list on a predetermined schedule. All the real experts on
Internet Marketing say an opt-in list of prospects like this is "internet gold".
I accept this on faith. It sure beats spamming.
This was my first experience with anything like this. It produced a better response
than anything else I have tried. If I can do it, so can you. Best of luck with
your marketing efforts.
Bill Henderson is President of Websites 2000, an Internet Marketing Consulting firm.
Sites he designed and promotes include http://www.websites4art.com
and http://www.christianity2000.net
>From 1978 to 1998, he founded and ran a successful software publishing firm in San
Antonio. He can be contacted at: mailto:websites@stic.net.
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