{"id":2026,"date":"2017-08-08T08:18:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T12:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/creativethirst.com\/blog\/?p=2026"},"modified":"2023-04-23T14:27:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T18:27:39","slug":"free-plus-shipping-offer-psychology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativethirst.com\/blog\/free-plus-shipping-offer-psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology of a Free Plus Shipping Offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

FREE is a magic selling word.<\/p>\n

It gets people interested.<\/p>\n

And the word FREE gets people hooked.<\/p>\n

First, it can be used to get your visitor hooked into hearing your offer.<\/p>\n

Second, it can be used to hook them into buying.<\/p>\n

Let me explain. Your sales page can get the visitor over the hurdle of buying by intensify their desire for your product. Then the magic FREE word can be presented after they already want it.<\/p>\n

Because if you already want something, getting it FREE is just more desirable. That is if you trust there are no strings attached.<\/p>\n

But how do you give something away for FREE and stay in business?<\/p>\n

Nutritional health supplement businesses actually do this all the time.<\/p>\n

One way is by attaching a payment to a FREE offer.<\/p>\n

Wait Then is it REALLY FREE?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Bare with me a moment.<\/p>\n

You see, the actual product is FREE, but you have to pay for shipping.<\/p>\n

This is a traditional free plus shipping offer.<\/p>\n

To learn more about offers read the article – The 3 Most Important Elements of a Health Sales Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Again with a Free Plus Shipping Offer you\u2019re just charging the customer the shipping price (or shipping and handling) and the price of the actual product is indeed legitimately FREE.<\/p>\n

The product is usually a low ticket item. The expense of that front-end free plus shipping offer is off-set with other products. That second product can be immediate, as in the case of a one time offer (OTO) up-sell, or it can be later through a follow-up email or other marketing communication.<\/p>\n

But is it Really Free if you Have to Pay Shipping?<\/b><\/h2>\n

You see free plus shipping offers online all the time for a trial bottle of a natural health supplement.<\/p>\n

But is it a bait and switch?<\/p>\n

No it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

A bait and switch is when something is presented as an apparent bargain, with the intention of substituting an inferior or more expensive product instead. Bait and switch is illegal. So don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

A free plus shipping offer is just that. The product is actually FREE but the shipping is not. You still get the actual product offered, not a substitute.<\/p>\n

Why Free Plus Shipping Offers Work<\/b><\/h2>\n

One of the main reasons these offers work is because of the psychological power of FREE.<\/p>\n

Roger Dooley<\/a>, author of Brainfluence and The Persuasion Slide , says:<\/p>\n

\u201cFREE! is more powerful than any rational economic analysis would suggest.\u201c\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

And research conducted by Dan Ariely (a Duke behavioral economist) shows us that \u201cFREE\u201d is far more effective than \u201calmost free.\u201d In his classic experiment free chocolate kisses beat extremely low bargain priced chocolate truffles.<\/p>\n

Professor Ariely attributes the preference for \u201cfree\u201d even when the rational choice would be the bargain item to an aversion to loss.<\/p>\n

In essence, a free item carries no risk.<\/p>\n

Another reason free plus shipping offers work is because the offer itself, frames the price towards shipping.<\/p>\n

Framing a Free Plus Shipping Offer<\/b><\/h2>\n

A frame describes the boundaries around something.<\/p>\n

It’s a way in which we filter the perceptions of our world based on our mental map.<\/p>\n

According to Nero Linguistic Programming (NLP), framing is a type of emotional amplifier or de-amplifier, which works by rebuilding or correcting links in your limbic system between your amygdala and your hippocampus.<\/p>\n

By shifting the frame towards paying shipping, the buyer psychologically dismisses the shipping price and gravitates toward the irresistible magnetic attraction of FREE.<\/p>\n

The Economic Reason These Free Offers Work<\/b><\/h2>\n

The real reason they work economically is because of the added forced subscription that comes with a free plus shipping nutritional health supplement trial bottle.<\/p>\n

The offer works like this: You get one bottle of this supplement free, if you just pay shipping and in 30 days you\u2019ll automatically get another bottle at full price and every month thereafter.<\/p>\n

This built in continuity makes the economics of the offer work because you\u2019re going to collect the full price in month two from a portion of your buyers. Plus those that do stick, usually stay for about three or four months on average, before canceling. Some even go on to buy other backend products from you.<\/p>\n

But please build in continuity ethically.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t try to hide the fact that they will be charged for a full bottle next month.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just unethical and you\u2019ll be on a quick path to a bunch of pissed off customers. The result will be almost all of them won\u2019t stick around and you\u2019ll lose a lot of backend revenue that you would have gotten from being honest.<\/p>\n

Some ways to be upfront about it include:<\/p>\n