Seth Godin released ‘Unleashing the Ideavirus’ for free download, however this book became an Amazon top seller, how is this possible?
Seth Godin’s ‘Unleashing the Ideavirus’ was cleverly released as a pdf file that was small enough to be emailed to other people. Seth Godin actively encouraged people to download the book and to share it with others, for free. ‘Unleashing the Ideavirus’ became the most downloaded e-book ever, with over 1 million downloads. The book then went on to become an Amazon bestseller.
So if it’s free why did people buy it?
Firstly, Seth Godin broke the mould by allowing people to share and download his hard work for free (remember the year 2000 was around the time that Napster got prosecuted), this would explain the popularity of the book. Some of these people may have bought the hard copy in order to support this novel approach to business, but not all of them. The e- book effectively acts as a free sample. People are more likely to download the book as it’s free. People are more likely to share the book because it’s free and also because it actually is a very good book. Furthermore, because the book is recommended by a friend or acquaintance, the recipient is more likely to read the book and so the cycle continues!. Secondly, there was no iPhone, no Kindle to read these books on, so the person that downloaded it had to read this on their computer, or to print off 197 pages. A hard copy of the book would allow the person to read the book anywhere and the presentation would be nicer. Genius!
If you can make money from a book that was free, surely you can make money with some free fudge? On my way past Windsor castle to the train station there is a tiny fudge shop. An extroverted man stands outside the fudge shop with a paddle pop waving pedestrian’s into the fudge shop to try a free sample. Inevitably persons are herded in like sheep to a slaughter and more often than not leave with a purchase of fudge. The fudge is freshly made and to a high quality so this tactic works. Furthermore, it’s a low involvement purchase that relies upon impulse buying. This tactic is also used by café’s with a hot pizza slice on a cold day etc.
Above we see that the free sample is used to stop the customer dead in their tracks and then to induce a sale. Free samples can also be used to sell a high involvement purchase or a service in order to get the sale over the line. For a high involvement purchase like a car, the free sample comes in the form of a test drive. The test drive relies on the puppy dog sales technique. Imagine I provide you with a puppy, ask you to name it, feed it, wash it, play with it and then after a week I ask for it back. Too late, you have bonded and have incorporate the puppy into your lifestyle. The test drive of a car hopes to do the same thing, with you envisaging your life with the new car. Services are effectively selling a promise. One of the best ways to showcase the service on offer is through a free limited trial, depending on the service. Again, the trial is used to negate apprehension from the consumer’s behalf in order to induce a sale.
What about those restaurants that provide free mints and chocolates as they hand you the bill, surely that’s free? Well, guess again. Studies have actually proven that the chocolates provided with the bill actually lead to a higher tip as the customer feels they have received something for free and thus are more generous with their tip.
Proverbs stand the test of time for a reason….
There is no such thing as a free lunch
