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The One Time Offer
By SherryD | July 6, 2009
Topics: one time offers | No Comments »
A One Time Offer (OTO) is an opportunity presented to a buyer or prospect during the sales process. It is an upsell related to something that has already occurred.
The One Time Offer is generally a page presented when the customer has already indicated they are open to doing business with you. They have already completed at least one act, such as purchasing a product or signing up for a membership, etc.
What adds to the effectiveness of the One Time Offer is the time pressure. Words such as “This page will never be seen again”, or a count down clock on the page add to the sense of urgency the customer has to act.
The best time to present a One Time Offer is when the customer or prospect has already opened their mind to doing business with you, which is generally immediately following the initial sale. This is when you have the opportunity to present them with an additional choice, which should be complementary to what they have already purchased.
The One Time Offer should be priced lower than the item already purchased, or present a significant savings, such as a major discount on an upgrade of a membership. It is easier for the prospect to consider something that costs less than what they originally committed to. Beware though, there is a fine line between convincing with an OTO, and getting your prospects defenses up.
A good One Time Offer will be closely related to the original material. It could be video or audio versions of an eBook or written course. A report, which adds value to the original material, or additional units of the same material is another option. It could also be something that complements the original purchase, such as a course on email marketing for an autoresponder signup, or pre-written email content.
Use caution with OTOs that come across as being the “secret” to making the original offer work. If you’ve just sold your customer on a system by convincing them that the product will perform X,Y and Z, and then tell them, look, it will to do that, but you also need this piece to actually achieve what was promised, you are asking for that customer to back out of the original deal. The customer’s trust is shaken if not broken. There is a big difference between offering personal attention to help them succeed faster and telling them they didn’t receive all that would make the product effective in the original sale.
One Time Offers should not be part of a GiveAway or signup process. Sign them up to your list. Then use the list as a marketing tool. It is better to offer a co-registration of some sort than to hammer through a sale before the customer has had a chance to get comfortable with the fact that they’ve just handed over their email address to you.
How unique your One Time Offer is also comes into play. Ask yourself something. If you and 10 other marketers are promoting a new launch, how good are the chances that the person you are selling to is on more than one of those email lists? So where then is the effectiveness of the accompanying OTO if you are all making the same OTO?
I’ve seen a few marketers that take pains to re-write the sales email and add unique benefits if someone signs up through them. I’ve seen others where the exact same copy and subject line of the initial promotion has come through multiple times. Knowing there will be a OTO attached, I now have the opportunity to view it once, and come back to it through someone else’s link if the first is no longer available. Those who have dealt with OTOs know enough to clear their cache and cookies before heading to the next offering.
As always, test, test and test some more. Different niches and even different one time offers respond in their own unique way.
To Your Success,
SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com
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