Ramp & Ratchet Profits...
Ron Popeil: A good case can be made for him being the king of the 30-minute infomercial.
He was the best at what he did, and what he did was sell like a madman. In 40 years of television advertising his infomericals and 1-2 minute spots sold over two billion dollars of product. Ron used what I call the ramping and ratcheting technique to sell every product he offered. He would shock you with an initial suggested cost for his product, then ramp down the price--and ratchet up the benefits. The very best vendors in the IM niche all use some form of this technique on their sales pages. Why?--It works!
The key to using this technique for a product is to shock the reader initially with a high suggested value for the product. Then, while ramping down the price, ratchet up the benefits. Eventually the reader is driven to buy. It works! Let's look at a transcript I put together for one of Ron's ads.
Ron begins by offering his basic kitchen knife set which consists of his premier knife. His helper states, "If you went down to a department store, this knife would cost you at least $100." Now, I've never seen a knife costing $100 in any department store I've ever been in, but he establishes that as the par value right out of the gate to implant sticker shock in your mind. The assistant continues...
"But with Ron, you know you're not going to pay one hundred dollars--you're not going to pay seventy dollars, you're not going to pay sixty dollars. How would you like to own this knife for three easy payments of only thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents?"
Pardon the pun, but Ron is sharp. He uses his patented phrase, "This knife, all by itself, sells for $100. But if you'll help us advertise it, by telling a friend--we'll sell it for only three easy payments of only thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents!"
To be honest, the $13.37 is probably more than you would normally pay for this knife, but by establishing the subjective par value of $100 early in the show, you feel you are getting a real deal. This is what I mean by ramping down the price.
Then Ron continues by adding knife after knife and maintaining the three easy payments of thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents. Here is a sportsman's knife, a garnishing knife, poultry shears, a professional carving knife, a saw knife, a chop-and-serve chopping knife, a bread and bagel knife, a chef's knife, a cleaver, two paring knifes, a large filet knife, a boning knife, a cheese knife, eight steak knives, a flavor injector and sharpener. Again, Ron establishes a subjective par value of each knife in the set and tells the viewer that the cost of the entire set, sold individually, is over eight-hundred dollars!
Ron shocks you with the total cost of the individual pricing, but then ramps the price down to the $39 final price. "But with Ron, you know you're not going to pay one hundred dollars--you're not going to pay seventy dollars, you're not going to pay sixty dollars. How would you like to own this set for three easy payments of only thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents?"
You get the idea. The psychology of this technique is powerful. How many times have you seen a vendor offer a dozen PLR books with their product claiming that every one of the PLR thingies retails for $197 or some ridiculous number like that? But if done right, if the vendor says the books have a suggested retail price of say $37 each, then it becomes almost believable. Again, this stuff works!
My only caution is not to use hyperbole in your claims for the retail value of bonus items. When I see a person selling a $27 ebook and claiming they are giving away $1,997 in bonuses--I keep asking myself, "Why don't they trash the main ebook and just sell the bonuses?"
You know what I mean.
He was the best at what he did, and what he did was sell like a madman. In 40 years of television advertising his infomericals and 1-2 minute spots sold over two billion dollars of product. Ron used what I call the ramping and ratcheting technique to sell every product he offered. He would shock you with an initial suggested cost for his product, then ramp down the price--and ratchet up the benefits. The very best vendors in the IM niche all use some form of this technique on their sales pages. Why?--It works!
The key to using this technique for a product is to shock the reader initially with a high suggested value for the product. Then, while ramping down the price, ratchet up the benefits. Eventually the reader is driven to buy. It works! Let's look at a transcript I put together for one of Ron's ads.
Ron begins by offering his basic kitchen knife set which consists of his premier knife. His helper states, "If you went down to a department store, this knife would cost you at least $100." Now, I've never seen a knife costing $100 in any department store I've ever been in, but he establishes that as the par value right out of the gate to implant sticker shock in your mind. The assistant continues...
"But with Ron, you know you're not going to pay one hundred dollars--you're not going to pay seventy dollars, you're not going to pay sixty dollars. How would you like to own this knife for three easy payments of only thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents?"
Pardon the pun, but Ron is sharp. He uses his patented phrase, "This knife, all by itself, sells for $100. But if you'll help us advertise it, by telling a friend--we'll sell it for only three easy payments of only thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents!"
To be honest, the $13.37 is probably more than you would normally pay for this knife, but by establishing the subjective par value of $100 early in the show, you feel you are getting a real deal. This is what I mean by ramping down the price.
Then Ron continues by adding knife after knife and maintaining the three easy payments of thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents. Here is a sportsman's knife, a garnishing knife, poultry shears, a professional carving knife, a saw knife, a chop-and-serve chopping knife, a bread and bagel knife, a chef's knife, a cleaver, two paring knifes, a large filet knife, a boning knife, a cheese knife, eight steak knives, a flavor injector and sharpener. Again, Ron establishes a subjective par value of each knife in the set and tells the viewer that the cost of the entire set, sold individually, is over eight-hundred dollars!
Ron shocks you with the total cost of the individual pricing, but then ramps the price down to the $39 final price. "But with Ron, you know you're not going to pay one hundred dollars--you're not going to pay seventy dollars, you're not going to pay sixty dollars. How would you like to own this set for three easy payments of only thirteen dollars and thirty-seven cents?"
You get the idea. The psychology of this technique is powerful. How many times have you seen a vendor offer a dozen PLR books with their product claiming that every one of the PLR thingies retails for $197 or some ridiculous number like that? But if done right, if the vendor says the books have a suggested retail price of say $37 each, then it becomes almost believable. Again, this stuff works!
My only caution is not to use hyperbole in your claims for the retail value of bonus items. When I see a person selling a $27 ebook and claiming they are giving away $1,997 in bonuses--I keep asking myself, "Why don't they trash the main ebook and just sell the bonuses?"
You know what I mean.