Need Advice: Free or Paid as first offer?

[jeffczyz]

I'm preparing for my product launch of TopSellerCoaching.com in October. I've gone back and forth at least a half a dozen times on whether to offer a free membership with an OTO upgrade or go with a paid membership and a OTO.

If I went with a Free membership, my concern is that displaying the oto after initial signup would not give subscribers the chance to view the content and make a decision to buy based on previous experience. So low conversions, BUT, I would be building a list with a chance to upsell later. The free members would automatically become affiliates.

If I went with a Paid membership and OTO, I could provide a mini-course as an optin, provide the same content as the free membership, but I wouldn't have any of the free members becoming affiliates. The only way to promote would be to become a paid member.

Can anyone provide some recommendations as to which method would be better?

Jeff

[Ernie Lonardo]

Offering free stuff is great in certain circumstances, but with a membership site, i think paid is the way to go.

You're in this to make money right?

If you give them one option and that's to pay, they will pay.

I think you should make it paid and concentrate all your efforts on building pre-launch buzz and promotion.

[jeffczyz]

Ernie,

Thanks for the feedback. If I stay away from the free membership, when launch time comes, should I still offer a free mini course for those that are waffling on purchase or do you think that will take away from those that may have normally purchased?

[Ernie Lonardo]

Yes offering a free ecourse too is a good idea, and that way you can promote your paid membership URL in every email you send out (the free course emails I mean).

[dmorgan]

The money is in the list, you have probably heard that a thousand times. I would give them a FREE offer to get them on your list and then sell them after that.

[jeffczyz]

Dan,

I definitely want to build my list but with the membership site script I'm using, if I create a free membership I have to show the oto after they signup.

If I give them a free mini course through optin from the paid membership sales page I'm concerned I may lose sales.

So do I give away the mini course prelaunch and then stop after launch?

[Ernie Lonardo]

Why not launch 2 sites.

Site 1 = the paid membership site then you have a OTO for a higher priced product

Site 2 = the free email course - people optin in for a free ecourse (you build a list) and you could make it daily or weekly ecourse so your emailing them regular short free tips via email and then have your paid membership site URL promoted in every free course email you send out.

You can have the free ecourse outsourced and put it on autopilot and it will promote your paid membership site on autopilot

[Chris_Willow]

You can offer a $1 trial for 1 month.
People get to check out your stuff and usually forget to unsubscribe...

Chris

[jeffczyz]

That's an interesting idea and I may use that for another offer. For this one, I think I want to stick to either a free or full paid. ah decisions, decisions.

SO let me pose this question. If you were a JV or affiliate, would you rather promote a product that:

1) Had a paid page (and OTO after purchase) BUT had a free entry point/optin.
2) A free membership with a OTO to upgrade to paid
3) OR a Paid page, no free giveaway and a OTO.

After all, without Affiliates and JV's many products would never get launched and I want to do what's right for them, as well as myself.

[dmorgan]

The bottom line is building your list! Giving away FREE stuff will build it more quickly. You may lose out on some sales, yes. But, your list will grow faster and that is key. Your list will also like and trust you because you gave them something of quality for FREE, therefore many of them will buy from you over and over in the future. Here is a FREE ebook for you that will help with building your list, enjoy.