Eben Pagen's moving the free line (too far!) - Observations on a recent test

Its hard to expect ppl to come back and download the rest of the book.. Its just like what happen to double opt in.. Ppl were just lazy.. Its our nature..
If It was eben, hw will give away his entire book and expect them to back for more after they finish the book. Then he will put advertisement in it.. Something like.. "Subscribe to my Newsletter to get more bla bla bla... in the end of every chapter or??.. I dont know..

Any thought? Would love to hear more

Dear Richard,

Here's my take on it. I heard a lot of debate about this technique and ultimately, the purpose is to prove your credibility to as many people as possible with actual demonstration of the value you provide. The second step thereafter is to build the relationship, again with actual demonstration of the value you provide.

Hence, the first step of moving the freeline involves syndicating your value to as many people as possible. Hence, this could be giving excerpts of your book for free (or the whole book, depending on your preference) on as many online channels possible.

My observation is that Eben achieves this through content sharing sites (like YouTube) and then instructs them to opt in. Hence, the opt-in process doesn't change. There is still a capture system. The goal also remains unchanged, to get opt-ins.

Secondly, the content used to push the freeline is designed for consumption. In the case of Rich Schefren, he made sure his reports has enough copy to keep it exciting for the reader to devour the whole thing, all 133 pages of it. I would prefer to do this using video or audio to make it easy to consume.

Be Well,
- Tian Yan

I think this is the latest craze that is overrated.

everyone talks about Eben Pagan and moving the free line. Well he made his rep from doubleyourdating.com.

Where is all the free stuff "How To" stuff that is given away ?

Can you find it? I can't. Maybe I'm missing something.

After you get "The kiss test" which is a great tip I suppose and gets people to opt-in, where is the rest of all the free stuff?

Keep giving free and people will buy. Where is it? The email followups are stories and testimonials. Not free "How To" information.

Giving free "how to" information only conditions people to expect things for free. If you then send followup emails with nothing free, these people bolt off your list.

Another guru, Mike Filsaime is another example. Where is the free stuff?? His followup emails NEVER give anything for free. Just recommendations for his or affiliate products.

Giving away something for free in exchange for contact information is nothing new. That's how we were all taught to get leads online from day 1.

The only time I have seen gurus give away free "how to" info is when it supports the sale of a product that guru is selling.

Frank Kern gave away a video on his blog about how to make an opt-in page and start building a list, but he wasn't selling a "How to build a list product". He got questions from people stating this is why they may not buy his mass control, for fear it would not work for them because they had no list. So he solved that problem for them because it would support sales of what he was selling.

The other free material was case studies, and entertaining things...never any "how to" info.

Here's the thing: most people don't read books.

Even if they sign up and request one... hell, even if they pay good money for one... they're still not all that likely to read it.

So giving away a few chapters of a books rarely works as a marketing tool.

The times I've seen it work are when the marketing campaign & book were designed as one and the book is in fact a marketing piece in it's own right.

E.g. it gives useful but incomplete information and actually sells you on buying the rest of the book, or it's a "sample" of the book and teases you with the real content.

Well said Kevin.Give them value first.They will soon follow.Also TELL them to optin if they want to receive more valuable information.

I think I know why your test giveaway had the reverse effect. It was not the size of the giveaway, it was the psychology behind the offer.

Look at it another way; your first offer addresses the subconscious with "get the whole thing right now", whereas the other one said, "you can only have a little bit now, and then if you give me something, you can have the rest."

It's the way the mind works. "Get it now" and "free!" is an impulse drive, not a logically thought out drive. You get people to join a list with impulse; if you make them stick around long enough to *think* about it, you've lost them.

Whereas purchase is more often the result of consideration.

This is why the best squeeze pages are so often minimal, the best sales pages huge, and why the two processes are separated. Once they are on the list, you then change gear and get them to "consider" things.

Alex.