Why don't people trust Freebies?

“Nothing is ever free,
though to you it be.
Somewhere, somehow,
someone paid.”


- Roger W. Hancock

I think there are so many free things out there that people just do not want to deal with the idea that payment might come in the form of spam, advertising, having your contact details shared with every marketing agency on the planet.

(I think there is certainly a place for free things)

Forums come to mind, but over all I think your correct, people think that free means that there is so little value attached to it that its not worth the consideration of time.

FREE often implies that the product in question has little to no value. My philosophy is why give something away for free when you can honestly sell the same product. $1-20 front end products are good enough, plus they build your buyers list...the only list that matters.

It's called "perceived value"


A family bought a new fridge. Their old fridge was still working but they didn't need it so they put it out on the curb with a big sign on it that said "FREE".

The next day it was still there. The day after that it was still there. Three days later the man's wife finally complains about the fridge cluttering up the yard.

So the man went out and put a new sign on the fridge "Used Fridge For Sale $100".

It was stolen that night.

So can anyone make users pay for a citation/directory?

Most marketers give away freebies just to get leads and then pummel them with offers until the subscriber either buys or unsubscribes.

But if you give something away that is good enough to sell and then follow up with even more value and honestly try to help people achieve their goals, then they're much more likely to buy the products you promote to them in the future.

Great Responses here...love the story of the refrigerator.

In this day and age...its a defense mechanism to be skeptical about free. After all..nothing is really free and if it is...then you have feed it later

However, you can overcome this "objection" by being honest, sincere and transparent. People can see these traits a mile away and then will gladly take your free items and pay for more.

Best of luck to you,
Cheers,
-Terrance

Most of the time freebies aren't free. You need to give your email address for the "freebie".

Also, most of the time when something is given away it's a very generic plr. As Derrick mentioned above it's all about the followup. Most marketers do it wrong. Once you sign up for the freebie you get spammed by them everyday with terrible solo ads and other affiliate offers.

I would rather have a list of 100 buyers vs. 1000 freebie seekers.

Some dont like freebies because there maybe something harmful to them that would come with it. For example taking of personal information, malwares etc. There are just some who are scared and why give it for free if many will benefit from it.

Sadly, there's usually a catch. Things are rarely given away without the giver wanting something in return - a prospect's e-mail address if the sign up on a squeeze page, for example.

Hey allegandro,

It is just all perception in the Consumer's eyes .

People just automatically think it cannot be of Value because it is free.

Your job as a Marketer is to educate them that there is !!



- Robert Andrew

It has nothing to do with trusting freebies. It's about the source of said freebie being perceived as trustworthy.

It's called human nature.

The same reason why someone needs proof before they give you
their money, it's the same way they need PROOF that your freebie
is worth their TIME getting it.

So never give away freebies. Give away things of value for free.
In other words you have to sell your 'give aways' as though they
cost money and then say, "Surprise! You get it for free!"

-Ray Edwards

There's no free meals

Marketers have polluted the market so much with crappy freebies that the general IM population would not even give their email address to get a free product now.

However, there's always place for value. I would totally download something for free from a marketer which i trust.

Cheers,

C.G.

Sometimes you simply don't want or need something, free or not.

Some people really want a small luxury then just no cost product.

I don't trust many of these mega-bonus freebies that you see being offered...

From what I have seen a lot of freebies, especially graphics, is pirated material (or material that violates the original license agreement).

Cheers

-don

there is a lot of factors that go into this:

Do you convey: honesty, trust, competency, authority, likeability
Are you meeting a need - does your freebie meet the need
Is your site professional - does it look scammy
Are you over hyping the value of your lead magnet
Are you failing to explain why its free and why its still of value
Are you giving too much away
Is it the wrong type of freebie you are giving away
Do you have a system in place to maximise people who take your freebie, visit your site but don't take your offering.
Does your lead magnet drive people back to you and your site.

and that's off the top of my head, you've then got the marketers are confusing reciprocity with permission marketing, the fact that the market is saturated with worthless freebies and an audience that is becoming immune to the freebie factor are all making it harder even for reputable marketing.

The web is driving sales techniques forward to the past and if you embrace this then you build trust, authority, competency and the rest of the factors that are important to get people to start a relationship with you.

I feel sometimea people don't trust a free product because they feel that it won't be as good of quality as a paid product. Alot of people give old information that is not working anyone away as a free product so people tend to lose trust in freebies