Can too many bonuses hurt?

by 19 replies
22
I found that as a consumer I often hold back by too many bonuses. Let's consider late campaign by Bill Glazer about his book Outrageous Advertising.

Does Bill has a HUGE reputation for success. Yes, he does.
Would I buy his book? Sure, I'll do.
Would I pay a few extra bucks to buy from the author instead from Amazon? Yes, I would.

But I already reached for my credit card and got stuck...

His list of bonuses from other marketers, his own and Dan Kennedy's stuff... Huge. Enormous. And you know what? No matter how good all this is, I wont make a single cent if I'll spend my life reading about what others do instead of doing it myself. Right?

I simply don't have time for all those bonuses. I have to work on my own business.

By the way, that's why I hate video craze. I know it sells, but it steals my time. I can skim a report in far shorter time than I have to spend watching video where a couple of idiots... sorry, great Internet marketing gurus kick each other, giggle like schoolgirls and boast about how much they made instead of getting to the point...

I mean, I know bonuses and video sells, but it actually STOPs me in a lot of cases.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #bonuses #hurt
















  • Too many bonuses make me wonder about the real value of the product. I mean come on if the product is going to teach me about...say driving traffic to my blog with articles, then why do I need to get a bonus related to writing and submitting articles, isn't the product complete?

    I know that a large portion of the bonuses are usually stacked on by an affiliate. The purpose is to grab the sale from me rather than another affiliate getting the commission. And heck who doesn't like a freebie? But, be real 800 terabytes of bonuses?

    JMHO
    • [2] replies
    • Yep, that too. If I am buying a washer and they insist I take the dryer free, I would wonder, if the price of the washer is really what I am paying. There are still reasonable limits at "moving the free line"

      :-) Exactly!

      But I can't! A lot of them are videos on their sites today. Unless I am willing to download all of them using FF plugin for later viewing and dedicate tons of disk space for that, I have to use them reasonably soon in a matter of days, and I have other more important plans for those days. It's almost like bonuses are trying to steal my time from me. Feels real bad.
    • I think that when I see bonuses that are valued higher then the price of the product it makes me go Hummm.

      I have also found that the majority of the bonuses that are being given away are either outdated or are some forum of continuty program. So I have been rather turned off by alot of the offers.
      • [1] reply
  • If the bonus ties in with the original offer and add value. No problem, but I've come
    across up to 26 bonusses on one salespage.
    My question is how many affiliate links - distractions is hidden in that bonussess?
    Use your own discretion. I usually google extensively the main product and each and everyone of the bonusses offered and draw up the good old list of pro and cons before the credit card comes out. I also check if I do'nt already have a similar e-book or software that is lying around gathering dust.
    It takes some time but well worth the effort. There is also some great bonusses out there. You must just know how to fish them out.
  • Bonuses have gotten out of hand.
    People offer bonuses to product owners, just so they can not only increase the size of their own list but just gain exposure of their product.
    So, what happens is a lot of bonuses are being offered that don't really relate to the main product, or that the bonus being offered is just another cheap ebook of theirs and not an actual functional product. They end up offering just the front end.

    Bonuses should have a functional & have the ability to be implemented & make sense to the initial offer. People are offering so many bonuses that makes the overall product not even worth it.
  • My personal rule of thumb is that if I see more than 3 bonuses my mouse races for the back button.

    Too many bonuses really do drag down the suppossed value of the original product in the prospects mind ie: "Is he adding all this extra stuff to make up for lack of quality in the main product" or "Maybe these bonuses are just shortcut links to other peoples optin pages and Ill end up being on the list of another 10 marketers that I've never even heard of and have no credibility standing with me" etc etc ...
  • In short, yes, I think they can. They devalue the actual product.
  • Awhile back when I was ghostwriting, a big name marketer contacted me because he was getting so many refunds. He needed help sorting it out so I went through the whole process to see why people weren't happy (he came to me thinking it was only the product).

    While his product was all over the place - not tightly woven together, his list of 50-100 bonuses was the biggest turn off IMO. Page after page of downloads. Made me feel like I'd gone to a flea market.

    Give me a good product and 1-3 short but relevant bonus items that complement the original product perfectly and I'm onboard.

    Tiff
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • I was talking with a few friends today about this topic. One of the other trends that we are really disliking a great deal is when the bonus are for the first 50, 100+ to sign up.

      My one friend wanted the bonus from one of these offers he had out his credit card and quick fill information ready for the launch at 1pm. He sat at his computer watch the timer count down. He literally had everything completed within a couple minutes of the launch being opened. He was sure that he was going to be one of the first 500 people. Well he didn't get the bonus and said he would never buy anything that ever gives that kind of offer again.
  • The only way to know if bonuses increase/decrease conversions on your offers is to TEST.

    Everything else is just opinion.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • It seems like I am on the same page with most people on this thread. Still surprising that big gurus don't see it the same way. Considering that they DO test, who are those they sell their IM products to, if that's not people like Warrior forum members?

    OnePlusOne: technically, you are right, but testing is not that cheap. I'd rather be starting from something working on most cases, and then testing if my market is weird for some reason and requires something different. Also, with bonuses there are so many different options, that right testing is very hard. You may pile up 50 bonuses, test, and you may decide that bonuses don't work, but throw them away, add ONE right bonus and it may work better than those 50 and no bonuses at all. How do you handle that?
  • Yes. Too many bonuses turn me off.

    And I want high quality *relevant* bonuses. My time is scarce as it is, which by the way does not mean I am busy - 2 different things. I could be enjoying the sun by the pool
  • This is actually something that I did a webinar on recently. Creating a real perceived value in your offer is a fine-art.

    If you overload your products and bonuses and offer it at too cheap a price then you make your products seem worthless. This can tarnish any future promotions and marketing activities with your target market.

    This is more prevalent in the IM and MMO industry but at the end of the day you have to make your products valuable and as such, in demand. If your bonuses do not add value to your main offer then (in my opinion) leave them out of your main offer.

    If you have a ton of bonuses that are legitimate additions to the package and add value then use them in upsells and downsells.

    As a rule of thumb, I tend to offer no more than 3 bonuses for every main element of a main offer otherwise your bonuses can overshadow your main offer and again, reduce the perceived value of your main offer.

    Just 2c from many years of testing...

    All the best

    Sean
  • Thank you, Sean! That's very close to my own thoughts.

    But I still wonder, why all the big shots still do that? They even have a name for it, "pile the value", I believe. Apparently, they are very successful. So, what's happening? Are they successful for other reasons and despite doing this part wrong, or do they market to some other audience/niche, that we are not aware off?
  • I think that too many bonuses hurt your product sales because if you are offering like 20 very exciting bonuses then your product is gonna get lost in that and the buyer may not even use what he bought from you because the bonus is working for him and he is not interested in any more messing around.

    • [1] reply
    • Doesn't the qualifier "too many" make the answer crystal clear? :p


      Seriously though, you have to do your own tests if you want to optimize your offer(s). The opinions, test results, etc. of others are a starting point at best.
  • I think bonuses are good to a point, you want to keep them related to the product. But it's not good to give too many because it makes the main product look cheap in the consumers eyes. But not all feel this way some will purchase the product just to get the bonuses.

    So maybe a 1-3 bonuses that should be efficient try and get bonuses that can help the main product. That always helps!

    Good luck to ya!
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 22

    Can too many bonuses hurt?

    I found that as a consumer I often hold back by too many bonuses. Let's consider late campaign by Bill Glazer about his book Outrageous Advertising. Does Bill has a HUGE reputation for success. Yes, he does.