Have Giveaways Had Their Day?

Hello again.

Like many information marketers, I've been participating in a lot of giveway events lately, with pretty good results, I must say.

The point of a giveaway, for you as a JV partner, is to add names to your list by contributing a gift (or several gifts, if you upgrade) and requiring people to give you their name and email in exchange for the download.

So, all you need is a product you can give away, a squeeze page and a download page. Then, in exchange for adding your gift, you promote the giveaway to your existing contacts.

So, it's quite easy. And, as I say, results have been pretty good.

But has the giveaway peaked? Recently, I've noticed more and more people willingly signing up for the free gift, only to unsubscribe as soon as they get it. At the moment, that's running at about 20% of signups. Others just use a temporary email which they then delete, so subsequent messages from me are bounced.

So, I imagine this is a widespread phenomenon. Whether the number of people joining giveaways and downloading stuff has plateaud, or whether the word has got around that this is the best way to cash in, I don't know.

But I do know several ways to improve the situation:

• Give better gifts. Wow visitors with the quality of what you offer so they're more likely to stick with you.
• Always have a link in your product that encourages them to resubscribe. Make a point of asking for their primary email.
• Use a double opt-in so people can't just give you a fake email address to start with.
• Make your gift a course or other continuity program, so they have to stick with you.

Remember, marketing is a numbers game, but an untargeted list isn't such a great asset as a small, targeted one will be. The ones who stick with you when they see what you really offer will be the ones you can build a profitable relationship with in the longer term.

I'm going to keep using giveaways - and I'm going to be offering better and better gifts to make sure they work!

Roy