Killing Free Stuff With Greed

We remember when we first started hunting on-line for free stuff. That was way back in 1995 and boy, oh boy the pickings were good. Times sure have changed. Unfortunately, there is a virus that is growing in free stuff hunting that threatens to one day ruin it for everyone. That virus is greed and we decided it was time to write an article about it. Please stay with us on this because it is important if you like free stuff and want to keep it available to everyone for years to come. Read on....

stop free stuff greed Back in the day (funny how old folks like us love to use that expression) freebies were so plentiful that you couldn't find the time to apply for them all. Even if you stayed up all night...every night. We're really not kidding here. Our mailbox was constantly stuffed to the brim with every kind of promotional offer under the sun. We're talking about some really cool stuff too, like full size product samples, top of the line tennis shoes, t-shirts, sweatshirts, audio CD's and much more. This was in addition to hundreds of promo knick knacks like stickers, posters, bookmarks, lighters and the like. One time we even received a remote control car valued at over $150.00! In one stretch from 1997 to the middle of 1999 we didn't buy any shampoo for the entire family because we got it all online, in the form of samples, from various companies for free. We couldn't believe our good fortune and decided to start a Web site to spread the word, and the wealth with other like minded freebie junkies.

Then in late 1999 and early 2000 the dot com bust hit full force and the gold mine looked to be played out a bit. We were still able to get some cool stuff, but not the beggars bounty we were used to. Around the middle of 2002 the pickings started to get better again as consolidation took hold on the Internet along with a new flood of brave souls creating startup ventures online. From then up to the latter part of 2004, we snared a good helping of great freebies. So what on earth you ask does any of the above have to do with the subject of this article...in other words greed?

2005 - the beginning of the end? In all of that timeline above, the companies that we received free stuff from were giving it away for one specific reason. It is the same reason you still see people handing out free samples in your local super market. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing. It's a time honored tool for companies to use in their arsenal to attract customers for new or improved products. The premise is very simple (or was), give customers a free sample of our product to try...and if they like it...they'll go out and buy it. However, the Internet is not your local super market...and there is where greed began to shake things up for all of us.

As an example in marketing 101, lets say a company is promoting a new candy bar and decides to give away free samples in a heavily trafficked super market. How many would you guess they could give away in one day? 200, 500, 1000, even 5000? Since we used to work in the marketing business, we can tell you that 5000 is a real stretch, even for the biggest of super markets. However, for the sake of this example, lets say they managed to give away 5000. Now lets say their cost of each sample was 3 cents. 3 cents x 5000 = $150.00. Not a bad investment to reach a target audience with a new product. But wait, they have to pay someone to stand there all day and give the stuff out right? Lets say they hire someone to do that for $10.00 an hour and they work the store for 8 hours. $10.00 x 8 hours = $80.00. Now we have a cost of $150.00 + $80.00 which equals a total of $230.00. Still not a bad investment. That's why you still see these people in your store on a constant basis...it's cheap and it works.

Now lets compare the same company giving that same sample away on the Internet. Should be cheaper right? There is no one to pay to give the stuff out. Their only cost is for the product and they already have that anyway. In fact, they wouldn't have to worry at all about someone working for only 8 hours...the Internet is open 24/7. Ok, lets take a look at the numbers.

The company puts up a Web page offering the free candy bar. Lets say they are a medium sized company and their Web site averages 5,000 visitors a day. How many of those 5,000 visitors would you say would apply for the free sample? 100, 500, 1000, all 5000?

Before you answer that, think about how you surf the Internet and how much different it is than shopping at a super market. In a super market, you've come to shop for a lot of different products. Your attention is spread among those products along with anything else that crosses your path while you're there...other people...the kids...that grumpy old guy in front of you at the deli counter etc.. etc... You may not even see or come in contact with the person giving away the free candy bar samples...and if junior is having one of his days, you'll see the free candy and run as fast as you can in the other direction! We've all been there.

Now think about how you surf the Internet. You click on a companies link (or type in their URL) because you specifically want to visit their site and view information about their products. There are no distractions, no grumpy old men, no kids to track down...in fact you're probably sitting at your computer in your jammies with a cup of coffee (or something more exotic) as comfortable as can be. Our point is, your attention is directed only to that companies web site.

Ok, remember the company has put up a free sample page and they get around 5000 visits a day to their site. Now how many of those 5,000 visitors would you say would apply for the free sample? 100, 500, 1000, all 5000? If you guessed closer to the 5000 number, you were right on the money. Since Internet surfers are specifically visiting a Web site for that sites content, they are honed in. If the site does a good job promoting the free sample offer, the better part of their daily visitors will take advantage of it.

Alright, now the numbers. We already know that the candy sample costs the company 3 cents so 5000 x 3 cents still equals $150.00. So far so good. This Internet thing is alright (the company says). But wait, in the super market the person handing out the free samples did just that...handed them to you. You either ate it there or took it home. But on the Internet the company would have to ship the sample to you. Standard bulk mail rates for anything of any size is about 55 cents. 55 cents x 5000 = $2,750.00 + $150 = $2,900.00. Ra Row Rastro (sorry, but we just love the Jetsons), this Internet thing is starting to get a little expensive (the company says). See where we're going here yet? The companies cost for their free sample campaign just went from $230.00 (super market) to a whopping $2,900.00 (Internet) for the same 5000 units! (BTW, there are a significant amount of additional costs associated with offering samples online. Employees to package and mail the samples out, cost of building the Web page etc.. etc..) And finally...here is where greed comes into full play...

We all know that many of those 5000 visitors to that company web site are going to e-mail their friends and family about this great free candy offer. In addition, every free stuff site (well the good ones anyway) will pick the offer up within minutes of it going live online. In fact, many company Webmasters will unwittingly contact free stuff sites the first time they run a campaign like this and request that it be listed. After all, how could even more traffic for the free offer not be a good thing right? Nine times out of ten, they do this prior to the offer going live. OK, now watch what happens to the numbers (you may want to take a valium before reading this as it is sure to blow your mind). We won't even concern ourselves with the e-mails sent out by visitors to the site because as you'll see, that's small potatoes.

Lets say that only 20 premier free stuff sites (there are over 5,000 free stuff sites online worldwide) get a hold of the free sample offer (either by the company offering it to them or by picking it up themselves). A premier free stuff site will average between 50,000 (top end) and 2,500 (bottom end) visitors a day. Everyone of these sites has a "New Offers" page that is the hottest most visited page on their site. Lets take an average of 7,500 visits per day for each of the 20 sites. That means that the companies offer will now be seen by over 150,000 people a day, 7,500 x 20 = 150,000. Lets take a guess as to how many of the 150,000 viewers will click on the free sample links and actually apply for the offer. We'll be extremely conservative and say 15% will. 150,000 x 15% = 22,500. Using the cost figures above we get the following totals: 22,500 x *58 cents (*product 3 cents + shipping 55 cents) = $13,050.00. That's a day folks! (Told you you'd need a valium). If the company left the sample offer up for a full month their cost would average out to around $217,500.00 (using this formula: 22,500 visits per first 10 days, 10,000 visits per second 10 days, 5,000 visits per last 10 days of month). Again, as hard as it is to believe, these numbers are very conservative. As you can see, it is extremely expensive for companies to offer free stuff on the Internet. It is also why many sample offers only last minutes instead of days, weeks or months. Only the largest, most well healed companies can afford to sustain a long free sample campaign.

Now we get to the real crux of why greed threatens to kill off free stuff on the Internet completely. With the figures above in mind, we're sure that common sense will tell you that most smaller companies can not afford to offer (totally) free samples. In fact, we have known companies to actually go out of business due to an ill-fated free sample campaign. Even the most cash rich companies are starting to rethink these marketing plans...but not for the reason you may think. They are rethinking not because of per sample unit costs, they can afford to live with that as a cost of doing business, they are rethinking them because they are being abused. Companies are more than happy to send out one free sample per household. They can even live with you, aunt Jane, Grandma Shirley and your uncle Jim on the other coast getting one...as long as it's only one per household. Why? Because it fits their marketing plan...remember "give customers a free sample of our product to try...and if they like it...they'll go out and buy it". Product sales are what actually pays for a free sample campaign. The company is gambling that customers will be so happy trying the sample that they will buy it long term.

Unfortunately, a few bad apples (freebie junkies) are on the verge of spoiling the whole barrel (free stuff) for the rest of us. With the use of multiple free e-mail services and by cloaking shipping addresses, these gluttons visit a companies Web site 5, 10 even twenty times and apply for the same offer over and over and over again. That might not seem too bad at first glance however, you've just seen how numbers can add up lightning quick. If companies continue to have to fight off these multiple requests, adding additional costs and sometimes ruining a marketing campaign in it's entirety, they are sooner or later going to just give up and try a new, less expensive approach. Please don't think it can't happen. We constantly hear people complaining about how free stuff isn't really free anymore. How companies have started to attach shipping and handling costs to free offers. How huge numbers of "free - with participation" offers have cropped up on the Internet of late. How companies are not fulfilling sample requests like they use to. How offers are pulled almost the minute they become live online. It can happen and it most assuredly will happen if care is not taken to insure the word gets out about greed. We are asking all those who really care about free stuff online to band together and get the word out that we are not amused by these offer hogs. Let them know that they are mucking it up for the rest of us! In extreme cases, report them and their IP address and maybe...just maybe, we can save this beautiful thing of ours before it's too late.

Just one more rant. There are many free stuff sites that are just as guilty as bad apple freebie junkies. Every time a free stuff site runs a specialized offer for the general public that they know is for a specific group...and they don't spell it out for their visitors with a notice... they are smacking free stuff in general with another black eye it doesn't need. Perfect examples of these types of offers are "Free Stuff for Teachers" and "Business Only Related" offers. Why list classroom aids or business catalogs for the general public? They don't need or use them, if in fact they get them. It only puts undue stress on the companies who are making the offer. It also causes them to pull a valuable campaign with free stuff for those who could really use them in that field. Just like we asked above, if you come across a free site that lists offers like this...please take a moment to contact them and let them know you don't approve. It may be a small step...but big steps always start with small steps...and sooner or later you get there.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We wish you and yours good freebie hunting for years to come!

Killing Free Stuff With Greed

An Article By CoolFreebieLinks
Copyright August 2006
© This article is the property of coolfreebielinks.com and may not be copied or reprinted in any form without the express permission of coolfreebielinks.com or Dynamic Digital Marketing. You may link directly to this article as long as you give proper credit to the author which is coolfreebielinks.com.

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