A-Z Systems Marketing Blog

Posted by Alexei Zoubov, August 28th, 2008

If you search the Web for articles and posts on One Time Offer and read some of them, including the comments, you will find that the feelings about OTO vary from love and infatuation (mostly from sellers), to displeasure and even hate (mostly from buyers).

I already had a post not very long ago on a conflict between sellers and buyers. OTO is a very powerful selling tool, and is a good example of a cat and mouse (seller vs. buyer) game of selling. Although it looks like a new Internet method, it was used in different forms since the beginning of selling.

For a long time I was just a Network (multilevel) marketer pretty successful) offline and then online. Only recently (for less than 2 years) I started studying and implementing marketing methods that are specific for the Internet. First time I came across a one time offer, it left me with pretty negative and long-lasting feelings.

I signed up for a free program and, when I tried to log in, I had to deal with three OTO’s following the same pattern. Firstly, I was assured that I’ll never see this offer again, then I was presented with a mile-long list of ebooks, reports, dvd’s, etc, each with a value in dollars displayed. The total value came up to a few thousand dollars and then there was the offer itself to buy the whole set for only (!) $197. Oh, I forgot - tons of testimonials from happy buyers.

So, I strolled and strolled through this seemingly endless page and finally found a link with a message in a very fine print, written in my name. I had to check a box, agreeing that I’m ready to face all the dangerous consequences of not buying the package, that it was the last chance to acquire eternal happiness and total well-being, etc.

Clicking on the link that was supposed to take me to my site, I was presented with a pop-up window, offering something like $10 discount. Another click - and another page with the offer of a partial package, and then another similar page, offering one book for $27.

The book seemed to be good, but I was already annoyed and didn’t want anything at all, even the free stuff.

This was a pretty extreme case, but not a very rare one. And the bad thing is that these pushy sellers make the prospects  distrust really good offers.

Here is the good news: if used properly, one time offers can benefit both sellers and buyers. But this is a topic for the next post!

Until then - here are some thoughts and observations:

• Don’t jump on any OTO without careful examination. Keep in mind, that having too many books and other materials on marketing will almost guarantee that you won’t study any of them. Most of the knowlege you need could be found on the Internet for free.
• Some one time offers are really one time. But many are not, I’ve seen quite a few repeated to no end.

Please come back for more.