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< Email Sequence Follow-Up Hassles | Email Marketing Tips - Edition 13 >

Too Much Is Too Much Even In Internet Marketing

Written by John W. Furst, has got 9 Comments.

Frank Kern

Marketing guru and genius Frank Kern admits a costly mistake.

He had produced at first 2,000 and then another 1,000 sets of his best marketing material containing 9 DVDs, a book, a 150 page special report, and a newsletter. Mid August 2008 he gave it all away for shipping cost only. Actually less than that, because it was a heavy box and Frank sponsored the cost out of his own pocket. This was not called a product launch, but a marketing experiment. A first time try for him and he, therefore, was not sure about the outcome at all.

The goal was to get as many new paying subscribers for his monthly printed newsletter as possible.

As everybody had expected the first offer of 2,000 sets was sold out in less than 1 hour (the kind of usual scenario with Frank's ~~launches~~/experiments) and the feedback from his “new customers” was excellent. They loved the stuff.

The first part of this marketing experiment worked quite well. Many of those who have ordered the “almost free box of good stuff” said,

“The best package they ever received.”

As a result many people stuck with the newsletter for US$297.00 a month. Quite an expensive item, but obviously worth it to them.

However, some people had a huge problem!

Overwhelm!

The single biggest complaint and reason for cancellation was, “This is too much stuff!”

Those customers thought the materials they received in the first box will last them for several month and therefore they wouldn't be able to keep up with the new materials being sent each month.

The Big Lesson

Don't Make Value Assumptions
Don't force Your Values On Your Customers

Frank's values are obviously, “The more the better. Give me as much as you have. I will lock myself in a room for days and study it from A-Z”

His customer values were different, they'd prefer the “Give me chunks of info at a time” approach. They did not care for the “firehose” kind of attack.

What Frank thought will demonstrate immense value simply overwhelmed his prospects.

By forcing his values on them instead of honoring theirs, he lost the ability to serve them on a long term basis.

What should you do?

Build your products and campaigns with the end user in mind. Just because you like it, doesn't mean they will like it, too.

I keep this short and don't risk to overwhelm you. You can view Frank's original video message about this experiment on his blog as Frank Kern's Marketing Disaster -- However I don't think I left out anything important… Only one thing. Frank has left 390 boxes of the last 1,000 made. He sells it now. Click the link above for details, if you are interested. Once they are gone, they are gone. I don't think Frank will give away comparable heavy boxes in the near future again.

Anyway, this is not a sales pitch.

So let me just repeat the main message here.

Build your products and campaigns strictly with the end user in mind.
Just because you like it, doesn't mean they will like it, too.

Yours
John W. Furst

Posted by John W. Furst in Marketing on Friday, November 7, 2008 has got 9 Comments.

Defined tags for this entry: business, frank kern, marketing, persuasion

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Too Much Is Too Much Even In Internet Marketing
Frank Kern -- Internet Marketing Guru -- admits a recent mistake. He let's us learn from his lesson.

Weblog: PlugIM.com
Tracked: Nov 07, 11:06

Comments

Great post John,

I've often had to hold myself back from giving too much to folks. The idea of providing value is key to sustaining clients and customer and the question at times is whether what I want to give is what people want?

Thanks for the reminder that overwhelm can best be managed when things are chunked down into smaller pieces and the same is true for giving and receiving material.

Best,
Lorraine
www.powerfull-living.biz

#1 Lorraine Cohen on 2008-11-07 20:31

I too have been on the receiving end of "too much" and have experienced two different outcomes than the original intent. The first was "Wow" this is sooo great, that I don't need to buy anything else... this is everything I need. The other is the "Brain Shutting Down" syndrome, where there is lots of valuable information, but not enough time for me to engulf the info and maintain my other life, let alone going forward with new product information. I was not a recipient of Franks free giveaway, but it would be interesting to see what Frank says about the results of his launch... I mean experiment.

Matt Kettlewell
Kettlewell Enterprises

#2 Matt Kettlewell from www.kettlewell.net on 2008-11-07 23:10

You find the link to Frank's video message in John's post at the bottom. So you can listen to his own presentation explaining everything.

#2.1 Jennifer M. from www.fcon21.biz on 2008-11-08 00:27

there is never too much

if they don't need that they can throw it away

#3 Bruce from www.archipelago-candle.com on 2008-11-12 21:39

Hi Bruce!

Your statement is wrong twofold in respect to this blog post.

(1) People don't through out the "too much" part of it easily. It dilutes their focus, they get paralyzed and don't take action.

(2) They are less likely to buy, when they feel it is too much.

Though it is possible that you have observed different behavior in your sphere.

#3.1 John W. Furst from www.fcon21.biz on 2008-11-12 21:56

John, you are right about marketing too much. I'm one of those people who wants little bit at a time. If I have too much at once, I feel overwhelmed and sort of lost.

Giving customers little by little is the way to go if you want long term. It keeps them on their feet. Did you learn something new with this experiment?

Thanks for the post.

#4 Jamie from www.200ndearborn.com on 2008-11-18 01:36

Frank is great and I have read a lot about him. His ideas are amazing!