Instantly Boost Sales by Leveraging the 'Mooch Factor'

It's not always clear why, but bonuses and BOGOs work every time

Q: What’s better than buying a really cool product you saw on TV?

A: Buying that product and also getting another product for free.

Why? I really don’t know. It’s a quirk of human nature. But I do know the best name for this quirk that I ever heard: the “mooch factor.”

Source: UrbanDictionary.com

Free stuff isn’t just better for consumers: It’s better for sellers, too. That’s because offering extras reliably increases response and boosts sales. In the trade, we call them “premiums” or “bonuses” — little tchotchkes that come with our product so long as you act now. Here’s an example from our Ultimate Irish Peeler commercial:

That spiralizer is a cheap piece of plastic that costs mere cents to manufacture. Yet customers love it, and it close sales. Ronnie proved that years ago when selling this peeler to live audiences. We continue to prove it in another, simpler way: If the warehouse ever makes the egregious error of not including it in the package, we immediately get a call. Mooches gotta mooch.

Fred Vanore, founder of Blue Moon Studios, is one of the first DRTV producers I worked with and learned from in the business. He is also the one who came up with the phrase “mooch factor.” In a May 2010 presentation at a symposium we did together, he explained the principal underlying this humorous label:

The tale shouldn’t wag the dog, but sometimes it does. A bonus can change a campaign. It will not make someone who doesn’t want your product actually buy it — but it will take people off the fence.

Fred and I knew this to be true because we had worked on more than one campaign together where a bonus transformed an unworkable CPO (or CPA for non-DRTV folks) into a workable one, leading to a rollout that never would have happened otherwise.

These days, bonuses are rare. About a decade ago, most DRTV practitioners switched to ‘buy one, get one’ (BOGO) offers. Now, you may wonder: Just because people like one of something, does that really mean they will respond favorably to two of the same thing? The “mooch factor” predicts they will, and history has proved it right. BOGOs work when the second one is “absolutely free.” They work when the second one is “free, just pay processing and handling.” They work when the second one is “free, just pay a separate fee.” And they even work when the second one is only half free (i.e. 50% off).

Last week, I talked about the last 30 seconds of a DRTV commercial being that time when we move from selling on emotion to justifying the purchase with rationalizations. Free things that aren’t really free is another great example. Yet it works. Every. Single. Time.

After the break, I’ll show you a few current applications of the “mooch factor” from this week’s top campaigns. I’ll also give my take on a new trend: Some DR marketers have dropped bonuses and BOGOs altogether. Is that a good move? Stay tuned.

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Chart Watch👁️

Piezano

Pitch: “Make the world’s most delicious pizza with real stone right in your home”
Offer: 3 pay of $49.99 with free shipping
Brand: GraniteStone
Marketer: E. Mishan & Sons (🏆 2022 True Top Marketer)
Producer: Hutton Miller (🏆 2022 True Top Producer)

Premium subscribers learned about this project in early September. It is now #20 on the DRMetrix. Here’s what I wrote back then:

Kudos to whomever named this product. Clever and amusing! As the industry’s self-proclaimed historian, I also appreciated “set it, and let it …” An inside joke to be sure, but it made me smile. A less creative (and less ethical) writer would have simply stolen the classic Ron Popeil line.

As for the product, I’m not sure about the market for these items. On the low end, no pizza item has ever done well enough to get anyone excited because it’s just too easy and inexpensive to order a pizza. On the higher end, there’s more of a case to be made. I see several fancy ‘patio pizza ovens’ at Home Depot and online from brands such as Solo Stove and Blackstone. Here, the market shrinks considerably. But for people who enjoy the idea of taking the time to make homemade pizza, this commercial will no doubt resonate — and it can be used indoors.

Back to our main topic, let’s look at the top three 120-second campaigns in the nation this week and see if they’re leveraging the “mooch factor.”

Pooph

This campaign is #1 on the DRMetrix report for the third week in a row. Sure enough, its offer features a freebie — albeit in a P&G/big brand-type way. When you order, you get a “free sample of Pooph Laundry Odor Eliminator.”

Personally, I don’t think “free sample” is as effective “free bonus” or other such language. To me, the word “sample” makes it sound like you aren’t going to get much. On the website, they use more traditional DRTV ad copy:

That last phrase — “absolutely free” — is especially powerful. When you’re able, you definitely want to use it. Just don’t do what I have caught some DRTV copywriters doing in the past and declare “absolutely free! … just pay shipping.” Talk about cognitive dissonance!

On a separate note, the complete eighth step in my formula is “introduce a bonus and describe it.” To see how that works in a commercial, rewatch the Pooph offer above. The trick is to keep it short (under 10 seconds) but also adequately explain and demonstrate the bonus. The Pooph commercial gets it done.

MicroTouch Titanium Head Shaver

IdeaVillage is leading the new trend I mentioned before the break. That is, they are the most likely to run campaigns that have no bonuses or “mooch factor” tactics whatsoever. (Competitor Emson is doing the exact opposite. See below.)

That means it’s time to answer the question I asked above: Is that a smart move? I’ll start by trying to steel-man their position. I can think of three good arguments:

1. Choose the wrong bonus and it could hurt your campaign instead of helping it.

2. Bonuses diminish your brand because they scream “infomercial,” and many people have a poor perception of infomercial products.

3. In a market dominated by Amazon and Ecommerce, people no longer expect bonuses, so why incur the extra cost and go through the hassle?

The first argument is the best argument because choosing the right bonus can be tricky. As mentioned, some time ago DR marketers mostly gave up and just offered a second unit of the same product (e.g. a BOGO) as their “bonus.” However, second units don’t have the same impact as something completely different and complementary. IdeaVillage used to know this. In fact, they used to leverage the heck out of the “mooch factor,” as this offer from 2005 demonstrates:

(That offer probably had something to do with the fact Fred Vanore wrote this commercial.)

As for the other two arguments, I find them less compelling. One silver lining to the inexorable shift away from cable TV to streaming and Web-based content is that fewer and fewer people have any firm perception of infomercial products (if they even know what an infomercial is). Also, the players left in the business are putting out high-quality products like this one.

For this reason, the third and final argument rings true. People probably don’t expect bonuses these days. But doesn’t that just mean bonuses will have more impact when marketers do offer them? I think so. And that’s why, finally, I do not think it’s a smart move to abandon them.

GraniteStone Armor Max

This is the “mooch factor” on steroids! Let me list the ways:

1. They open with a mooch-delighting tease.
   Stay tuned to get this knife set free!

2. They start the offer by deeply discounting the price.
   Not for five, four or even 300 hundred … just five easy payments of $49.99!
   Plus: We’re gonna drop one payment!

3. They introduce the bonus and describe it.
   We’ll include this razor-sharp six-piece knife set free!

4. They surprise you with a second bonus.
   This deal keeps getting stronger … you’ll get our Armor Max deep steam and fry pan set absolutely free!

5. They finish with an extra dash of free.
   Plus, we’ll ship your entire order free!

You can see why Emson is the industry’s reigning True Top Marketer and Hutton Miller is the industry’s reigning True Top Producer. This team not only knows and uses all of the tried-and-true techniques, they’re constantly trying to raise the bar.

True, that’s easier when you have a $250 base order with which to work. But this just proves my point: When you have the freedom, why not use every tool at your disposal to drive sales?

I also want you to notice the way free shipping hits differently in this offer than in the last one. When it’s the only “bonus” and delivered like an afterthought, the marketer gets little or no credit with the prospect. After all, thanks to Amazon, such things are expected. However, when you dazzle the prospect with tons of free extras and then cap it off with free shipping, something expected turns into something unexpected — and puts a nice little cherry on top.

Sometimes it isn’t just what you say, but when and how you say it.

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News(letters) You Can Use

According to the Exploding Topics newsletter:

Influence engineering is the practice of building algorithms that are designed to influence digital user choices at scale.

Specifically, these algorithms apply behavioral science techniques (like “anchoring”) to influence specific online behaviors.

Notably, Gartner recently named influence engineering one of the four emerging technologies expected to significantly impact digital advertising.

I wrote about a DRTV anchoring technique in my last newsletter. For more about algorithmic anchoring and other types of “influence engineering,” check out this article.

As a marketer, I’m glad machines are learning how to use cognitive biases to craft better advertising, since having a competent AI assistant will make my life easier.

As a consumer and a human? I’m absolutely terrified by this!

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The Formula for Scripts That Sell

1. Start with a painful problem
   (Article: Ask the ‘Skeptic's Question’ to Check & Fix Your Opening Pitch)

2. Introduce the product and describe it
   (Article: Answer These 3 Questions Before Prospects Lose Interest)

3. Explain how the product solves the opening problem
   (Article: Pay Off the Problem Opening to Powerfully Position Your Product)

4. Describe the product’s key features and benefits
   (Article: Don't Be Misled By the Order of Things)

5. Briefly list all of the key uses for the product
   (Article: This Space Intentionally Left Blank)

6. Explain how the product works
   (Article: Here’s How 'Here’s How it Works' Works)

7. Set up a value comparison and introduce the offer
   (Article: The Incomparable Value Comparison)

8. Introduce a bonus and describe it
   (Article: Instantly Boost Sales by Leveraging the ‘Mooch Factor’)

9. Recap the entire offer
   (Article: The Department of Redundancy Department)

10. Create a sense of urgency and ask for the order
    (Article: The Simple Secret to Closing More Sales)