Would Your Product Sell on TV? Use My 'Divine Seven' Checklist To Find Out
Before shooting a TV commercial, consider these seven criteria
I have been selling products direct-to-consumer for 21 years. Yet I still feel like a complete novice when it comes to selling on Amazon. As a result, I’ve been saying “yes” to all invitations to networking events for Amazon sellers and trying to meet as many experts in the space as I can.
On Wednesday night, I attended a “Sellers Dinner” hosted by The Ecom Cooperative (TECO) and met some more people with lots of experience in the Amazon world. It was interesting (and challenging!) to try to explain the direct-response television (DRTV) business to them.
One thing I soon realized was that I had to start conversations by talking about the kind of products we sell. This occurred to me after about 15 minutes of conversation with someone who seemed rudely skeptical of my claims. I finally thought to ask what kind of products he sells. The answer: commodity kitchen accessories. Aha!
I explained that our model only works for products that are new and unique. I used our Ultimate Irish Egg Pod as an example, and then he finally understood what the heck I was talking about.
Once I got that part right, the conversations went more smoothly. Many were interested in TV and wanted to know if it could work for them. I usually mentioned the “new and unique” requirement and also talked about visual interest and demos. Sometimes I talked about mass appeal and problem solving. It wasn’t until the drive home that I realized I had been sharing the criteria I used in the early days of SciMark consulting.
Below is the first product checklist I ever created, promoted and taught to clients. The idea was for them to use this checklist when evaluating the dozens of new product ideas they were discussing each week. (I jokingly referred to the dominant method at that time as ‘men arguing around a table.’) I now see this checklist works almost as well for a DTC seller who wants to decide if he/she should consider testing TV. I now present the list in its original form.
The Divine Seven
The best marketing in the world isn’t going to sell a product that lacks inherent appeal to DRTV buyers. That means DRTV marketers need to use very specific criteria when deciding which new product ideas they will spend time, money and resources bringing to market. There are no magic formulas, but the odds of having a hit DRTV campaign are highest when your product is:
1. UNIQUE. Simply put, it must be different and new. That means it must be something most people haven’t seen before, or something most people think they haven’t seen before.
2. MASS MARKET. It must appeal to a large enough market. Niche products seldom succeed.
3. PROBLEM SOLVING. It has to solve a perceived problem that doesn’t already have a good-enough solution. Aspirational products just don’t play on DRTV.
4. PRICED RIGHT. It should be $20 or less. Since DRTV purchases are impulse purchases, it’s very hard to make anything priced above $20 work. The price should also meet or exceed the perceived value of the product. DRTV buyers demand a bargain.
5. EASILY EXPLAINED. People need to be able to understand what it does quickly. The best way to accomplish this is to select products that are simple and highly demonstrable.
6. AGE APPROPRIATE. It should appeal to people over the age of 50, or at least not exclude this group. That’s because the typical DRTV buyer is 50+.
7. CREDIBLE. People must believe it works as advertised. Many DRTV items that meet the previous six criteria fail here because the promise they make just isn’t believable.
A successful DRTV product is a UNIQUE, MASS MARKET PROBLEM SOLVER that’s PRICED RIGHT, EASILY EXPLAINED, AGE APPROPRIATE and CREDIBLE.
This list does need some updating. I wrote it in 2007 when most DRTV sales were transacted on the phone, and 90% of all sales were transacted at retail via ‘As Seen on TV’ endcaps and other promotional areas of the store. An e-tailer like Amazon wasn’t even on the radar back then. (Their big announcement that year was the introduction of the Kindle e-reader.) So let’s think about how well the Divine Seven holds up in a world where most DRTV sales — most sales, period — are transacted on Amazon.
It seems to me that most of the criteria still apply. For instance, products still need to be unique problem-solvers to be worthy of TV. As my new kitchen-accessories friend now understands, a TV commercial has little chance of driving sales for a commodity item. The ad will basically be driving the category, and every category is super-crowded. The ‘As Seen on TV’ sections in Walmart, CVS and other national chains had limited shelf space. Amazon’s “shelves” have no limits. They can go as far as the eye can see.
That might be wrong, come to think of it. Maybe the limited shelf space of an endcap is more analogous to the first six (?) spots in Amazon search results? The concept is roughly the same. Only a certain number of products can be the most visible products in any shopping environment. That coveted space must be earned somehow if the retailer is to maximize profits. We used to earn it by producing blowout sales that no other type of product could generate. At Amazon, anyone can buy their way onto the virtual “endcap” by paying the highest PPC. The “shelves” can also be constantly rearranged in real time. Plus, the whole thing is self-managing because, in theory, only the people doing the most sales can afford to remain there. No wonder Amazon is eating the world!
Back to my checklist, I know DTC sellers will want to push back on the ‘Mass Market’ requirement. I realize many people have successful businesses selling niche products on Amazon. Remember, though, that this checklist is about what products are right for TV — and that’s limited by the audience who watches a particular network. Think about your niche, and then think about whether there’s a TV network specifically for that niche. Probably not. More likely, your prospect watches the same general-appeal networks that millions of people who are not your prospect also watch. As a result, it generally does not make sense to pay for media that mostly reaches people who would never buy your product. Of course, it really just depends on how wide or narrow your niche might actually be.
In DRTV, we addressed this problem by avoiding all but the largest niches and typically investing only in products with a total addressable market (TAM) of ‘one per household.’ This also made sense because our main distribution channel — 90% of sales, as mentioned above — was mass-market retailers. In the case of Amazon sellers, where the product is already selected and they are trying to decide if TV makes sense, I’ll simply say this: The bigger the TAM, the better.
Moving on, two of the Divine Seven criteria definitely need refining. The first is ‘Priced Right.’ The general idea behind that one was to use a price point where too much thinking isn’t required — an ‘impulse purchase’ versus a ‘considered purchase.’ That’s still a good idea if you want to run a TV commercial for your Amazon product. Of course, pricing below $20 is also a good way to lose your shirt unless your first sale is the beginning of some reliably high customer lifetime value (LTV).
Setting ‘Age Appropriate’ at 50+ is also obviously a mistake these days. Cable TV viewers still skew older, but connected TV (CTV) viewers skew younger. As a result, a more nuanced version of this criterion is required: Make sure your product is appropriate for the age of the person who is most likely to view your commercial. For example, many of the products popular with Gen Z on TikTok right now have zero appeal to a Gen X dad like me, and I’m the one watching all the TV.
Finally, a word about ‘Credible.’ I preached this in the early days and then started downplaying it when I saw how many obviously unbelievable DRTV products were achieving success. Now, I think it is more important than ever. Gone are the days when you could sell a few million units of something and get away clean before people noticed you were over-promising. This was never a good business practice, of course, but today it just isn’t possible. If people don’t believe your product will work as advertised, they’ll check your reviews — and you can’t out-run bad reviews.
The only smart play is to take my seventh criterion seriously and not even bother to shoot a commercial for a product that has no hope of living up to the hype.
{Author’s Note: After I wrote this article, I wrote one article about each of the criteria. As a result, I’m updating this article with the complete list of links.}
Related Articles
1. UNIQUE
(Article: Build the Marketing Into Your Product to Maximize Sales)
2. MASS MARKET
(Article: These 3 Powerful Letters Can Greatly Improve Your Odds of Choosing Hit Products)
3. PROBLEM SOLVING
(Article: The Problem Scale Can Guide You Toward the ‘Heart Attack’ You Seek)
4. PRICED RIGHT
(Article: What a Huge Walmart Mistake Can Teach Us About Product Pricing)
5. EASILY EXPLAINED
(Article: Never Try to Sell a ‘Swiss Army Knife’)
6. AGE APPROPRIATE
(Article: Why TikTok Advertisers Shouldn’t Sell Canes)
7. CREDIBLE
(Article: Don’t Even Bother With Products That Can’t Live Up to the Hype)
Recent Tests
December was a surprisingly busy month for tests of new DRTV commercials, given the cost of media for most of that month. BulbHead was the most active, testing four new projects. Emson tested two, both of them Bionic lights. IdeaVillage tested a new Copper Fit item. Even National Express got in on the action.
Premium subscribers can review all of those commercials by visiting The Library of DRTV (my private archive, see below). The rest of you will have to settle for a short writeup about the test that I found most interesting.
Flying Colors
Pitch: “The most exceptional nutritional shake ever created”
Offer: $99.99 for a 30-day supply
Bonus: Portable blender & nutrition guide
Marketer: BulbHead
This was BulbHead’s second foray into consumables in December. (The first was BerTime.) The claim is that this powder is “made from 40 different fruits and veggies.” It’s another timely and on-trend idea given DTC nutritional powders (e.g. AG1) and chews (e.g. HumanN’s products) have taken over a market once dominated by drinks such as V8.
Although it might seem odd to offer a portable blender as a bonus — since it has a greater perceived value than the main product — this is actually a proven DRTV strategy. Speaking of 2007, that’s the year I first learned about this tactic from the late, great Billy Mays. He gave away a power drill (just pay separate processing and handling) with the purchase of every Awesome Auger.
Similarly, the portable blender in this offer is only “free” with the monthly subscription options. Otherwise, it’s $49. Think of it like a “subscribe and save” and “gift with purchase” rolled into one.
As always, BulbHead is the industry leader in trying clever new offers.
DID YOU KNOW that I’ve been collecting and analyzing ‘As Seen on TV’ commercials since 2007? Support my work by becoming a paying subscriber below, and I’ll give you access to my complete, searchable archive. I call it “The Library of DRTV,” and I update it every week. It’s the ultimate DR research tool!
