Authentic Forced Continuity?
December 11, 2009
I’m getting on a soapbox and maybe causing problems with people I know who have big lists and could some day help me sell an info product – once I get around to completing one, of course. But this is more than a pet peeve. It dances on the edge of unethical, it’s deceptive, and it represents what most people despise about marketing.
This past spring there was a “continuity summit” to teach solo entrepreneurs how to make good, steady income using continuity models. Continuity models are things like membership sites or purchasing a program where you receive content and make payments over a period of time.
The big hype about continuity is that it provides a steady stream of income from the same clients. Instead of always finding new clients and always having to sell new things, you have a growing group of people who pay you on a regular basis. The model is all about the seller. There’s very little about value for the customer.
The appeal is age-old: “free money.” Sure, you have to work to get clients, and sure, you have to provide them things. But if you focus on getting the list of members built, you can outsource the writing and product development and have passive or nearly passive income.
For those of you who have never been to an event for a multi-level marketing company, continuity is the greed-based selling point for most. They call it “mailbox money.” Every month there’s a check in your mailbox rewarding you for all the people you signed up. For that one-time action with each person, signing him or her up, they claim you’ll get paid for a long time.
They tell you to get some friends and family to sign up for a monthly service or monthly delivery of products, and then those people will sign people up, and so on. Anyone on a monthly program is much less likely to cancel. They don’t have to do something active to buy. They have to do something active not to buy. Since people usually do what is easiest, they keep buying instead of canceling. They don’t have to be pleased to keep buying. They just have to be not-too-displeased.
To make matters even more focused on the seller than the customer, the new trend in continuity has been forced continuity. Now, just on its face, referring to any sort of selling as “forced” hints at a problem. Thank goodness these marketing gurus showed their hand so we could see what they’re suggesting we should do!
The key to “forced continuity” is to lure customers to sign up for something that you call free. That something needs to have a lot of perceived value, like a program you’ve been selling for $1,500. They get all of it for just a modest shipping and handling fee of around ten or twenty dollars.
Included in your offer is a free trial of, say, ninety days in your superstar platinum coaching membership program, normally valued at $97 per month. At the end of ninety days they can decide if they want to continue in the membership program. If they do, it will cost them only $97 per month.
(Tiny fine print: if they no longer wish to be in the membership program after the trial period, they’ll need to cancel, because when they authorize the charge to their credit card for a small shipping and handling fee, they’re also authorizing you to charge them $97 per month starting in ninety days.)
This is like getting ten CDs for a penny, but having to agree to buy twelve more over the next year at way-above-full cost. It’s like agreeing to accept the free children’s book, but you’re going to be charged if you don’t return it within three weeks. And they’ll keep sending you books, giving you three weeks each time to return them or wind up buying them, until you make the effort to cancel. It’s sleazy.
Ryan Lee, organizer of the continuity summit and a huge name in the online continuity program model, is starting to doubt this system. Hallelujah! He has a video blog post explaining that, since some of these programs are presented without making it clear that customers will be charged a large monthly fee, and since the FTC is “changing the game” by beginning to enforce rules that have been in place for decades, it might be better not to force people into continuity programs.
He’s moving towards offering optional continuity programs.
What an idea! Tell your prospect what you have and let him or her decide to buy it or not. Sounds kind of radical.
I wonder if it will work?
I’m pretty sure it’s the ONLY thing that will work here On The Twisting Road.
May You Know the Joy of Sharing Your Gifts,
Steve Coxsey
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