I hate the term "forced continuity." Who wants to be forced or to force others? Yuck.

And besides, you cannot use this term with customers. They'd be revolted by it for sure - and most wouldn't have a clue what it meant. There needs to be a clear way to refer to this kind of deal in discussion with customers.

I've come up with way to describe this for customers:

Your free one-month trial that came bundled with X.

What do you think? And instead of talking about "forced continuity" among ourselves we could talk about "free trial bundling."

I'm trying out this kind of bundling for the first time and will know in a month what percentage of people will continue with the monthly billing. I'll be sending several messages encouraging people to take full advantage of their one-month membership (so they'll get addicted) and reminding them of the upcoming renewal, so as to avoid complaints about any surprise re-billing.

I welcome your feedback.

Marcia Yudkin

Well, of course we wouldn't describe it as "forced continuity" to our customers anymore than we describe our takeaway tactics as "scarcity selling."

But I like what you came up with. Let us know how you make out with it!

John

We have been doing this for over a year now (Free Trial Bundling Offer), and we have seen a few things (with our offer) after thousands and thousands of sales:

1) At the moment of the order (book) - about 90% take up the free 30-day membership trial offer when given a choice to take it or not. (we let them *choose* to take the trial offer, and explain what will happen after 30 days, so nothing is forced on anyone)

2) About 7-10% of those book buyers then immediately purchase a 1-time upsell offer (1 full year of membership for a substantial discount).

3) After a month, about 25-30% of the book buyers stay on as paying members at the monthly rate.

(Your own results may be totally different).

Now, we also make it clear on the book sales page, during the order process, and in follow-up emails leading up to the automatic rebilling, that their credit card will be charged if they do not cancel in the 30-day period.

In other words, we are NOT sneaky in any way, and communicate clearly what's happening again and again - but nevertheless, our experience is you WILL still get some complaints with this strategy. It is inevitable, and some of them will be harsh.

So my point is, do your duty to communicate clearly, then let it go and take it in stride, do not get emotionally involved, and be mentally prepared to give refunds regularly after the first billing. Understand that it is a part of this strategy.

Hope this helps,

I think Guthy Renker is the absolute best at this... Using a system that is neither "sneaky" nor what I consider to be "deal-killing." They use the term "Club" and the below sales copy exists right next to the product on the order page...


Proactiv Solution Deluxe 5-piece system plus bonuses. By ordering now, you will receive a two month supply of our 5-piece club package every 60 days, and your credit card will be billed $59.95 plus $7.95 shipping and handling for each shipment.

Timothy has a great answer.

The reason you need a euphemism for "forced continuity" is because is sucks. Don't be a copywriter that supports this abhorrent practice. Continuity is great. I'd love some more myself. But forced continuity originates from the dark side of marketing and is a lousy business practice with a short-term outlook.

Tim,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

There are a few number ranges that are really valuable as a marketer steps into a new kind of offer. One of them is your "about 25-30% stay on" (which of course needs to be averaged out with other programs) and another is "less than 20% will take full advantage of any bundled coaching offer," which fits with my experience.

And Nebulous, I just don't agree that bundled trial offers are abhorrent if there is full disclosure, high value and an ultra-easy opt-out.

Marcia Yudkin

Define "full disclosure". Mentioning it in 10pt type in a so-called "Free bonus" offer, bundled with something else is not even close to full disclosure.

As for high value and easy opt out... if there wasn't full disclosure, these two factors add nothing.

It should be noted that the FTC requires disclosure to be obvious and they have already busted one Internet marketer pulling the "free CD" with hidden continuity trick.

FTC Halts Deceptive “Free Software CD” Internet Scam