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Rebate! Rebates seem to be all the rage in today’ s market place. Rebates are everywhere. Out
in the brick and mortar world
there are‘ mail-in’ rebates and
instant rebates offered on
every product imaginable from
computers to home appliances
to cars. In cyber space the
rebate is everywhere. Rebates
are offered on all kinds of
programs, software, products
and services. A rebate is simply
a discount in fancy clothes. The
principle is exactly the same.
The customer pays less than
the list price for whatever the
program, software, product or
service might be. The customer
is getting a bargain. That’ s true.
The question, however, is what
exactly is the seller getting? The
answer to the question, is pretty
simple.
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The seller is getting less money than he is entitled to get on every sale he makes. If the seller is giving a 50 % rebate that means that he will have to sell twice the number of programs, software copies, products or services to make the same amount of money he would have made had he not offered the 50 % rebate. The seller is giving away his profit especially if the seller is an affiliate marketer because any rebate an affiliate marketer offers his customers comes out of his commission. For example: if you are marketing a product that sells for $ 197 and you earn $ 98.50 from it, offering a rebate of $ 50 means that your commission is only $ 48.50 per sale. You aren’ t going to be earning very much per sale. That can’ t be a good thing. There has to be a better way than offering big rebates... |
And fortunately, there is. One of the big problems with offering big rebates is that the offer
attracts what is known in the
business as“ cheap customers”.
Cheap customers are those
who never expect to pay the
full price for anything, ever or
under any circumstances. They
expect to get something for
nothing and that something for
nothing expectation will always
come out of your pocket. You
are simply better off without
cheap customers. The answer
to the rebate question is just
this: give your customers a
good reason to buy from you
at the full price. Even if you
have to pay something for
incentive bonuses, it is better
than offering a rebate to the
customer.
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You will attract a better class of customers who will continue to buy from you. Many affiliate marketers think that offering incentive bonuses that are valuable enough to entice people to pay full price for an item is just too much trouble. They will tell you, that it is easier, quicker and just a lot less trouble to simply offer a rebate or a discount than it is to find bonus incentives. Okay. I agree. Offering a rebate or a discount is certainly easier, quicker and a lot less work than finding bonus incentives that are of enough value to make a customer pay full price for a product or service. However; it is simply not the best thing to do. |