8. Limiting replies.—Charging a small price for a booklet or sample automatically cuts out the cheaper class of inquiries that are the bane of so many adver tisers. Such a; course is founded on well-known principles that what is paid for is esteemed more highly than what is given free. The practice, there fore, of limiting the distribution of booklets or sam ples by charging for them, in many cases aids mark edly in securing a much better class of inquiries than is secured when the distribution is free. If the ad vertiser can manage the cost of the offer so as to shut out the curious while not repelling actual, prospective customers, he has reached high efficiency in getting returns.
The growth of the "small cost offer" has been lim ited as it is not adapted to every line. It helps to eliminate those who inquire merely from curiosity. Finally, great value is attached to the names of staple purchasers as possible steady customers.. When the advertiser has a varied line of goods, the customer for one commodity may be circularized from time to time for other commodities.
9. The idly persons send for ex pensive booklets or samples of products in which they are not at all interested. Most prospects are drawn to a product first thru curiosity, but there are some prospects who since they have not even a potential purchasing power may be classed as purely curious. Children who seek catalogs and the like for the pic tures are a good illustration. One successful method of right kind of prospect is to stipulate that the request for the free book be sent, "upon your business letterhead." In other cases the inquirer is asked to furnish information besides his name before a valuable book or sample is sent him. Thus the curious seeler is headed off while the really inter ested prospec't is not repelled.
10. Free booklet .offer.—There must be some in ducement offered to a reader of an advertisement to get him to send in his name and address. The Atlas Powder Company's advertisement, shown on page 152, illustrates a type of copy built around the free booklet offer.
To introduce a product whose general qualities are well known may depend more upon the outside inducements offered than the direct appeals based upon the product itself. There are many powders on the market. In general, their qualities are well known. The Atlas advertisement is a good illustra tion in which the emphasis is put upon the "Better Farming" book, altho the announcing of the virtues of Atlas Powder is the final objective.
11. Methods of distributing samples.—Offering the sample "on request" is the standard method for systematic distribution of samples over a large ter ritory. a given district must be covered in a relatively short time, national advertisers generally resort to door-to-door distribution or distribution to special classes.
The Kolynos Company, which manufactures a dental cream and distributes thru the retail drug gists, uses an effective method of sampling. Den tists, physicians, physical culture instructors and oth ers who are interested in the public health are fur nished with samples for distribution. In each pack age of dental cream is placed a postal having blanks for the listing of names of the customer's friends. The letter which accompanies the sample states by whom the request for the sample was made, thereby increasing the, advertising value of the plan.
In addition to securing a volume of replies and cre ating immediate interest, "free" offers have an ad vantage in that they usually provide a list that is re sponsive to further sales effort.
12. after the the sam ple is in the prospective buyer's possession and suf ficient time has elapsed for noting its principal ad vantages, the question of follow-up arises. The fol low-up must be worked out in such a way that the prospect is not prejudiced against the goods. The letter following the sampling may properly discuss some feature to which particular attention should be called.
If the product is being distributed by the retailer, a special inducement is usually made in the follow-up for the purpose of bringing the sampler actually into the dealer's store.
13. Function of coupon.—The coupon is to the advertising campaign what oil is to a machine. It makes action easy. Whether the action involves a request for a catalog or the sending in of a cash or der, there is always some mental inertia to be over come, and the coupon "sign, clip and mail" makes such action easy. It is estimated that a coupon in creases returns 50 per cent, of which at least 30 per cent are good.
The uses of coupons vary. Ordinarily their use involves no more than the checking of some item de sired and the signing of the inquirer's name and ad dress. The coupon of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., on page 156 is a good sample of this type. Everything is made easy by providing checking spaces and sufficient room for writing the name and address. A more complex style of coupon contains a statement of cer tain conditions and when sighed by the inquirer assumes the form of a contract. The trial-order coupon of the Oliver Typewriter advertisement on page 138 is an example of the latter form.
Some coupons have real selling copy embodied in a few brief sentences. The Auto Vacuum Freezer Company uses a direct suggestion when- instead of "free coupon" it says "Your Free Coupon." And since it is to be used by women, the coupon begins with a courteous introduction: "Gentlemen, please put my name down. . . ." Then instead of listing the names of the books to be sent and providing a check spaCe, the coupon continues : "for the new tested free book, Delicious Frozen Desserts, contain ing recipes for inexpensive dainties that are easy to make." The Lamson Company puts display as well as selling copy into its coupon. If a prospect is at all interested in anything that will "cut costs and speed up business," a. picture of the book that conveys this information together with attractive titles, such as "Mechanical Messenger" and the like, are bound to inspire action. Other advertisers put in some good words for the product itself. Note the wording of the Pennsylvania Textile Company's coupon and mark its selling quality: Most of the appeals that make good advertising copy can also be used in an intensive way in coupon copy. A method frequently used is to ask the reader to solve riddles, puzzles and the like, the answers to which are very easily found. An adaptation of this method to coupon copy is seen in a Frank A. Munsey Company advertisement. The coupon (see page 157) is surrounded with the pictures of four well-known tennis players. The problem of guessing their names is the incentive to induce readers to fill in the coupon.
The rebus, the puzzle and the riddle will probably continue to be used in advertising. They constitute a challenge to the reader, to which the sending of the coupon is the response.