Why Many Consumers Despise Co-Registration Offers

Short answer: Many of them suck.

Today I took the bait when I saw an offer of a "free iPhone" on Facebook. Things got real ugly real fast.

I was instantly treated to a shitload of diverse and largely irrelevant offers on a web page. After checking the boxes, up popped another page with more offers -- followed by another page. Page after page, the offers kept coming.

Soon I started to check all of the "no" boxes in rapid fire. But no dice. I was ordered to check "yes" on at least one box on a page ... if I wanted to remain eligible to receive the iPhone.

Where I come from, we call this a bogus approach to lead generation. Anyone who checks that type of "yes" box isn't a lead, and any marketer that pays for that type of respondent isn't spending marketing dollars intelligently.

When a form reaches an oppressive length and a coveted carrot is involved, fatigue sets in and the percentage of "false positives" rises. Many people will say anything to stay in the game.

I'd like to give you a neat ending to this story, but I never made it to the finish line. I eventually swore under my breath and exited. Robert Rosenthal will not be getting a free iPhone.

Why would smart marketers put serious money into such an obviously stupid approach?   

Comments

[mark]

Which site did you go to? Not all sites are legit and have those stupid procedures. The ones I researched and followed through with ended up in me getting a lot of freebies: ps3, wii, psp, ipod, whatever else I want (but I always take cash now)...

If you like, you can visit my site to know more and go through LEGIT sites. Or contact me, and I'll explain better :)

[Robert Rosenthal]

I don't recall the name of the site. I just clicked your link and saw an offer of up to $580 in cash. How much time is involved? Why are they making such a "too good to be true" offer? What's the catch? Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks.

[mark]

Yes, that company you're talking about (the $580 reward one) is the company I got most of my valued freebies -- 60gb ps3, wii bundle (which came with an extra remote and 2 games), 22" LCD, 30gb ipod, and soon enough the $580 from that site and another $400 from another site of theirs.

They're currently the leading and most trustworthy freebie company because they're very completive amongst other freebie sites (good offers, low referrals, awesome customer support, and over $3.2 million given away in a couple of years). So, if you're to go and get an iPhone, they're the best one to go with.

On their sites you can accomplish it in 2 ways: points or referrals.

With the points way you do all the offers yourself. It's not something unexpected like what you said in your post. You can see and calculate how many offers you have to do, based on what reward you like (8gb iPhone, cash, or an Apple gift card), BEFORE you actually do it. You're also very clearly told what you gotta do to attain credit so you're not left clueless. If you need help with anything, customer support is a big plus on this site.

With the referral way, you do 1 offer, and get a couple people to do 1 offer too. When that's done, you get the gift. Simple as that! No unexpected twist and turns. It's 8 referrals for an 8gb iPhone. If you do the math, each ref works out to be about $50.

Basically, advertiser's are looking for potential customers. Freebie sites refer you to them (the "offer" you do). When you successfully do an offer, such as signing up for a free trial of an advertiser's product/service, advertiser's pay between $25-40 per person. Yes, advertisers really need people lol. The accumulated money earned from advertiser's goes out to buy your product -- tax and shipping cost included. Think of it as an incentive/reward to trying an advertiser instead of just signing up with them and not expecting anything back.

In the real world, you can also consider this like a huge rebate advertiser's give for trying them out -- which encourages you to pick one advertiser over another. Same deal -- advertiser's really want customers that they're willing to give a lot just to get you interested in them.

If you want to know more details to how works, please read this site: freebieinfo.blogspot.com or contact me via email :)

Glad to help. I want you to understand and not get the wrong impression on this stuff.

[Robert Rosenthal]

Thanks for giving such a detailed explanation, Mark. To satisfy my curiosity, I'll give that site a go. I may add a comment on the experience.

[mark]

Ok Robert. Let me know if you have any questions during the process via email. Good luck!