Strangled by Baby Bracelets

how NOT to give away free jewelry samples!

© by Kari Anderson; all rights reserved

Thousands of Kari Anderson's pearl baby bracelets

So you want to give free samples of your great jewelry products? Learn valuable lessons from my first attempt and save yourself from being "strangled" by your own product.

Ah, yes, free samples. Why do we give them? Advertising, of course.

After all just how many orders did you get from your last $200 mini ad in that popular Ladies magazine? One?...and she didn't even buy...just asked questions?

Well, that's what happened to my first $200 ad...just money in the magazine's pocket...nothing else.

Then and there I decided to give away free samples...at least the blessing of my advertising money would be spread around and hopefully generate word-of-mouth curiosity.

I sell pearls...how could I give samples of pearls in a practical way?

Back when I started my website, "child jewelry" was a hot, profitable keyword. This perked an idea to give away tiny freshwater pearl baby bracelets. It would be a "double-hitter" by blessing babies (a personal interest of mine...I had seven!) and advertising my new website business.

1. Struck what I thought to be a great deal on freshwater pearl baby bracelets and ordered several. Good move!
2. Wrote a keyword optimized page on my site telling folks about the "free deal". Good move!
3. Because I am a giver by nature and don't like to be tricked into a freebie only to find an enormous shipping and handling fee, I decided..."no shipping and handling fee!" Bad Idea!
4. Waited for traffic to find the page for my first "free orders." Good move!
5. As orders for the free freshwater pearl baby bracelets began to trickle in I promptly sent them out and included a couple of business cards. Good move!
6. Should have been alert when one customer wrote to me and asked, "Are you for real?" Bad Idea not to be alert!
7. Was TOTALLY SHOCKED when I soon received in a SINGLE DAY orders for over 5,000 free pearl baby bracelets...for which I was charging NO shipping and handling. Bad Idea!
8. Moved into panic mode. Bad Idea!
9. Took my husband's advice and quickly added a mere $1 S&H fee which slowed orders down dramatically. Good move! ( I only received 1,000 orders the next day...some with $1, some without.)
10. Spent the next three months and thousands of dollars to send out orders. Good Move! & Bad Idea! (Good move to send them, but it took sooooo long and cost sooooo much.)

Two safe, practical directions I could have taken on this offer.

1. Set a spending budget on my offer, still charging no shipping and handling, but closing the offer when my maximum limit was reached. A "while supplies last" offer.
2. Charged a small, reasonable shipping and handling fee from the beginning, saving myself lots of money and this embarrassing rash of orders.

I could have also attached the free offer to a sign-up for my ezine, which would have been more valuable to me than just getting thousands of email addresses.

They especially love them when there's no shipping and handling fee charged!

Freebie site owners and freebie forum leaders usually first order the product themselves to check out the validity of a deal before notifying their visitors. And notify they do!

Before deciding to send out free samples carefully analyze how many steps it will involve (you must include every single step, as even a seemingly simple task can be daunting when multiplied by 5,000) - and how much money it will cost.

For example, sending out free freshwater pearl baby bracelets seems like a simple task, but did you know there were over 30 actual steps involved in sending out these bracelets?

Steps such as:

1. sourcing the bracelets
2. placing the order
3. paying for the bracelets
4. inspecting them and maybe cutting off elastic ends that are too long
5. buying/acquiring bubble wrap (have you priced bubble wrap lately?)
6. cutting bubble wrap
7. wrapping bracelets in bubble wrap
8. buying tape
9. taping bubble wrap
10. buying computer paper
11. buying ink/cartidges for printer
12. writing a cover letter
13. printing letter
14. buying envelopes
15. getting addresses from webmail
16. copying addresses on paper
17. addressing envelopes
18. buying return address stamp or labels
19. stamping or putting on return addresses
20. folding letter
21. putting bracelet and letter in envelope
22. sealing envelope
23. buying stamps
24. finding out correct postage
25. placing stamps on envelope
26. mailing envelopes
27. organizing supplies
28. recruiting help (it will take you nearly a "lifetime" by yourself)
29. paying help
30. keeping records
31. responding to impatient freebiers
32. replacing broken bracelets.

As you see, each of these tasks, like addressing an envelope, is simple by itself, but when you need to write 5,000 addresses, it becomes a little more complicated.

Look, most of us are not corporate assembly line managers here, but small home business owners who have had the playing fields leveled quite a bit because of this new invention called the great WWW...the World Wide Web. We need to be wise caretakers of our time and resources and start thinking more "corporate".

I realize now how foolish my offer was although an upside was a boost in traffic which pushed me over a traffic hump.

Now that I'm over the shock, I'm not so worried about giving so many pearl baby bracelets totally for free, because I believe that if someone gives, things will be given to them, good measure, pressed down, shaken together.

I had NO IDEA that my brand new little website could ever POSSIBLY attract that much traffic. I totally underestimated the exponential potential of the world wide web.

Freebie word spreads fast.

Don't get strangled by your own product like I almost did!

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