Halbertism #38

Monday, June 21, 2004

If you are advertising for leads, only allow the people

you are going after to respond by phone.

Decades ago, Claude Hopkins was introducing a new product in New York and wanted to give away free samples so people could see how good the product was.

He ran ads in newspapers with a combined circulation of millions.

One-third of those ads said you could get the free sample product by sending your name and address to the company selling the product.

Another one-third of the ads said you could get the free sample product by calling and giving the person who answers the phone your name and address.

The remaining third of the ads said you could write or call.

The "Phone Only" Option Outpulled

The Other Two Options By A Factor

Of Three To One!

I've retested that concept in recent years and the numbers are exactly the same. In other words, "phone only" still produce