The Persuasive Power of FREE, a Netflix example
By Michael Stelzner
So this big red envelope shows up in the mail. It says “Here’s your Netflix start-up package.” My wife says, “Did you order this?” I said noooo and opened it.
I see this big coupon, made out to me—”10 FREE RENTAL COUPON.” Hmm. I read further (I was drawn in you could say).
On a single page I count 1, 4, 8—no 11 uses of the word FREE! For example:
- YOURS FREE!
- 10 FREE DVD rentals
- Two week FREE trial
- Pressure-FREE
- Hassle-FREE
- Shipping is FREE
- FREE New Release Calendar (hmm. I will address this)
And list goes on and on. So it says there are some “free gifts” enclosed. One of them is a piece of paper titled “New Release Calendar” and the words “FREE GIFT!” are at the top at an angle. Not sure this really qualifies as a free gift.
I was about drawn to take them up on their offer of 10 free DVDs—until… I noticed I only had 2 weeks to watch them! Hmm. Doesn’t sound like that great of an offer to me. Considering summer is about over, this must be Netflix’s way up drumming up business.
Overall, I counted the word free used 24 times across the 4 pages and the envelope this offer came in. Oh, and if you want to take them up on the offer, check out http://www.netflix.com/Register.
My guess is this campaign will be a big success. What do you think about the value of free?
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