Should You Put a $ Sign on Your White Papers?
By Michael StelznerWe all know that white papers are free documents, often used for lead generation purposes.
However, should we call them a report and place a dollar value on them to help improve their perceived value?
That is precisely what my friend and white paper peer Bob Bly recently suggested. Here’s what he actually said:
In the June 2008 edition of Target Marketing, Bob Bly wrote:
Does what you call your bait piece really matter? I think it does, because calling it a report or guide creates a perception of greater value—after all, thousands of publishers actually sell special reports and booklets for prices ranging from $3 to $40 or more.
I often put a dollar price for the guide or report in the upper right corner of the front cover, which strengthens the perception that the freebie has value; I don’t think this would be credible on a document labeled a white paper.
I’m wondering what you think about this?
Do you think for a business audience this would work or make sense?
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August 25th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Actually that makes sense if you think of it this way. You’re convincing the person behind the business to pay attention to your white paper. If you give it a dollar amount, you’re increasing its perceived value to that individual.
And that’s just my opinion from having to choose what to download and pass on to my busy colleagues. I don’t pass on items that don’t list a value on them, but if its there, the perceived value seems to draw my eye into it a little quicker.
Maybe the person who knows more about the psychology behind this action would be able to answer this better.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
dianacacy has a good point, but what about the flip side? The reader discovers some ‘untruth’ in your article (say, something that contradicts their belief about a product, or something that smells too much like marketing-talk - not necessarily an actual falsehood). They then look at the cover and say “$20 for this rubbish! I’m glad I didn’t pay that much!”. The reader then perceives not only your article but your entire product line and/or company as not offering good value for money.
I think that the tactic has potential but you would want to be awfully sure of your writing to be able to pull it off with aplomb.
August 26th, 2008 at 3:11 am
I hope spending money in this case is worse.And the readers automatically come up to you,if your product is good enough.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Assigning value to information that contains informed opinion adds credence to both the authorship and to the organization providing this value as a free or reduced cost inducement to readers. We all get hooked when a report/white paper etc. that has a posted value of $20 and up is offered for free. The free or half price inducement increases readership especially if the copy has a value in excess of the posted price. This is the old tried and true “bakers dozen” concept taken to the intangible nature of the printed and spoken word:-)
I think that the placing of $$ value on our work causes us to step up and deliver higher quality value added content to our work product. That in the real world ups our value to clients, thus increasing our bottom line. Now that is what makes sense to me. Are you on board with this Mike!
Owen
mentor-one@usa.net
August 26th, 2008 at 8:13 am
What’s the readers’ reaction when they see a price on a white paper that also bears the name and logo of the vendor-sponsor? Even for a professionally written white paper, it may raise credibility questions or distract from the content. It’s one of those questions that would be nice to test but probably never will be. Reports, guides and manuals are a different matter – they’re often sold so a price wouldn’t be out of harmony.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:49 am
I am struck by the thought that we might be viewing writing write papers as a solely elitist activity and our audience as being demanding of a free elite work product. While this may hold true in academia it may not follow in the business and social worlds where the pay for writing significantly exceeds academic stipends. What about separating these reader venues and look at what the expectations and criteria are for each audience. In this way we can better focus on satisfying our readership.
Owen
mentor-one@usa.net
August 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
In a spirit of disclosure, my disabilities cause me to make spelling and syntactical errors when I write on blogs and similar IM services like Wordpress etc. However,when I write for clients, I use modified assistive technology software that is set to function with my computer operating system. The software occasionally malfunctions when I drag and drop text into other programs that are not software compatible.
I apologize for the typos in my comments. Our firm is currently collaborating with a group of college students, researchers and software developers on a fix that should make life a bit easier for members of the disability community with like issues and myself. I offer this as a means of explaining a snapshot of a tiny barrier that people with disabilities may face in the expression our views over the Internet. The project we are working on is the development of a web protocol that will adapt websites to deliver the best viewing experience for all users by personally selecting the viewing mode that works best for each user.
Much of my work focuses on enabling people with disabilities to live, learn and work as independently as technology allows.
Regards,
Owen
August 26th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Owen - You do a great job communicating your thoughts here. I would have NEVER guessed you had disability that is standing between your and your written words. I appreciate your thoughtful contribution here. - Mike
August 26th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I’ve never seen a white paper with dollar label till now…But reading to Bob Bly reason, I think this brave innovation make sense. Anyway, would the readers just believe to the number ? And when they consider that the number is small amount, what would the reaction? Will they still appreciate it?
August 27th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Dear Readers:
We’re living in a world where by communication&information required
investment. I mean cash money to generate ideas that helps people to stimulate their intelligence. I appreciate the innovation of putting money to help the white papers gets running. I share maybe the views with some of your contributors. I do not know!
Ntarugera François
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:15 am
I think it makes a lot of sense. By so doing, you’re already making clear of the intended value and currency of your white paper.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 am
We actually no longer give out “freebies”. We realized that we need to separately the buyers from the browsers online. We started charging $4.95 to join our mailing list. Initially our opt-in rate fell, but our conversion has increased 325%. The people we do have on our list are motivated and interested.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 am
I think it is not worth putting a $ sign on your white paper.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:09 am
For those of you who didn’t subscribe to “bad Mouth”, I am repeating this here so all can consider use using the concept.
We could consider the teaser approach and let people read freely a segment of the white paper and gain value from that segment. Then in order to receive the full value they could buy an unlock code by clicking the Paypal Icon and the balance of the document would unscramble. Just a thought on how to do it with a value involved in advance of payment.
Owen
September 10th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Hi Mike
Thank you for sharing your thoughts; I now understand the difference between a white paper and a report.
Now following on from Owen’s idea above, what is your opinion on selling reports online?
Lets assume I want to earn income by conducting research and publishing my findings online; what would you say is a good business model to follow? I’ve been looking at websites such as Gartner’s and I find it deeply interesting that they sell 5-page reports for hundreds of dollars.
What are your thoughts on this? Pardon the loaded question; perhaps this warrants a follow-up blog-post.
Cheers from Cape Town.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Kosta - I have no problem with selling reports online. Just don’t call it a white paper.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I’m more curious about how companies can justify the prices they slap on reports.
If I walk into a local bookstore, I can purcahse a 300-page book, whose author spent a great deal of time researching, for under $30, Yet online I’ve seen 3-page reports being sold for $300.
What gives?
September 10th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Kosta,
The secret to pricing is in the volume of purchases. A book publisher that sells 100,000 copies and shares 10% with the author of a $30 book writes you a check for $300,000. If 100 people order a report at $100 you will gross $10,000 and have expenses. If you share revenue with the Internet publisher at 50 percent each you would have a $5,000 payday. The secret is in defining the total potential “buy-in” market and research what the going rate is in that / those markets and price accordingly to attain the highest volume profit matrix. Also those names are a potential source of added revenue.
Owen
mentor-one@usa.net
November 19th, 2008 at 1:34 am
I think if it is a reputable/well known company they can ofcourse put a price on their report or research paper. It is probably more difficult to achieve if you are an individual. A well established readership will always pay if they know that you produce quality. It is like with any product brand, better brand higher price but better quality (usually).
December 14th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
If you have something that is interesting or highly controversial then more often than not people will buy. Explore something you’ve never done or travel to a distant place and do research. The niche markets for this are things that require you to go out on a stretch, that’s when you can leave the competition behind.
January 5th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Anything that is quality and can enable its readers to benefit from it financially should have a price on it. If you are a fairly well known/qualified(?) writer and your works convey information on how to gain advantages in a market sector, business etc then you should be rewarded for your work.
January 19th, 2009 at 3:03 am
I agree with the above three strongly. Knowledge is power, and it should not be free. The internet has caused a lot of people to believe all electronic data should be free, whether this is because of the p2p craze or the belief that something that doesn’t have a physical presence shouldn’t be paid for, I don’t know. I’ve read on another author’s blogs that some people have the ignorance and cheek to ask them to write things for them for free.
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:32 am
I agree Jason, the idea of free data and piracy is mainly attributed to P2P. It is so easy for people to access any of their favorite games, music and videos for the cost of a few minutes download time. The effect is that more people believe data should be cheaper or free.
March 18th, 2009 at 1:49 am
I would not put it down solely to P2P. P2P has so much publicity because of TV adverts like the ringtones and music ones, as well as irresponsible radio DJs and some search engines.