How many years has it been?

Before there was even a FreeOfferDetective.com there was just a group of internet marketers that thought the best way to approach bargain hunting on the web was to have an educated clientele base. 

Great, where do they get their diplomas? 

No, not that kind of education!  The average bargain hunter needs an education based on relevant information.  So, okay, answer these two questions about ‘relevant information’:

• what would it look like?
• how would it be provided to the bargain-hunting internet user?

Wow, you ask a lot of questions for someone from New Jersey.  (Are we dating ourselves with that line from Roseanne Rosanadana?)

But, when the marketers stopped to give those questions some thought, the consensus was that the method of providing the information was likely going to be a lot easier than deciding the form it would take. 

Rule #1

To their credit the group started by putting themselves in the place of internet consumers, and they began their research with that idea foremost.  They found that there was certainly a lot of free stuff (the best kind of bargains!).  But there was one genre of ‘free stuff’ that caught their eye(s) almost immediately.  These were the “free rewards” sites that required certain consumer interactions in order to “qualify” for the free items. 

These sites certainly had free stuff, but it was more than samples, or coupons, or sweepstakes.  It was a laptop, or a $1,000 gift card.  It was always very attractive, in-demand items that could easily have been sold for a “deep discount” and would still have had plenty of interested customers. 

But, free?  No way.

“How can they do that and still stay in business?” the group asked themselves. 

Formulating strategy

And the rest, as they say, is history.  The researchers started looking into the offers from the standpoint of consumers; as if they were potential participants—and, to a certain extent they were.  As they explored deeper into these sites, they began to discover that there was, in fact, a dollar offset from “free” but, while it was often reasonable, it never was actually zero.  But, they also found that with a little strategy (and timing), some good bargains could be found. 

Voila: better informed consumer

This “strategy participation” is the information that would educate the online bargain hunter.  Solid, actionable information could be placed into the hands of the consumer, and that would keep them in control of the decision to participate in a particular site or not. 

The group then found that the process for gathering this information felt as if they were detectives on various cases.  It seemed to be right out of the old movies based on the Hammett and Chandler mysteries.  (There we go dating ourselves again.)  And that sleuthing provided the theme and the name of their new informational web site with review articles on the offers.

FreeOfferDetective.com

The Distinction Is Pretty Subtle

We’re sorry.  It’s probably our fault.

Maybe we haven’t drawn the distinction clearly enough, but there is still some confusion about that term “free” when it comes to the Free Offer (FO) giveaway sites. 

And, that’s because sometimes you can’t tell the players without a program.

“The Secretary Will Disavow any Knowledge…”

Right up front, the FO web site owners tell you that the offering vendors on the three selection pages have nothing to do with the main incentive item, its purchase, or its disposition. That’s strictly handled by the marketers who own the web site. They also tell you that the national brand name company whose logo is on the incentive item being offered likewise has no knowledge that their item is being used as an FO attraction.

Yes, You Will Leave Money at the Website…But That Doesn’t Count

All the web site owners are telling you is, in order to get the main incentive item that “headlines” their front page, you will need to participate in a number of offers made by their clients on the silver/gold/platinum selection pages. And yes, participating in those offers will cost you some cash. But, that’s different. Your credit card will be lighter than when you first came onto their web site, but since they only control the incentive item and not the individual ad/offers, whatever you spend on those doesn’t make the main item less free.  Are we together, so far, Bargain Seekers?

So, How Cheaply Can You Still Arrive at the Prize?

What you should really take a look at is how much of a monetary trade-off will you have to make in order to achieve the incentive item. In other words, how cheaply can you get away with qualifying for said item? And guess what? That’s what the review articles at FreeOfferDetective.com will show you on the selected sites that they research.

Are We Overlooking Hidden Value?

We’ve never spent a lot of time talking about the optional survey pages because they were always…well, optional.  These are the dozen or so pages of questions that are located right after the registration form at the beginning of the offer selection process.  They inquire about various consumer habits and circumstances (auto loans, residential issues, debt, health, etc.) which, after completion, offer products that address the answers that most directly apply to those who have just answered the survey questions.  And, just a quick look over the types of surveys presented show some interesting trends, if not about online shopping bargains, then certainly about society overall.

The Most Common Questions

A cross section of the survey pages from several free offer sites reveals that the most common surveys (21.3%) dealt with higher education opportunities.  The second highest number of questions dealt with the growing population of America’s elderly with a 20.3% combination of retirement-related offers (4.6%) and free glucose meters for diabetics (15.7%).  Next came questions with equal percentages (6.5%) each for home ownership, a particular brand of residential security system, and various health coverage plans.  Surprisingly, a topic which we thought would have a much higher percentage of inquiries were debt-related offers comprising a barely noticeable 3.7%, which also happened to be the same percentage of questions about selling or renting timeshare properties. 

What Good Do They Do?

Another thing we noticed was that many questions dealt with offers made by several “middle man” entities which did little more than offer a liaison between consumers and various services such as debt counselors, college registrars, and auto loan specialists.

Upon completion of our survey of the surveys, our opinion of their usefulness and value to the consumers was unchanged: they should remain strictly optional to the overall qualification for the main incentive item of the free offer site.  Although, we must admit, we did receive a nice glucose meter for free.

A Shopping Drama in Three Acts 

Most free offer (FO) sites present their wares in three stages:

• The Preliminaries
• The “Money Pages”
• The Bonus Round 

Act One – Introduction

The preliminaries include the front page display of the “headliner” incentive item which attracted your attention in the first place.  You will receive this item for free if you qualify for it by participating in a required number of ad/offer banners on the three selection pages that follow.  Said participation will not be free, which is a bone of contention for the uninitiated who don’t realize that the offer of the free incentive item is being made by the web site owner, NOT by their individual clients who rent space on that web site to advertise their products for sale. 

Then comes the registration form where you provide an email address and your personal demographic information. After registering, you will proceed through several “survey” pages where you may optionally fill out forms that allow you to garner some side benefits.  These may be specific product brand information or some small giveaway item.  When you arrive at these pages, you will find the entry fields already pre-populated with your personal information and, whether you choose to participate in the survey or not, you will likely receive follow-up e-mails and perhaps even correspondence to your registered address. 

Act Two – Where the Rubber Meets the Road

The “money pages” are the focal point of the free offer site and will display a cornucopia of ad/offer banners from the individual brand name companies doing the advertizing on the FO site.  Over the three silver/gold/platinum selection pages there may be as many as 150 ad banners from which to choose.  As mentioned earlier, your choices on these pages will cost money.  And, you must make a specified number of choices per page—usually 2 on each of the first two pages and approximately 9 choices on the last page. 

Act Three – Free Offer Redux

It is becoming increasingly common for free offer sites to provide another complete set of selection pages for you to obtain another incentive giveaway item.  These bonus pages, which are not present on all FO sites, allow you to choose from a list of offered items, then repeat the selection process over another set of silver/gold/platinum pages. 

You will find that although incentive items offered by individual FO sites vary in type and value, the three-part layout of their web pages seem to be a fairly standard design.

Two From Column A

Risk Free Trial

Outright Sale

These are in contrast to the RFTs where the shipping charges vary depending upon where you live, and the post-trial membership fees are usually found in the offer’s fine print. Nothing wrong with that, certainly, but that is a distinction separating the two categories of offers.

Here’s wishing you the Best of Bargains,

Head FOD
FreeOfferDetective.com

Dare We Say It? Free Offers Are Not Free!

If that statement is a shocking truth to some people, well…then, they just haven’t been paying attention.  Consumer edification is one of the reasons why we’ve developed this little review web site.  (Look, there’s a commercial message before we even get out of the first paragraph!) 

But, seriously, why would these offers really be free—meaning without cost?  Just because they say they are?  We refuse to believe that the most discriminating shoppers in the world have become that gullible.  And, they haven’t, of course.

Why Would Valuable Items Be Offered Totally Free?

The most casual of observers, if they’re honest with themselves, just have to know that the incentive items used by free offer sites (laptop, $1,000 gift card, airline tickets, etc.) couldn’t actually be free since they all have relatively substantial (i.e., not cheap) dollar values.  Surely we haven’t become that much of a something-for-nothing society.  At least, not yet in the marketplace.   

“Well then,” some would say, “they should be prevented from using the term ‘free.’ ” 

Really? And who will enforce that rule, the government?  Oh, please!

The Other “Free”

The free marketplace doesn’t need any more government meddl… er…uh… monitoring than it already has.  And that’s another reason why this web site has come into existence…to help keep the free marketplace just that way. Free. Not Utopian, certainly, just Unfettered—which is yet another definition of the word.  Laissez-faire as our libertarian friends would say.  (Those are the real kinds of ‘free’ to believe in.) 

What would be infinitely more useful than more government oversight is a well-informed consumer base that is kept aware of the nuances of online advertising and marketing.  Which, amazingly enough, brings us back to the original reason for FreeOfferDetective.com.  We want people to know more about these free offer sites so they can be better informed in order to base their decisions to participate (or not) on their freedom of choice rather than on what somebody says.

Please Join Us To Make Us Better

We’d certainly like to hear from others who have any kind of opinion or comment about these free offer sites.  Or on anything else you’d care to talk about in the vein of internet marketing or online bargain hunting.  (We know this opening post didn’t put a smile on everyone’s face. Let’s hear from you.) We’re brand new and can make new categories of posts up in the yellow menu bar.  Come grow and learn with us. Subscribe now. 

Here’s wishing you the Best of Bargains,

Head FOD
FreeOfferDetective.com