The idea From an international research consultancy One of the best offers I ever ran for a client was a pocket calculator that we bought in for £3 as an incentive on a £550 reference book. We had librarians falling over themselves to place their orders and saw a big uplift in response. For a cheap calculator. These people must have owned at least two calculators each already. But it was free. (And let’s remember that “free” is one of the best words any copywriter has at his or her fi ngertips.) If you’re not already using offers to lift response on your mailings, now would be an excellent time to start testing. Here are a few things to remember:
Always limit your offer. Either by time, which is probably the most common way, or by quantity. To limit by time, you could say, “Reply by October 31st and you’ll save 10%.” Or “Remember, you must reply
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by October 31st to claim your free pen.” To limit by quantity, you could try “The fi rst 100 people to reply will each get a free clock.” Or “Reply today. If you’re one of the lucky 50, you’ll be spending a day at a luxury health spa.”
Always repeat your offer. In a mailpack you’ve got the outer, the letter, and the brochure and you may also have a reply envelope. These are all opportunities to reinforce the message that they could get FREE STUFF for replying. But couch the offer in varying language so you don’t simply repeat yourself.
Consider putting your offer in your main headline. Lots of very successful promotions lead on the offer; for example, a headline might say “Get £10 of dry cleaning vouchers when you send us your fi rst suit.” Test your offers. Do people respond better to the offer of free stuff when they order at full price, or do they like the idea of a discount?
Whatever you decide to do, bear in mind that everyone likes getting a good deal and everyone wants something for nothing.
In practice • Make the offer fi t the action required. Offering a gift worth £100 for a buying decision valued at £50 looks odd. Your respondent is likely to think “What’s the catch?” • If you’re offering a saving on the full price, try to express it as both a percentage saving and a cash amount: different things appeal to different people.

(taken from Andy Maslen book)