Incentives, endorsements and testimonials

Incentives

An incentive is something additional to the product that is offered as an inducement. An environmental charity might offer a free address book made from recycled, chlorine-free paper to new members. If you are considering offering an incentive, ask yourself:

• What incentive?
• At what cost?
• Is it appropriate?
• Would it boost sales by enough to cover the cost of the incentive?

Service organisations can also use incentives to advantage. For example, a drop-in centre for single parents might offer free children's activities or free refreshments as an inducement to get parents in.

Endorsements

You may be able to make effective use of endorsements to enhance your products. A celebrity endorsement is one option, but there are plenty of other types of endorsements such as that given by an impartial authoritative source such as 'Accredited by the British Dental Association.'

Testimonials

Testimonials are favourable comments from people who have actually used the product or service. Comments of service users or funders can be very powerful - see The power of testimonials: The Inside Out Trust case study.

Find out more about other marketing issues and examples in the In more depth section.