In the audiologist profession, it’s difficult to convert prospects into clients.
One strategic tactic is to build your leads with a free hearing test, hoping they will continue with your other service and purchase custom-fit hearing aids.
The effectiveness of offering free service is based on the product you sell, your culture, industry sentiments, and your relationship with your clients.
It’s popular to offer free services as a marketing strategy.
In our consumerist world, businesses constantly give free stuff, hoping to get sales later.
- When I go to the beauty store, I’m offered free samples.
- If I want to learn about something online, I give my email in exchange for free downloadable information.
- If I want to see a nutrition specialist, I’m offered a free consultation to assist with my health.
All of these are marketing strategies set up by companies to get me to buy eventually.
Some companies offer free services to kill competition.
In some industries, competitors use free tactics to make the barrier to entry difficult for other new and old businesses to compete in their market.
This is a common tactic in the tech industry, and big companies with so much wealth create free products. Google attracts Microsoft’s market share by offering free Word, Excel, and PowerPoint versions.
Amazon has intentionally and successfully killed many e-commerce businesses by offering free shipping and handling. While many other small businesses couldn’t because it would eat up their profit.
However, we’ve jumped into this tactic without assessing whether it works. This article helps us understand whether giving free is the best move.
Free service can alter the industry’s business model
Giving things away for free can hurt an industry in the long run.
We saw this happen in the music industry. The music industry saw a huge shift in how fans engaged. It was once that musicians made their money selling CDs. The digitization of music lured people to devalue song creation because they could hear it for free on Spotify or $1 when iTunes was around.
Record sales have decreased from $20 billion in 2019 to $5 billion today.
Now, music creation has become a free marketing tool. People value artists who can earn more revenue from concerts and live performances. Live performance revenues increased from less than 1 billion in 1995 to over 12 billion in 2016.
Should we be zig-zagging because everyone else is doing it?
Should we assume that giving away free service will, in return, bring business?
Let’s look at it from both sides.
The argument against the free hearing test
- Giving away something for free will attract the wrong customers—those who cannot afford it or are not willing to take the next step because they choose to pay someone else whom they perceive as more valuable.
- Free reduces the perceived value of the product. Any worthwhile thing should have a price.
- Free comes at a cost, and resentment comes when the return money is absent. The time and resources you put into providing a free hearing test should be itemized as marketing expenses.
- Free can be a perceived sacrifice to the client. It could be time, effort or personal information they do not want to return. People might not want to reveal so much about themselves in exchange for the free service.
- The paid service must be seen as more valuable than the free service. If the experience is consistent across the paid and free services, people will struggle to differentiate the two and will perceive the paid service as too expensive.
The argument for the free hearing test
The argument for free falls under the umbrella of behaviour change. It removes the barrier of clients deciding if they should take the next step. It is much easier when there is a cost to it.
- Free is the most effective way to build leads and become known to clients.
- Free can help you build trust.
- Free can help you learn more about your audience.
- The theory of reciprocity comes into play. Being generous will make others feel the need to return.
The business of giving things away for free came from several research studies, which indicated the psychological implications of providing free services.
Endowment Effect
The endowment effect applies when people get a free service and feel obligated to keep it.
In hearing care, a hearing test will be less effective than receiving a trial hearing aid. Once people have their hands on the hearing aids and can quickly see the benefits, they are most likely to stick with the service. A free trial will give them the experience to want to keep returning.
Zero price effect
This effect works well for price comparison. More people are attracted to the product priced at zero than if it was reduced, but one still had to pay. For example, a book that was once $1 and is now $0 will get more people interested than a book that was $2 and is now $1.
To capture the zero-price effect, one could highlight the actual cost of the hearing test and show the price reduction to zero.
However, this can backfire if people perceive it as a sacrifice they must pay. This is even more important when a hearing test reveals that someone needs hearing aids, or when someone takes it to prove their hearing is fine. Now, the person is suddenly heading into a life change they do not want.
Some people will use hearing tests to make changes in their lives, but they should have limited perceived stigma or have enough experience to see the benefits of hearing aids.
Hearing tests will only convert if one is ready and willing to fix the problem.
Reciprocity Effect
Many people in marketing believe in the reciprocity theory. The theory is that if you give people things for free, they will likely buy from you later.
How well should this play in hearing care?
The idea of reciprocity is that you will not receive anything in exchange. Your attempt to provide free services is to show kindness and generosity. However, most audiologists use hearing tests with the hope of winning business.
Reciprocity works well when the relationship is strong, the timing is right, and returning to the business requires little effort. One study has proven that reciprocity works best for existing customers when people already have the opportunity to trust you.
In your case, that would mean that you have met with the person several times or were quickly able to establish rapport. You can get them to buy hearing aids right away (don’t expect them to return in a couple of months), and it isn’t too much effort for them to return (they don’t live two hours away, where they can go to someone nearby).
Your free hearing test must stand out to make people want to change and continue your service. As consumers, we expect good customer service at a minimum, and something more than that needs to happen.
The main reason free hearing tests exist is not as an effective tool to generate leads but to undermine competition in the hearing care industry. However, there are some benefits you can leverage to make it effective for lead generation.
Don’t stop your free hearing test offer just right away
Here are a few takeaways to make it work for you.
- Your customers have to want to buy hearing aids if they need them. No stigma or beliefs should prevent them from wanting to wear them.
- Relationships are critical to getting people to respond to free offers. You must invest in developing rapport quickly to get people to return the favour. The closer the bond people have, the more effective your free service will be.
- Customers must have the means to buy. The test would bring a return on investment for people who can purchase your service. If they can’t buy the product, you are wasting your time unless you want to be generous.
- Highlight the value of the free hearing test. Most clients have no idea what it costs to get a hearing test, and highlighting the cost will help people understand its true value.
- Carefully track the number of hours of free services you are providing and the number of conversions. Check for long-term profitability. Doing too many free services for little return can hinder your growth in the long term.