Question

Topic: MProfs PRO Seminar Q&A

Free Seminar Response Rate

Posted by Anonymous on 12/5/2010 at 6:41 PM ET 250 Points
What is the response rate for a free seminar? I hear stats all over the place, ranging from .001 to 2 to 5%! I am a PhD, author, and expert in the subject matter and will give them two solid hours of no obligation free information. I am using a very targeted mailing list.

If I offer an AM seminar and a afternoon seminar for free, with a room that can hold 120 (total 240), how many postcards should I mail in order to fill my room?

Next question: It will be a two step seminar, and I will give a 5 minute commercial at the end to attend my all day paid seminar complete with work book and my free book. Rough guess, how many people will sign up for a 395.00 seminar?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 12/5/2010 at 9:32 PM Accepted
    It's impossible to predict. It depends on the marketing and the benefit perceived by your target audience ... and on some dumb luck.

    I've given free seminars, not unlike yours, advertised it in local newspapers, and had 25 show up. And then did it again in the same market and had 110. Same ad, same location, same subject -- just a different day.

    And then we advertised the very same seminar in a smaller market and had 90 people show up during a snowstorm.

    So there's no good rule of thumb. The best thing you can do is make sure you market it effectively ... good copy, the right media, a compelling benefit story. And maybe you'll get lucky.

    Also, we learned that there are some markets that were consistently better for us than others. And we still don't know why.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 12/6/2010 at 2:38 PM Member
    (Aside: If the room can hold 120, but only 60 people sign up, arrange the room to make it feel "full".)

    To answer your 2nd question: it depends on (1) how well targeted your audience and (2) how "wow!" your free seminar is and (3) how clear the perceived value is for the paid seminar.

    Also - you're much better off getting people to prepay for the next seminar while they're in attendance (give 'em a deal that if they're slightly interested in, that they'd feel silly passing up). Once they leave, the probability for sign ups is dramatically reduced.
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