9.6
Why “Shipping on us” will always beat “Free shipping.”

The other day, I listened to current world chess champion Magnus Carlson talk about sacrificing pieces for tactical advantages in chess. 

It got me thinking about how discounts — which sacrifice profit for buyers — work similarly.

However unlike a sacrifice in chess (in which one player’s gain is another’s loss) a discount can help both the brand and shoppers.

And one of the most interesting things in marketing, at least for me, is the fact that how a discount is framed determines in large part how well it works.

Which brings me to the word “free.”

In 1911, copywriting pioneer Claude Hopkins created a campaign for Palmolive, which at the time was positioned as a beauty item for women. Hopkins ran full page ads in local newspapers announcing that Palmolive was planning to “buy a cake of Palmolive for every woman who applied.” He then ran subsequent ads with coupons that women could use to get a ten-cent cake.

Palmolive went on to become the category leader.

Years later, Hopkins wrote in his memoir that during the campaign he avoided the word “free.” He thought it would do psychological damage to the brand. Palmolive’s sacrificial pledge – to buy something for customers – worked better because it showed “supreme confidence in the belief that [its cakes] will please.”

This morning, I was researching note-taking apps and found one offering a “14-day free trial”

I didn’t sign up.

Then I wondered if I would have if the offer was “First 14 days on us.”