That's not selling, that's giving it away

This morning's post brought forth its usual mix of junk mail, most of which could have been classified as a series of 3 month trial offers.

The logic seems to be that once you, dear reader, have used the service for a period you will be so overwhelmed by the value you have been able to uncover that you will happily sign on for a full subscription. More likely, since you need to provide your bank details in order to qualify for the 3 month trial, you will be forgetful enough not to cancel the subscription before your bank pays the subscription on your behalf.

This looks like a very lazy sales technique. If the offer has real value then the 3 month trial shouldn't be necessary, the copy should make it crystal clear to the readers that this offer will satisfy real wants or cravings that they have. Do some research, establish what the value proposition is and develop some proper copy. Selling may not be easy, but giving the service away for 3 months is unimaginative. There wasn't a lot of similarity between the services being promoted in my junk mail pile except the offers that were being used to promote them.