The Cost of "Free"

Image from http://info.thespotonagency.com/blog/bid/280566/Will-the-word-free-boost-or-kill-your-e-mail-marketing-objectives via Pinterest.

This is an insightful post by Brooke McAlary of Slow Your Home that I found on Becoming Minimalist.

Have you thought about the free items that seemed like a deal at the time, but now clutter your house (or the thrift store, or a landfill)??

Reading this made me think long and hard about free items I include with Etsy sales. Several customers have left feedback that they love what I included (usually a travel tissue pack). Not all have. How many of those tissue holders are being used? I have no idea.

Instead of including a freebie, a customer might really appreciate a coupon incentive to come back to my shop. If it goes unused, then it's just a digital series of letters and numbers that never ends up as trash. If it's used, it likely will cost me, as a business owner, the same that it cost for me to produce the tissue holder in supplies and labor. Even if it costs more, that seems worth it not to contribute to accumulated clutter or trash.

Look for a new coupon code the next time you purchase something from my shop!