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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!Holbrook.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
From: Holbrook.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Byte reader service cards
Message-ID: <16525@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Feb-84 18:25:06 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.16525
Posted: Tue Feb  7 18:25:06 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Feb-84 06:45:12 EST
Lines: 19

I once worked for a company that specifically requested that Byte run
it's ads WITHOUT the little reader service number.  Seems that when they
had the number in the ad, they would get hundreds of addresses of
people.  They would spend the time stuffing the envelopes and spend the
postage to mail out the info, and would only get a few queries in
response to their info.  Their theory was that many people would send in
the card every month, circling any numbers for any ads that looked even
halfway interesting.  Of course, they really had no intention of buying
- they just wanted the literature.

They had the same problem at trade shows - if they put the brochures
right out front, they would run out very quickly because many people
pick up all the literature they could get.  Of course, if you came up
and asked some questions, they would be happy to give you a brochure.

Of course, one way to interpret the lack of response is that their
product wasn't interesting after all ....

	Paul Holbrook