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The Kelly Letter's Low-Cost Philosophy
The low price of The Kelly Letter is a mystery to many
visitors. If the price is so cheap, could it be any good?
The answer is an unequivocal yes. When you return to the letter's
information page, you'll see that it beats the most famous and
expensive services on the market. In fact, I'm a top-rated market
forecaster at CXO Advisory, an independent auditor.
What's more interesting to me, though, is not that my service is
so affordable, it's that the others are so expensive. After all, email
delivery is cheap. With a high volume of subscribers being
served so quickly and cheaply, why haven't prices come down?
Greed, naturally.
The usual way that investment services are marketed goes something
like this:
Leads see an ad and visit a teaser web page.
The teaser page makes an outrageous
claim ("You Can Make At Least 627% In 3 Months...Guaranteed!")
or asks a rhetorical question ("Have YOU Prepared Your Family
For The Worst Financial Crisis In World History?").
The copy then goes on at length with exhaustive repetition
of the selling points, but no real information. All subheads are
versions of the hyperbole mentioned above.
When it comes time to reveal the price, leads are taken
through several softening stages to give an image of deep
discount, such as "This alone would be worth the unbelievably
low price, but there's more!" and "We'll even include with
your subscription ten free reports, each worth $59.95. That's
a $600 value in itself!"
The close is usually time-sensitive ("Act NOW to lock in this
once-in-a-lifetime bargain!") with a reminder of how
cheap the about-to-be-revealed price is ("What would you expect
something this valuable to cost? $400 per year? $800 per year?
More than $1,000 per year? It should undoubtedly be priced at
those levels, but we're making this one-time exclusive offer
at just $149 per year!").
I know because I used to market my print-based newsletter
precisely that way. There was a usual price that was always
slashed to 50% off if people acted now. There were
free reports. There were incentives to sign-up for two years
to save even more -- good today only, of course. I've
used all the direct marketing gimmicks to boost my
business.
But you know what? I realized that I don't like
treating people that way. I myself grew tired of it everywhere
I turned. One day, a restaurant manager handed me a coupon
for 25% off my next meal. I was elated and wanted to come back.
Later, I saw the same deal advertised in the paper and a
friend mentioned to me that even the menus had been changed
to show the "usual" price crossed out and the discount price
in bold. In short, the coupons were a farce. The food was
always priced that low. I didn't appreciate the trickery.
A favorite ski resort sent me a $10 off coupon. When I drove
there, they charged me $10 for parking when it had been free
before. Some bargain, eh?
We all know that the price we see on a
new car is never the price we pay. Have you wondered
why not? Is it a rule that we have to be lied to and
tricked whenever we buy something?
Then one day, I received a mailer from a neighborhood car
mechanic that said he ran a small shop, but that he used to
work for a global car company and was every bit as good as
the gleaming dealer shops, and one-third cheaper. To prove it
to me, he offered an oil change, air filter change, wiper fluid
refill, 21-point
inspection, and full car wash for a guaranteed rate of
$39, all inclusive, even the tax. I knew the standard price
at other shops to be $59, plus tax.
Then I read something else
that showed me he understood what I and so many others were
tired of experiencing. He wrote, "And I won't try to sell you
anything else." That did it for me. I went.
My car was serviced by a friendly man in a clean
uniform while I waited in a comfortable room and drank a cup
of juice and ate a cookie. When my car was finished, I went
to the register expecting something to go wrong. I had the
mailer in my pocket, highlighted and ready for argument. That's
how conditioned I am to being ripped off. In this case, I was
dealing with honesty. The register rang up to $39 even.
I handed over two $20s and got a crisp dollar back. And you
know what? He didn't try to sell me anything else.
I left and thought, "This is how I want to run my business."
That's why you see the low price of The Kelly Letter
at the top of the information page. No gimmicks. You want to
know the cost? It's $5.48 a month, all inclusive. Always. You
don't have to act now (though I hope you do!). It'll be the
same price tomorrow, and next month.
You don't have to read 5,000 words about the end of the financial
world and how I'm going to save you from it, and show how you can
not just avoid catastrophe but profit while others go bankrupt.
Does anybody really fall for that stuff anymore? Sadly, yes. But
not here, for several reasons.
First, the financial world isn't ending. It didn't end when that
sensational hook was first used forty years ago, nor thirty years
ago, nor twenty, nor ten, nor one, nor now when I still read
variations on the theme.
Second, it's dishonest to claim to have all the answers.
I don't have them. I'm a top-ranked market forecaster and a
bestselling financial author, and you know how
I feel looking at the markets every day? Nervous. There are a lot
of very smart people trying to make money in the markets.
I have to be smarter. That's a tall order and one filled with
enough risk to keep any clear-thinker humble. To claim some kind
of special insight into Doomsday's calendar is laughable.
Third, that's just not how investing works. It's a slow, methodical
discipline that is best approached with a level head, not cries
of disaster or champagne-popping claims of riches. Around here,
I keep racking up steady returns over time. This is not the
lottery.
So, the price is revealed to you immediately. That really is
all you pay. You really
can cancel at any time.
The ability to cancel your own payments at any time is another
feature I feel good to offer. Most subscription services control
the financial side of the relationship. If you want to stop
being charged, you have to fill out a form or pick up the phone
and make the request. So many times, those requests just happen
to not get taken care of before the next billing cycle. Then
you're back on the phone asking for a reversal of charges or
firing off an angry email before waiting to see if you'll
ever get your money back. We've all been there.
That's not how it works here. If you ever want to stop the
$5.48 monthly payment, just go to your PayPal account and
click to cancel. You have complete control. I can't keep
charging you once you cancel. It's
comforting to know that, don't you think?
After constantly looking over your shoulder to see how you're
getting ripped off, you should feel that you've found an
oasis of integrity here. Like the mechanic, I can say that
I'm every bit as good as the expensive guys, just more affordable.
To prove it to you, I'm offering my newsletter at $5.48 a month,
all inclusive, with the ability to cancel
future payments yourself.
What I can't offer are juice and cookies.
To continue reading the information page from where you left off, please
click here.
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