All day you can receive emails offering you products and services. As you surf, ads constantly appear on the screen. To most of us this is just so much background noise. We have learned to tune these out and delete any spam that does get past the filter without reading it.

So what sort of offer would motivate you to even read it, much less act on it?

1. Something recommended by a friend or relative.
2. A good product. 
3. A good price. 
4. A special incentive for the person to act quickly. 

What would motivate a friend or relative to recommend a product?

1. A good product. 
2. A good price. 
3.  A special incentive for the person to make the referral.

At ccs-digital.com we sell ink and toner cartridges. We discovered a very unique product - a two-piece cartridge where the ink is kept in a separate container inside the main cartridge. When the ink is empty, you can replace just the ink tank and keep the frame and chip. This saves the cost of a new chip. Ink tanks are $2.00 - $2.50 depending on model. With Staples and Office Depot offering $2 back for empty tanks, our customers are getting their ink for 50 cents or even free. People love free. An email with the subject, "I found a place which gives you free ink for your printer!" almost guarantees it will be opened, particularly if it's coming from a friend or relative. As for the price, it's hard to beat free.

Now for the incentive: we offer a free cartridge to the person referred to our site and to the person making the referral. This means each new customer costs us two cartridges. That's still a lot more cost-effective than pay-per-click, where we paid for clicks with no guarantee they resulted in a sale. We also offer two more tiers of commissions for people who are more motivated.

They can join our affiliate program and be give a code they can embed in emails they send out. They will receive 10% of all sales made using that code. Or they can become resellers and receive a 20% discount plus all the bonuses we already offer such as:

1) repeat customer bonus - returning customers ordering 10 or more cartridges get a free one.

2) double-and-free bonus - every time an order is doubled, an extra cartridge is added. Instead of buying an 7-pack, the customer buys two 7-packs, they get 15. If they double that, they get 31. That's 3 free cartridges.

So a returning reseller ordering two 15-packs will get not only 20% off but also 4 free cartridges.

We spend no money on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon or other adwords programs. They have all proven ineffective in our market. But we get many returning customers and many new customers referred by current ones.

About the Author

Izzy Goodman is President of Complete Computer Services, www.ccs-digital.com, a firm offering web design, SEO and sales of ink and toner cartridges. He has been writing articles on computer-related topics and e-commerce for over ten years.