Sometimes a good list, sparkling creative, and a compelling offer aren't enough, and prospects need an extra inducement to get them to respond to your campaign. At times like this, offering some type of special incentive - a sweepstakes drawing or a free gift, perhaps - can make a big difference.

Promotions need to be approached with caution, however. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Always test a segment of your campaign with no special offer. By doing so, you'll establish a benchmark against which to measure what effect the promotion had (if any), and whether the increase in response outweighed the cost of the promotion.

• Be wary of making your promotion "open ended." In the Internet era, even a promotion that's time-limited ("register by April 30 ...") means thousands, if not millions of people could potentially respond. If your promotion involves a free gift, no matter how small the cost, place a limit on the total quantity ("be one of the first 500 to respond ...")

• Promotions often increase response at the expense of lead quality. As such, they're best implemented when your priority is lead volume, not quality, and when you have structured follow-up campaigns in place to maximize the value of every response.

• You can minimize the negative effect that promotions have on lead quality by making the offer relevant to your product or service. Offer a discount for first-time buyers, or a free book that addresses the same issues that your product solves (for example, a book on job search strategies to promote an employment Web site.)

• On the Web, it's sometimes best to only introduce the special offer on the back end of the campaign, at the splash page. In this way, you'll generate only those responses attracted by your core message, and the free gift will increase your conversion rate - the percentage of people who actually fill out your response form.