THE SECRETS OF A 10%CONVERSION RATE

by Paul Hancox

Version 1.0.1

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YOUR RIGHTS

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distribution. You do not have the right to reproduce,redistribute or resell this publication in any form, without a

valid resale license acquired directly from the author.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

© 2008 Paul Hancox. All rights reserved.

Whilst the author and publisher has made every reasonable effortto ensure this publication is free from error, neither author, publisher

nor distributor assume any responsibility for errors, omissions orcontrary interpretation of the subject matter herein.

This publication is an information product, and is not intended foruse as a source of legal, accounting or tax advice.

The reader assumes all responsibility for the use of the materialsand information herein, including adherence to all applicable laws

and regulations.

No guarantees of income, sales or results are claimed, and figuresare given for example purposes only.

Any perceived slights of persons, peoples or organizations isunintentional.

The author and publisher (along with the distributor) assume noresponsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of any purchaser

or reader of these materials.

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Contents

Chapter 1 – Internet Marketing, The Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 2 – The Product: The Thing That Will Make Or Break Your Conversion Rate

2.1 How To Develop A Product That Is Virtually Guaranteed To Convert Well2.2 How To Pick Winning Affiliate Products

Chapter 3 – Choosing Your Marketing Model

3.1 Improve Your Conversion Rate By Testing Different Models

Chapter 4 – Testing: The Golden Key

4.1 Split Testing – Anyone Can Do It!4.2 Gary Halbert Says The Most Important Thing To Test Is Not The Headline, But This...4.3 Why Testing Is So Important For Affiliate Marketers, And How To Do It4.4 Six Important Principles Of Split Testing4.5 Multivariate Testing4.6 The Controversial Yet Powerful “Flow Testing” Technique4.7 How To Use Flow Testing Effectively

Chapter 5 – Pre-selling Power

5.1 Site Pre-Selling5.2 Blog Pre-Selling5.3 Powerful Blog Pre-Selling Techniques5.4 How To Get People Addicted To Your Blog In 5 Easy Steps5.5 Tips For Creating An Effective Blog Presence5.6 Email Pre-Selling

Chapter 6 – Super Conversion Sales Techniques, or “How Direct Salespeople Achieve 20-40% Conversion Rates”

6.1 Selling In “Steps”

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6.2 Understanding The Customer's “State” At Each Step Of The Sales Process6.3 Closing Doors6.4 Closing Questions6.5 Price Conditioning, and Price Justification6.6 Creating Urgency6.7 How Are These Things Relevant To You?6.8 Using These Techniques On The Internet

Chapter 7 – Creating The Sales Material

7.1 The Sales Letter As An Online Salesperson7.2 Essential Things You Should Know Before You Start Writing Your Sales Copy7.3 Using A Thematic Outline To Get Started7.4 Writing The Copy Itself7.5 Power Tips For Effective Sales Letters7.6 Using Technology In Your Sales Material7.7 Selling With Video

Chapter 8 – Word Of Mouth Secrets They Don't Tell You

8.1 Two Word-Of-Mouth “Secrets” That Can Make A Difference Between 1% And 10% Conversion Rates8.2 How To Use These “Secrets” To Devastatingly Powerful Effect

Chapter 9 – Customer Loyalty and Evangelism

9.1 Buyer's Remorse, And How To Eliminate It9.2 Why It's Important To Give Only Good Experiences9.3 Why Feedback Is So Important, And When To Ask For It9.4 Reward Loyalty

Chapter 10 – Final Insights

10.1 Increasing Conversion From 2% To 20% By Communicating10.2 Bonus Tips

Conclusion, or “Now The Fun Really Begins!...”

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1Internet Marketing, The Jigsaw Puzzle

What do the following companies - Office Depot, Coldwater Creek, Proflowers.com and Tickets.com – have in common?

The answer is, they all achieved a visitor to customer conversion rate of over 10%, according to the Nielsen/NetRatings’ MegaView Retail Report for January 2008. Amazon also came close, with 9.6%. In other words, 9.6% of unique visitors to their site became customers.

On the other hand, many smaller web based businesses, affiliate marketers and bloggers are struggling to achieve conversion rates of just 1% or 2%.

So is there any hope for the average person or business to achieve a high conversion rate?

In a provocatively titled article, “Why You Can’t Have A 10% Conversion Rate”, Craig Danuloff of Commerce360 discussed why he thought the companies in the retail report had achieved such high rates. Here's a sample:

“Three firms sell flowers. Who comparison shops flowers? What would you compare? If you just did something stupid, or tomorrow is ‘the day’ and you just remembered that, you buy the flowers.”

“QVC. What’s their conversion rate for TV viewers? Their website is functionally a cart, so it could be argued that they’ve got 86.2% cart abandonment.” Ia

His article certainly made many valid points. Some people apparently don't comparison shop certain products. And sites like Amazon and eBay are known by just about everyone that doesn't live in an insular Communist society – so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to learn they have conversion rates approaching 10% or higher.

So then, given that many people seem to be struggling to get past 1% or 2%, and that the ones with 10% or more appear to be the big players like

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Tickets.com and Amazon.com, it's not unreasonable for someone to ask,

Is 10% or higher conversion rate realistically achievable for you and I, or do you need to be Amazon to get anywhere close?

As you can probably tell by the title of this report, it certainly is possible for anyone to achieve very impressive conversion rates well above the “average”.

Indeed, hitting that magical figure of 10% isn't nearly as difficult as might first be imagined.

However, it may involve making some dramatic changes to both the way you think about marketing and selling, and the way you do certain things.

First, let me explain what motivated me to write this report, and you'll see what I mean.

As well as several years marketing on the Internet, I've also worked in the field of direct sales (i.e. face to face selling) , where order values were a lot higher than the average sale on the Internet (we're talking thousands of dollars per sale), decisions were gained on the same day as the initial appointment, and the conversion rate of sales to appointments was typically 20% to 40%.

And that got me thinking. How is it that a $7,000 product can be sold face to face with a 20% to 40% conversion rate, and yet so many people are struggling to achieve even 1% or 2% (let alone 10%!) on the Internet?

The medium is different, of course, and there's a lot you can do when physically in front of the customer that is harder to replicate on the Internet – but quite frankly, I think there's a lot more to it than that.

If I were blunt, I'd say that the direct sales company for which I worked had a much better grasp of the psychology of marketing and selling, than many people marketing on the Internet! (I certainly learned a lot from them.)

And this is the reason I wrote this report. It's certainly possible to achieve a much higher conversion rate than the “average”, but it means understanding that there are a lot more factors that go into building an impressive

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conversion rate than one might realize.

Marketing and selling is like a big jigsaw puzzle. Many marketers have a good grasp of certain important pieces, such as “copywriting”, “viral marketing”, “split testing”, “search engine optimization” and so on. There's certainly no shortage of experts for each piece of the puzzle.

However, very few marketers – even the so-called “gurus” - fully grasp all of the pieces. And as each marketing and selling component is just one aspect of a bigger picture, unless you grasp the big picture itself, and how each of the parts work within the larger framework, your business will always operate at less than its full potential.

It's like a car. If one part breaks down, the whole car will either break down, or run less efficiently.

Let me give you a few quick examples of what I mean:

You can have the best sales copy in the world, but if you get a reputation for offering bad customer service, only the bravest or most ignorant may end up using your product.

You could test every element on your site using the latest testing techniques, but if you're not testing the right things, you could making absolutely no impact on your sales.

You can have the best sales funnel, but if nobody visits your site, you're not going to make many sales.

What's Coming Up In This Report?

Now, this report might seem a little “disjointed” at times, so let me explain what you can expect, and why everything appears in the order it does.

I'll start with the most important piece of all – the product itself. This can really make or break your conversion rate, so in Chapter 2 I'll show you how to build a product that will sell easily; or if you're an affiliate marketer, I'll show you how to pick winning products to sell.

In Chapter 3 we'll look at the different ways you can sell your product, and in

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Chapter 4 I'll talk about why testing is so important. I discuss these things before getting into creating your sales material, so you can see the different options available to you. (In particular, my concept of “flow testing” may determine the format of your sales material!)

Chapter 5 will consider the concept of “pre-selling”, and how to use a web site, blog and email list to warm up your potential customers. This can be done even before you have a “sales letter”, and it's much easier to sell to people who have been pre-sold!

In Chapter 6 I will show you how direct sales people achieve 20% to 40% conversion rates, and how you can apply their techniques to your online sales. You'll gain some profound insights into the entire process of selling, which will enable you to create a much more powerful online sales channel.

You'll understand why things such as “understanding states”, “closing doors”, “price conditioning” and “price justification” are so important, and how to create credible offers that really work in creating urgency and utilizing fear of loss. (You'll laugh at those “Buy by midnight” lines after reading this chapter).

Only then will we get into creating the sales material. The reason I don't discuss this in detail until Chapter 7 is because I want you to understand exactly what your material needs to achieve, and what techniques you can use to achieve them.

By this stage, you'll have the knowledge to create a really powerful sales and pre-sales process, so from Chapter 8 onwards we'll look at the other factors that go into building a high conversion rate.

For instance, most people marketing and selling online think they know what “word of mouth” is, but in Chapter 8 I'll reveal two powerful “secrets” of word of mouth that, when applied, could send your conversion rate through the proverbial roof.

And in Chapter 9 we'll look at ways of using your existing customer base to boost your sales and conversion rate even more.

Finally, in Chapter 10 I'll share with you a few more bonus tips, and then I'll attempt to fit all the jigsaw pieces back together again in the Conclusion.

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Who Will Benefit From This Report?

Anyone who is making money, or wants to make money, via the Internet should read this report.

It's for the blogger who wishes to make more money from their blog, and who wants to fully realize how blogging can be a major component in the bigger picture.

It's for affiliate marketers who wish to understand how they can be in more control of their affiliate earnings than they ever imagined – and perhaps even create a product of their own.

And it's for marketers who are selling their own product or service, or are thinking of doing so, to help them see that literally every aspect of their business, from the product itself, to their own attitude, and their existing customer base, has a positive or negative impact on their conversion rates and profits.

Before you delve into the rest of this report, I should add one little disclaimer. You won't find the answer to every technical question here. I have avoided giving technical details of some things (such as “how to set up an autoresponder sequence”), because those kind of details would double the size of this report.

The answers to technical questions are usually a quick Google search or a quick forum post away. Instead, in this report I want to focus on the “bigger picture”, which after reading, I hope you will see with greater clarity.

Finally, I should point out that in this report, when I use the term “product”, I am referring to either a product or a service.

2The Product: The Thing That Will Make

Or Break Your Conversion Rate

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So let's start at the beginning. The single most important influence on your conversion rate is the thing that is probably the least discussed by marketers, and that is the product itself.

In his book “Endless Referrals”, Bob Burg recounted his experience with the friendly local dry cleaning company:

“No matter how well people know us, like us, and trust us as a person, we have to be able to come through for them when they give us their business or referrals. If we can't or don't, we'll be in danger of losing not only their direct business but that of their 250-person sphere of influence as well. For instance, there is a dry cleaning company in my town. The owners and employees are lovely people who I believe try to do a good job. However, it just doesn't seem to work. Personally, I can honestly say I know them, like them, and trust them. Trust them, that is, to do practically anything in the world for me – except clean my suits. Now, the fact that they happen to be dry cleaners doesn't work out particularly well for them. They nearly ruined three of my best suits. They seemed to have trouble following instructions as well. I would tell them that I wanted very light starch on my shirts, but when I'd arrive to pick up my clothes, my shirts would practically be standing at attention waiting for me. It just didn't work out. After a while, despite my positive personal feelings about these people, I felt I could no longer justify either doing business with them directly or giving them my referrals. If they were anywhere close to their competition, they would, to this day, continue to get my direct business as well as my referral business. But they are not, so they don't. Again, all things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.” 2a

This is a great example of how the product or service itself had a massive effect on sales – immediate sales, repeat business and recommendations.

Just think of the repeat business and referrals they were losing, and the negative word of mouth they were generating, simply because their “product” wasn't even “anywhere close” to their competition – and this coming from someone who knew and liked the owners personally!

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To repeat, the single biggest impact on your conversion rate will ultimately be the product itself.

Now, consider it from the point of view of the seller - which one do you think is easier to sell? A great product, or a lousy one?

Here's what I can share with you from my experience in direct sales. On their own, potential customers may not be able to tell whether your product is good or lousy – after all, the salesperson is hardly going to tell them it's lousy, are they?

However, what often made the crucial difference was was whether the potential customer knew someone else who had used the product.

It was a great deal easier to sell to Jim when his friend Bob had used our product before and was happy with it; and ten times harder to sell to Jim if his friend Bob had a bad experience with the product.

So I'm not saying a lousy product can't sell. I'm sure we're all proud owners of a few of them, so somebody at least is buying them!

On the other hand, there are many reasons why a great product can potentially outsell a lousy one – word of mouth being one reason. Repeat business being another. Less refunds being yet another.

Of course, none of us are selling lousy products, are we? All of our products are the best things since the device for slicing bread was invented. They are the pinnacles of perfection embodied in product form, and any tweaking would simply destroy the symmetry, beauty and poetry of our creations - right?

The fact is, if we're honest with ourselves (possibly the most difficult thing for a marketer to do), there's almost certainly room for improvement with our products. It might simply be a question of a little tweaking and refining - with others, well, it might mean nothing less than a complete overhaul.

In this regard, each of us face differing situations. For example, if you're an affiliate marketer, you may have little control over the product itself – but you still have control over what products to promote.

So let's look at the critical issues that most of us will face at some point –

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whether you're a blogger who is currently generating revenue from a third-party ad network (such as Google Adsense), an affiliate marketer who is selling other people's products for a commission, and those who have developed or are thinking of developing their own products.

The three key issues are...

● How to develop a product that is going to be easy to sell,

● How to pick an affiliate product that will sell, and...

● How to to find out the best and worst aspects of your own products to improve your sales and conversion rates.

We'll tackle the first two right now, and come back to the third later on.

2.1 How To Develop A Product That Is Virtually Guaranteed To Convert Well

First, understand that there are no guarantees in life – except perhaps death, taxes, and that you'll probably make it to Stage 2 of that Reader's Digest prize draw. Hence the phrase, “virtually guaranteed”.

Let me share with you a few things about myself. I've sold many successful products in my time marketing on the Internet – and quite a few that have fallen flat.

One of my problems used to be that, I'd come up with what I thought was a great idea, jump right into creating the product, and then I'd try and sell it. Some would sell very well, others wouldn't.

Now, this approach can work if you have a strong marketing channel, but it's very “hit-and-miss”, and spending time and money developing a product that isn't going to sell is a waste of your resources.

Nowadays, I have a much better idea of what works and what doesn't, but the very best thing you can do before you even start to make a product is to do some market research.

Fortunately, it's much easier than it sounds. You just need to follow these

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important steps:

Step 1 – Get the idea

This is easiest if you have pre-existing customers or subscribers, because you can simply ask them what they would be inclined to buy – or better yet, find out what they're already buying.

A powerful technique talked about by Paul Myers in his report Internet Marketing ESP is to present your existing contacts with a survey listing a series of hypothetical products, and ask them which one they would be most likely to buy.

You'll often be surprised with the results, and it will give you raw data on which ideas are going to be the most successful, as well as an indication of what kind of sales you might expect.

If you don't currently have customers or subscribers, find a forum populated with your potential customers, and ask them for their opinions on whether they'd buy a product you were thinking of developing.

The advantage of this method is that you can get additional feedback on your initial ideas. For instance, if you're planning on writing an ebook, you could outline your ideas and get suggestions for other subjects that could be included.

The downside of this method is that, if the forum is public, other people may end up stealing your ideas. (Ideas alone cannot be copyrighted.)

In particular, keep an eye out for problems that people might face on a regular basis, because a lot of the things people buy are solutions to those problems.

Step 2 – Find out if there is a demand

In the UK there is a popular TV show made by the BBC called Dragon's Den, in which budding entrepreneurs get to pitch their business ideas to a panel of potential investors called the "Dragons".

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More often than not, the entrepreneurs leave empty-handed, and one of the most common reasons for not getting an investment is that, no matter how great their product might sound, it simply hasn't got a chance of selling – at least, not on the kind of scale that would excite a Dragon.

To be fair, the Dragons are looking to invest in products that are going to generate them big returns fairly quickly. Many of the people that come on the show are looking for big investments for a business idea that will only ever generate a sole income.

The other reason for not getting the investment they ask for is that very often they come up with solutions to problems that don't really exist in the real world.

The inventors are excited by their inventions and they think there's a big market for it. The Dragons, on the other hand, point out that while there might be a big market, there's really no demand for such a product, because the problem doesn't really exist for most people.

So after coming up with an idea for a product, the next challenge is to put yourself, metaphorically speaking, in front of the Dragons, and find out whether there's an actual demand for your potential product.

If you find out that a lot of people are talking about the problem, then there could be a potential demand for your solution.

If you've used the survey technique I mentioned earlier, you already have a rough idea of whether there's a demand or not, because you're building a product that your customers and subscribers most wanted.

There are other ways of establishing whether there's a demand – including evaluating your competition, and pre-selling the product. Since these are important steps in their own right, let's look at the first of these now.

Step 3 – Evaluate the competition

This step is critically important for several reasons. First, it can give you an indication of demand. If there's lots of competition, there's likely to be lots of demand as well. For example, in the home improvements industry in which I worked as a salesperson, there were literally hundreds of competitors,

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because the market was so big!

Second, it's important to understand who and what you're up against – not just in terms of who they are, but also in the sense that more competition gives customers more choice. And more choice can make it harder for a customer to decide where to spend their money. In other words, you're competing not only against the other company, but also for the customer's attention and choice of you over your competitors.

Third, it increases what I call your “marketing intelligence”, as you learn about their products, and the techniques they use to sell them. This alone can give you product ideas, or at least ideas to enhance your own.

Questions to ask when evaluating your competition include...

Who are they? Are you competing with a large multinational corporation, or Joe Bloggs, the friendly jack-of-all-trades?

What do they sell? And besides the product which may be competing with yours, what else do they sell?

How do they sell? Do they have sales reps? An affiliate program? A large advertising campaign?

Who is their target market? Is it the same as yours, or a little different? Where do they advertise?

What are their current “unique selling points” (USPs)? What differentiates their product from the rest? This brings us nicely to the next step...

Step 4 – Develop your “unique selling points”

A unique selling point (USP), also called a unique selling proposition, is basically something that differentiates you from your competition, that is presented in an advantageous way to your customer.

All other things being equal, USPs are essentially reasons a potential customer should place their order with you, rather than somebody else.

For example, with the home improvement company for which I worked, they

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owned the patent to a particular feature of their product that they claimed made it more secure than a standard product installed by their competitors.

As salespeople, you can be sure that we showed customers this feature, and what it meant to them in terms of increased security; and we emphasized that this was unique to our product, since the technology was patented. In short, it was a unique selling point, a reason to buy from us, instead of anybody else.

It's useful to develop a set of unique selling points before you actually create the product, because (a) you can then build them into the product in advance, and (b) you're thinking in advance about the angles you can use in your sales material.

With a little imagination I'm sure you could come up with several USPs. (A little later I'll show you how I did it for a particular product I developed.)

If you've evaluated the competition, you'll have some ideas for building some features into your product that are uniquely different from your competitors, that can be translated into benefits for the customer.

When it comes to information products, it's actually quite easy to build in USPs, because you can add material that will be unique to your own product.

For example, a particular technique or piece of knowledge may not be unique in itself, but you can almost always present it in such a way that it becomes unique – perhaps by sharing an experience of how you used the information, or more deeper insights that aren't as widely known.

Insights, examples and experiences can easily become unique, if they haven't been shared elsewhere.

There's one important point to understand about unique selling points. They should be easily translatable into actual benefits for the customer. So if your product is “28% faster than the nearest competitor”, what does that mean for the customer? What's in it for them? If it means they will get to work faster, then it's saving them time – which is the actual benefit of being 28% faster.

Step 5 – Create the product

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At some point you'll need to actually create the product, building in the unique selling points you already came up with.

Now, if there was only one piece of wisdom I could share with you on the topic of product creation that I've learned in my years of marketing and selling, it's this...

Don't be a perfectionist at the initial product creation stage .

Please don't misunderstand me here - yes, you should aim to make your product the best there is or ever will be... but not just yet!

I'll admit I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, and often in the past I'd develop a product, and develop it, and develop it... thinking up more great features to include... and with each one I thought up, I'd develop the product some more... to the point where it took me two or three times longer to put out the product than I originally intended, because I was aiming for perfection right from the start.

If I'd just stuck with my original features, released the product and gradually added to the features over time, I probably would have made a lot more money a lot quicker.

Again, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying to put out an incomplete or inferior product.

I'm saying... put out a good product that you can develop and make even better over time.

There are very few products that haven't been developed and improved over time – even books have often gone through at least a few editions.

In fact, the products you know and love have probably gone through several incarnations to get to where they are now. How would you feel about going back to the original Windows, for instance... or the first Mac operating system?

So let me repeat what I originally said, because it's so important. Don't be a perfectionist at the initial product creation stage.

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Build in the features that enable your product to perform its function and have its unique selling points right away, but save your more exotic features or ideas for the next upgrade, edition or version of your product, after you've built a customer base – these customers can then tell you which features they would most like to see in the next version of your product!

If you're selling software, get plenty of beta testers first, to fully test it. Their feedback should be treated as valuable as gold bullion at this stage, so allow and encourage them to be critical – at least, to you, privately. Let them have the final product for free, because they are doing you a great service by testing your product out, and spotting any weaknesses or errors.

Finally, when releasing your product (even at the beta stage), make sure it's still of a good standard, and does what it says on the tin. People's opinions of your product matter even at this early stage, so make sure you're still delivering on the promises you're making for it.

To sum up, don't launch a sub-standard product, but make it good from the start. Get people to trial it before launch, to eliminate bugs or errors and to get feedback. Remember that you can improve your products over time, so don't aim for it to be “all-singing, all-dancing” from the start.

Step 6 – Decide on your marketing model

I'll talk about this in more detail shortly, but this step is basically about deciding how you intend to market and sell the product.

For instance, are you going to run a pay-per-click campaign to generate traffic, send them to squeeze page offering them an email course in exchange for their email address, which then leads to a sales letter selling the product?

You'll basically need to work out how you intend to promote your sales material (ie. advertising, search engine optimization, affiliate program), and how to make the sale (i.e. the sales letter).

The remainder of this book will discuss these aspects of your sales process.

Step 7 – Pre-sell the product

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You don't have to wait until your product is ready to launch to build a customer base. For instance, you could create a pre-launch page, which enables people to sign up to receive an email when your product launches. (Maybe as an incentive for signing up, you could offer a substantial discount on the regular price.)

You can also use this earlier on to establish if there's sufficient demand for a potential product idea. You could create a sales letter and notification list, and direct some relevant pay-per-click traffic to it. If you get a decent amount of people signing up, this can give you an indication that the demand is there, and gives you an immediate potential customer base with which you can communicate! If not, then perhaps your idea wasn't as good as you thought. Sure, it cost you some pay-per-click money, but it saved you the cost of developing a product for which there was little demand!

2.2 How To Pick Winning Affiliate Products

If you're selling other people's products as an affiliate marketer, or are planning to do so, please understand that you have a lot more control over how much money you earn, and how many sales you make, than you might think.

You still have control over...

(a) Deciding which products to sell, and

(b) How to promote your affiliate links.

Opinions differ as to the best way to decide which products to promote. Some top affiliate marketers advocate promoting products which are already selling well.

On the other hand, others suggest you find lesser known products, perhaps even ones that are new to the marketplace, since you are likely to be competing with fewer affiliates.

My suggested approach is to pick the best. In other words, find the ones that seem to deliver the best value for money for prospective customers.

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Obviously, it goes without saying that the amount of commission will be a big consideration for you – that's why you're an affiliate marketer. However, the reason I suggest looking for the best value for money for the customer first, is that I believe it's far easier to sell a great product when you truly believe in it - even if there's a lower commission payout available – than it is to sell an inferior or average product, despite the higher commission.

Great products spawn genuinely positive word of mouth, and once you've read the section on word of mouth, you'll understand why this can often make or break a sale.

There are a couple of principles I strongly recommend when marketing other people's products:

1. When possible, use the product.

This may not always be practical, especially if you're trying to choose between several different products, but whenever possible I'd recommend that you use the product with which you're affiliated.

This gives you the advantage of having a real knowledge of the product, instead of one based solely on the sales material.

And since a lot of other affiliates may not actually be using it themselves (depending on the product and market), this gives you the advantage over them as well.

If it's not possible to use it, then do as much product research as possible – find people who are using it, and get their opinions. See if there are any negative reviews out there, and find out why they're negative. (Just be aware that many of those reviews may be from other affiliates, who are not necessarily impartial.)

2. Pre-sell the product.

Many affiliate marketers don't promote their affiliate link directly, but send visitors to a “review page”, where they have a review of the product (possibly along with reviews of similar products, for comparison purposes).

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Having a review page is useful because there are many things you can do with it, including split testing (which I'll discuss later), collecting the email address for further follow-up, gathering feedback, and making unique “buy through my link” offers.

3. Add value.

Some affiliate marketers add incentives for the visitor to buy the product through their affiliate link. The incentive could be cash, a related product, or an information product (such as a report) that adds value to the affiliate product in some way.

This is another good reason to use the product you're promoting – you'll know how to effectively add value to it. For instance, if the product has a particular weakness, or a feature that is difficult to use, you could write a short report showing how to use that feature easily.

Anything that adds value and helps them to get the most out of their purchase will not only help you to get the sale through your affiliate link, but is likely to lower refunds too!

You can give this incentive once they've purchased through your affiliate link – get them to email you their receipt in order to receive the incentive.

3Choosing Your Marketing Model

It's important to consider in advance just how you intend to market and sell the product, so that you can develop an overall marketing strategy, or model.

A marketing model incorporates the whole process of generating traffic, leads and sales.

In my opinion, many marketers make life difficult for themselves – they create the product, then write a sales letter for it, and afterwards they decide how to promote their sales letter.

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The problem is that if you decide later on to promote your product in a different way, you may have to adjust your site to take into account your new marketing method.

Plus, what if you decide to develop further products? Is there a way for the new product to “fit in” with your current sales process, or will you have to promote it separately?

That's why it's useful to think of the whole marketing and selling process as a model. This enables you to harmonize your promotional efforts (such as advertising, blogging and search engine optimization) with the sales process (such as the sales letter) – and to allow for the possibility of future products to be integrated into your model.

For example, the home improvement company for which I worked had the following marketing model: a team of canvassers would canvass an area to generate leads. Those leads were then passed to the branch manager, who would call them to turn them into confirmed appointments. And finally, the sales reps were sent out on these appointments to make a presentation and (hopefully) to turn them into sales. That was their marketing model.

It was fairly complete, in that it contained the means of generating the leads (which we could perhaps compare to “traffic generation”), as well as the means to convert the prospect into a sale. (That was the job of the sales rep).

So we could sum up their model in this way:

LEAD GENERATION > CONFIRMATION > SALES PRESENTATION

Their model allowed them to be fairly flexible. Since the company sold several different home improvement products, the canvasser could decide which one to emphasize with a particular householder. When the sales rep arrived, sometimes we might be able to sell an additional product (an “upsell”). Or if they couldn't afford a complete installation, we could aim for a smaller order (a “downsell”).

On the Internet, there are several different models being used by marketers. Let's examine some of the more common ones:

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BLOG > SALES LETTER

This is one of my personal favourite models. Blogs have so many benefits – they can generate traffic, are easily indexed by search engines, they can provide valuable information to visitors, they can be used to demonstrate your authority on a particular subject, they can be used for having “conversations” over the blogosphere, they can find themselves inundated with traffic from social bookmarking sites, and they can be used to pre-sell.

In short, a well thought out blog can act as an effective “lead generator” for your product. I'll talk later about how to utilize a blog as part of an overall marketing model, but let me tell you right now that this is a very powerful model, and implemented properly, it can make a massive difference to your conversion rate.

PAY-PER-CLICK > SQUEEZE PAGE > EMAIL / SALES LETTER

In this model, traffic is generated from pay-per-click sources (such as Google Adwords). The visitor then arrives at a “squeeze page” which is designed to capture their email address. They are then taken to the sales letter to be initially exposed to the product.

Meanwhile their email address gets fed into an autoresponder series which is designed to gently sell them the product over a period of time.

This is a popular model, as it gives you the opportunity to attempt to make the sale multiple times – which is another important key to raising your conversion rate:

High Conversion Principle: You should always have a way of asking for the sale more than once.

ARTICLES > EMAIL SERIES > SALES LETTER

This model uses articles as traffic-generators, with each article pointing the reader to a web page offering some kind of an email series. The email series gently promotes your product and points readers to the sales letter.

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3.1 Improve Your Conversion Rate By Testing Different Models

There is no golden rule that says you must do things in a certain way, or use only one particular model.

What I'd strongly urge you to do is to test different sales models. If you only ever try one way of selling, you might not be using the best way for your product.

We'll talk about testing next, because it's another major key to getting those super-high conversion rates.

4Testing – The Golden Key

If you've read my ebook Small Changes: Big Profits, you'll know all about testing, and why it's so critically important. I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say it's probably the single most important technique you could use to increase your conversion rate.

There are three forms of testing I'm going to discuss here – split testing, multivariate testing, and flow testing. For the benefit of those who have already read my above-mentioned ebook (which goes into extensive detail about this subject), in this chapter I'll share a few recent insights with you that I didn't discuss in Small Changes: Big Profits.

4.1 Split Testing – Anyone Can Do It!

First, let me share the definition of split testing that I gave in Small Changes: Big Profits:

"Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is a marketing term originally coined by the mail order companies... before sending out a mailing, they might take two smaller samples of their mailing list - samples A and B.

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They would prepare a sales letter to send to each sample, identical except for one element. This element could be a different headline, a different call to action, or even a different price!

The company would then send the relevant letter to both samples, and they would track the sales that result from each sample. By tracking... they get to find out which version of their letter is likely to convert best. The remainder of the mailing list would then receive the version of the letter that resulted in the most sales."

Please understand that while it might sound complicated, it's actually incredibly easy to do on the Internet – you just need (a) some traffic to your site, (b) a bit of imagination, and (c) the right kind of software.

Oh, and you don't even need to be selling your own product to use this technique – even bloggers and affiliate marketers can use it, as I'll demonstrate shortly.

Split testing enables you to put different elements of your sales material – and even the entire marketing model - to the vote of your visitors. You create an alternative version of your current sales material, with one particular element changed –

such as the headline, a picture or the price.

Then you use split testing software to split your traffic between the two versions, and see which version produces the most actions (such as click-thrus, subscriptions or sales).

Let me show you how you'd set up a basic split testing campaign using my software Power Split Tester.

Assuming you've installed the software onto your site and logged into the program, you create a new test by pressing the “Go!” button under “Create New”.

Give your campaign a name, and select how many elements you wish to use (most campaigns will just be 1), and how many versions. (These are how many versions of your testing element you want to use. For a standard A/B

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test, just use 2).

Depending on which element of your site you're testing, you just specify the text for each version. For instance, if you're testing the headline, just write two different versions of the headline and enter them into the boxes provided by the program (see the image below).

Once you've set up your campaign, you add a few snippets of PHP code (provided by Power Split Tester itself) into your sales page, and that's it. The two versions of your headline will now rotate for each unique visitor.

To find out which headline is more effective, you'll need to measure some kind of action – such as a sale, subscription or click-thru.

For instance, if you're measuring sales, then on the page where you thank the customer for their order (usually called the “thank you” page), you would add another small snippet of PHP code called the action code (again provided by the program), which will measure these actions for you, and record which version the visitor originally saw.

And that's how easy it is to set up a split testing campaign with Power Split Tester. If you're selling an affiliate product, the process will be a little different, but still fairly simple, as I'll discuss shortly.

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4.2 Gary Halbert Says The Most Important Thing To Test Is Not The Headline, But This...

In Small Changes: Big Profits I give plenty of ideas for things you can test on your sales page, so I won't repeat them here. However, I'd like to share one particular insight with you from a famous copywriter who has probably conducted more split tests than most people.

In a blog post from February 25th 2008, Mike Filsaime shared an experience where he asked the late veteran copywriter Gary Halbert what he thought was the most important element of a sales letter to test.

Was it the headline? The price? The first couple of paragraphs?

Gary surprised Mike, who is a veteran marketer himself, by saying that the most important element to test was actually the offer itself. 4a

What exactly did he mean?

Gary was a well-known advocate of delaying payment for 30 days, where the customer could own the product for a full 30 days before being billed. If they didn't want the product before the 30 days were up, they just cancelled their order.

In other words, they actually did get to try out the product free for 30 days! In Gary's experience, this usually had a dramatic effect on sales.

This was the kind of thing he meant by testing the offer. It's basically the thing that propels them to part with their money.

For instance, you could test no offer (i.e. the normal price without any payment plans or discounts) vs the 30 day delay vs 25% off for an immediate order vs 3 monthly payments instead of 1 vs $1 trial vs...

... and so on. You can also test different bonuses and product “packages”. For instance, you might find that a particular bonus report combined with the original product might boost conversions. And maybe bundling two related products together might make a big difference.

There's lots of different types of offers you could make – test them!

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A great offer may trump even the worst headline, which is why Gary believed it was the most important thing to test.

4.3 Why Testing Is So Important For Affiliate Marketers, And How To Do It

Affiliate marketers can and should also test. As we've already discussed, many affiliate marketers use a product review page as an intermediate page before sending the visitor to the product site through their affiliate link.

Using a review page has many advantages, an important one being that you can split test it. The goal is to maximize the number of click-thrus to the product page, and to maximize the number of affiliate sales.

There are many things you can test on this review page, including:

● The overall format. Does an article format work better than a “customer reviews” page with star ratings?

● The page headline. Does a factual header work better than a dramatic one?

● The review itself. What type of wording works best? Do graphics help? More hype or less? Should you mention the weak points of the product, or not?

● The link text. Does a different link text work better?

● The buy-thru-my-link offer. You can test with or without an offer, as well as different offers.

You can directly measure clicks through your affiliate link by setting up a basic form of re-direction. You'd put the action code onto this re-direction page so that Power Split Tester can measure the page visit, and then have the page re-direct the visitor to your affiliate link.

The click-thru rate is a statistic you can directly measure and seek to improve. For example, one of my customers Charles E. White used my Power Split Tester program to test a headline which aimed to get visitors to click an

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affiliate link of a product he was selling.

The original headline he thought was so great was getting 20% of visitors to click-through. He ran a test by putting a different headline into the split testing program. The new one got 60% of the visitors to click through.

And this headline was the one he liked the least! Said Charles, “the only way I would have ever found this out is by testing.”

Tracking sales is a little more difficult, because split testing software can't measure actions that are taken off of your own site without setting up some kind of technical process on the product owner's site.

On the other hand, the company that manages their affiliate program may enable sales to be tracked in some way. For instance, Clickbank is a popular one that is used by people selling information products.

At the time of writing, they enable affiliates to pass a “tracking ID” (TID) through the “hoplink” (their version of the affiliate link), which is shown in the transaction report.

Make sure you follow their requirements when including a TID. The following explanation is from Clickbank's frequently asked questions page, but you should check the page yourself to make sure this is up to date:

How do I add a Tracking Id (TID) to a hoplink?

The format of the hoplink URL with a tracking code is located below.http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=XXXXXXXX

The tracking code (which is "XXXXXXXX" in the example above) can be 8 characters long, containing alpha and numeric characters only. Any tracking code longer than 8 characters will be truncated. Any tracking code containing characters other than alpha or numeric values will have the entire tracking code removed from the hoplink and order process and will not show in the transaction report. Tracking codes received with upper and lower case characters will be set to all uppercase.

When testing an element on your product review page, to measure sales

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from each version you'll want to assign a different TID to each version.

For example, let's say you wanted to test the headline on your product review page. In Power Split Tester you could create a campaign with 2 elements – one for the headline, and one for the affiliate link (with a different TID in each, for tracking purposes).

The program would then rotate the headline and affiliate link simultaneously, so that if the visitor clicks through the hoplink and then buys, the TID will tell you which version of your review page they originally saw.

4.4 Six Important Principles Of Split Testing

Principle #1 – For low traffic sites, try testing on subscriptions, or use flow testing.

If you have a low traffic site, it's probably better testing on something other than your visitor to sales conversion rate. You could always try to improve your visitor to subscription rate. Or use flow testing, as discussed shortly.

Principle #2 – Test what you think will have the biggest impact.

The biggest challenge of split testing is deciding what to test in the first place! There's no end to what you can test, but given that you have limited traffic and time, test what you think is going to have the biggest positive impact on your visitor's actions.

For instance, if you're working on your subscription conversion rate, early on you might want to test adding an exit pop-up to your “squeeze” or “landing” page, or adding a free gift for subscribers.

Principle #3 – Don't jump to conclusions too early.

It's tempting to think that if Version A produces 2 actions, and Version B produces 5 actions, then Version B is better.

However, the difference could well be due to chance. You really need to get a minimum of 30, preferably 50 and ideally 100 actions between your control (the original version) and a variation, to minimize the element of chance.

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Principle #4 – Work out how long it will take you, in advance.

This is how I work out roughly how long it will take me to conduct a split test. I'm always aiming to get at least 50 actions between my control (the version that's currently converting best), and a variation.

So if I'm testing 3 versions of a sales letter (the control, and two variations), I assume there is no difference between them, and work out how many actions I'd need to demonstrate this.

I'd need 25 actions for A, and 25 for B and C, to get 50 actions between the control and each variation... so I would need 75 actions in total.

Now, let's say I have a subscription page that receives 100 visitors a day, and which converts 10 in every 100 visitors to subscribers (i.e. a 10% conversion rate), then I can generate 10 actions a day. So it will take me about 7 and a half days to get 75 actions.

Principle #5 – Not every test will improve results.

Unfortunately, some tests will produce results that lower your actions, or simply don't do anything significant for your actions.

That's the nature of testing. Simply move on to another test! (Just remember Principle #2).

Principle #6 – Keep your “action” pages out of easy reach unless a previous action has been taken.

If your “action” page (such as a “thank you” page) is within easy reach, you might get a lot of people visiting that page without having taken the previous action.

For many split testing programs, these visitors will skew your stats, because they just assign the visitor to whichever rotation happens to be showing! (Or worse, they just guess.) In your stats, it appears they have taken action, but really they haven't! Fortunately, my program Power Split Tester™ does not do this – it will simply assign these visitors to the “Unattributed” row.

However, it's still advisable to keep your “action” page out of easy reach unless they have taken the action you desire – to keep the risk of skewed

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data down to a minimum.

A 7.14% Conversion Rate By Split Testing

Ryan Healy regularly writes on the subjects of copywriting, marketing and advertising. On his blog, he shared with his readers the fact that he'd raised the conversion rate for one of his sales page to 7.14% after several split tests. For instance, adding a picture with a caption increased it by a whopping 45.8%! So I decided to chase down Ryan and see if I could get more details from him, for the exclusive benefit of readers such as yourself who are also about to become split testing addicts (aren't you?).

Here are the questions I asked him, along with his answers:

(1) A while back you made a commitment to yourself to use split testing on your web sites. What sort of things have you tested since then, and how have these improved your conversion rate?

So far, I have focused on testing headlines and page elements above the fold... basically any of the elements you see when you initially land on a web site.

I find that you get the most bang for your buck testing headlines and photos, although a couple of recent tests have involved testing video and navigation bars.

In fact, last night I checked on a test in which I essentially eliminated the navigation bar and wrote a different headline. These two changes have increased our conversion rate by 333%. That's a real figure, by the way. I have screen shots to back it up.

Other tests have involved changing only a single word in the headline or the wording of the first paragraph on the page. In one case, I've found that the word "selected" is outperforming the word "chosen" by a fairly large margin. Who would have guessed that a single word would make such a large impact?

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I wouldn't have... except I've conducted these kinds of tests before and discovered that individual words can make a MASSIVE difference in results.

In the test where I achieved a conversion rate of 7.14%, I had not used a photo before. So the test involved the original version, which had no picture, against the new version, which did have a picture.

(2) Why do you think the picture with caption [see below] increased your conversion rate so much?

When people land on a page, they're looking for reasons to read and/or NOT to read. A picture grabs a person's attention, especially if the picture tells a story. Then, if the caption continues the story, you have an even better chance of drawing a reader in.

In my case, my readers were getting to see me with my family for the first time. Plus, it's a picture from Sea World this past summer. So it tells a story: that you can be successful as a copywriter... that you can have the lifestyle you want.

(3) What insights have you gained so far by split testing your sales pages?

Big insight #1: Never assume; always test.

Big insight #2: You cannot consistently predict the outcomes of split-tests. Sometimes the version you think will win, loses. Sometimes the

version you think will lose, wins. In the final analysis, we only have opinions. The market proves our opinions right... or wrong.

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Big insight #3: You will not always get ground-breaking improvements from a split-test. Sometimes there isn't a clear winner. Sometimes the winner wins by a small margin. You have to keep at it if you want to experience the breakthroughs.

Big insight #4: Split-testing takes consistent effort over time if you want to see results.

Big insight #5: Clients always want to declare a winner before the test has results that are statistically significant. If you're a copywriter, get used to it.

Thanks, Ryan. Feel free to plug yourself and your site.

Ryan Healy writes regularly about business growth, copywriting, and advertising at his blog: http://www.RyanHealy.com

4.5 Multivariate Testing

This particular technique allows you to test several elements of your page at once.

For instance, let's say you wanted to test your headline, offer and price at the same time.

You might have 3 different headlines, 3 different offers and 3 different prices that you wanted to test. Multivariate testing allows you to test every different combination of these elements. In this instance, there are 27 different combinations – 3 x 3 x 3.

Multivariate testing has the advantage over split testing in that you get to find out how different elements of your page affect one another. For instance, out of 3 headlines and 3 offers, you might discover that Headline 2 combined with Offer 3 produce the most sales. You may not have been able to discover this with split testing.

On the other hand, the disadvantage of multivariate testing is that it requires

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a lot more traffic.

For instance, for a multivariate test like the above with 27 combinations, you are basically performing a split test with the original (the control) compared to 26 variations – you're running 26 split tests at once!

To get approximately 50 actions between the control and each of the 26 variations, you're going to need a total of about 27 x 25 = 675 actions. (That's about 25 actions for each version, including the control).

So which technique should you use – split or multivariate testing?

The answer is, it depends partly on how experienced you are with testing, and partly on how much traffic your site is getting.

If you're new to testing, then I'd suggest you stick with split testing at first. Test the things you think will have the most dramatic effect on your sales (or whatever action you choose to measure), such as the offer itself, the headline or the price – or aim to maximize your subscription rate first.

By not making things too complicated to start with, this will give you the thirst for testing. Just remember that not every change will make a difference, and some may even lower actions. But with each test, your marketing intelligence grows as you see what is more effective for your site.

If you have a fairly low traffic site, you may also be better off split testing. You can test with as little as 10 visitors a day, but you'll have to be a little more creative. For instance, consider using flow testing, which I'll discuss shortly.

For higher traffic sites, consider using both multivariate and split testing. The former is useful for testing different combinations of elements of your page, and the latter is still useful for testing the “bigger picture”, such as whether to use short or long copy, hype or less hype, and so on. You can also use split testing to compare different marketing models, such as squeeze page vs straight to the sales letter.

Tip: My split testing tool Power Split Tester is not a multivariate testing program. On the other hand, you can test an unlimited number of

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versions, so if you wish to run a small multivariate test, you could create the combinations manually, to simulate a multivariate test.

4.6 The Controversial Yet Powerful “Flow Testing” Technique

I first discussed this technique in a forum post back in December 2007. It's something I'd been using for a while but had rarely discussed it in public – it was my “secret weapon” for use on low traffic sites.

It turned out that when I posted about it, a couple of other prominent marketers had been quietly using it as well with success. These were, like myself, avid testers – so it didn't come as a great surprise.

However, my post also stirred up some controversy, because it flouted conventional copywriting wisdom.

First, let me show you how the technique works, and then I'll explain in more detail about why it caused controversy.

How To Conduct A “Flow Test”

(1) Create your sales material as a series of linear pages (Page 1, 2 etc).

(2) Measure how many people click from Page 1 to Page 2, and so on.

(3) Make it your initial conversion goal to get the maximum number of visitors from Page 1 to Page 2. Then do the same with Page 2 to Page 3, and so on.

I call this technique flow testing, and the great thing is it can be done with as little as 10 visitors a day.

The purposes of this technique are...

(a) to detect how much of your material your visitors are reading, with the

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aim of getting as many visitors reading to the end as possible,

(b) to detect bottlenecks or sticking points in your sales material, and

(c) to force you to write compelling copy throughout.

The reasoning behind this technique is: the more of your sales material you can convince your visitor to actually read, the more likely they are to buy.

Now, it's useful for you to understand why it caused controversy. Basically, this technique contradicts the advice of many copywriters, who believe that single page sales letters generally perform better than multiple page ones.

Plus, they argue, every time you ask for an action such as a click-thru, you lose visitors.

These things may be true in themselves, but both arguments fail to understand the point of flow testing.

As I said earlier, one of the biggest challenges of testing is deciding what to test. Your headline might ordinarily have a big effect on sales, but if your sales letter suffers from a gaping weakness half way through, you have a bottleneck in your sales material that may be choking sales, regardless of how good your headline may be.

Unfortunately, with traditional split or even multivariate testing, it may take you a long time to discover the bottleneck, unless you're getting thousands of visitors a day and have the luxury of testing every single aspect of your site.

Let's face it, most small sites with only tens or hundreds of visitors a day don't have the luxury of testing every single element quickly (even with multivariate testing there's a severe limit on how many elements you can test without the test growing to ridiculous proportions), and so flow testing allows you to test and quickly identify any bottlenecks in your sales process.

Besides, the simple fact of the matter is, on a sales letter that converts 2% of visitors into customers, you are already losing visitors – as many as 98% of them! Isn't it better to know where you're losing them?

However, this technique is not about simply taking a one-page sales letter and splitting it up into multiple pages – that is unlikely to work by itself. It's

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about creating a series of mini sales letters that achieve both an individual goal and the larger goal of achieving the sale.

Now, here's a few “rules” to bear in mind when using this technique:

(a) The first page is by far the most important.

(b) Each page should have its own headline, copy and call to action.

(c) Each page should deal with just one or two major points that move the customer towards an overall goal such as a purchase.

(d) Ideally the only choices on each intermediate page should be to progress forwards, or to go back to the previous page.

(e) If you wish to present your visitors with a choice, make sure those choices both propel the visitor towards the overall goal.

Remember, the point of flow testing is ultimately to test the flow of your copy. (That's why I called it “flow” testing). Despite the grumbles I hear from copywriters who have been taught that multiple pages hurt sales, there are several advantages to at least initially writing your sales material as multiple pages:

(a) You can find out exactly how far your visitors are reading. If many visitors are leaving on Page 3 out of 5, then there's your weak spot – do something about Page 3!

(b) You are training and even forcing yourself to write motivating copy that propels people forward. If everyone's leaving on Page 3, you have no choice but to revise your copy on or before Page 3... but at least you can eliminate Pages 4 and 5 as the culprit! (In other words, if Page 5 contains the actual price, then price is probably not the main reason people aren't buying – at least at this stage. They're just not motivated enough to even find out the price – so price testing is likely to be a waste of time until you compel enough people to get to the end of your sales material.)

(c) You'll get to see what kind of link headlines motivate people to click further into your copy. In fact, every test you perform increases your marketing intelligence.

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(d) This kind of testing can be done with as little as 10 visitors a day.

Now, your goal with each test is to maximize the click-thru rate between each page. Ideally, in a 5 page sales process, you want 100% of the visitors from Page 1 to reach Page 5.

In reality, you probably won't get 100% to Page 5 (although there's nothing to say you can't!), but let's say you get 100 visitors to your initial page, and your tracking stats tell you this:

Page 1 100Page 2 28Page 3 25Page 4 22Page 5 18

... where the whole number beside each page number represents unique visitors to that page, that initially arrived to Page 1.

Clearly the number of people who are reading past Page 1 is fairly low (at just 28%), but the good news is that, of the 28 who did get to page 2, 18 of them still read until the end.

Now, your first test should be a split test on Page 1, to see if you can improve the click-thru rate to Page 2 – this is currently the biggest bottleneck.

Let's say that, after sending 100 visitors to your site, and conducting an A/B test on Page 1, you get the following results:

Page Version A Version B

1 50 50

2 14 25

3 14 23

4 12 21

5 10 12

In this example, click-thrus from Page 1 to Page 2 are at 50% for Version B, compared with 28% for Version A, the original – so we've succeeded in our

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initial goal of getting people to read further into the copy.

However, what's interesting to note here is that, despite a quite dramatic increase in our Page 1 to Page 2 conversion rate, there now seems to be quite a dramatic drop in viewers from Page 4 to Page 5. Version A went from 12 to 10 visitors, while Version B goes from 21 to 12 visitors!

Clearly, changes we make early on in the copy may have a “knock-on” effect – in this case, our visitors are reading further, but at the expense of a big trail-off near the end.

Normally, with flow testing I'd recommend starting with Page 1, optimizing that as much as possible to maximize click-thrus to page 2, and then repeat the process with Page 2, and so on. By the time we've finished this process, we'll have a powerful sales letter that is being read by a good percentage of visitors.

However, in the example above, with Version B as the new control, we're getting people to read further, but a lot of visitors are trailing off at Page 4. So if we were to run a few split tests with the aim of raising our Page 4 to Page 5 conversion rate, we could potentially double the number of visitors who reach Page 5!

Flow testing enables you to see where the bottlenecks are (in this case, between Pages 4 and 5), so you can work to correct it. You may not know exactly what's causing the bottleneck – but you'll probably have a much better clue than with a single page sales letter!

Now let's consider some of the objections people might raise to this technique.

Objection #1: Won't making people click a link lower response?

Some people don't like the idea of using multiple pages for this reason - since a click requires effort on the part of the visitor, you will probably lose visitors whenever it's required.

This is true, no question about that. However, another way to look at it is to say that clicking a link is an indicator of interest. It's a measurable statistic to give you an indication of how effective your copy is at that particular point.

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If you have a single page sales letter with an order button, the only measurable indicator of interest you have is that of sales.

You could add an opt-in process (such as a free subscription to something), and that would give you an additional action that you could measure (and I'd always encourage you to aim for maximizing your subscription rate by split testing – it's another thing you can do if you have a low traffic site).

However, with flow testing and a multi-page sales letter, you have multiple action points, and so multiple indicators of interest that you can measure.

Furthermore, each click is not only an indicator of interest, but is also a form of commitment.

One marketer I know ran a test to compare a 1 page versus a 2 page sales letter. (The 1 page letter was his control.) Page 1 of the 2 page letter was very simple, and was basically designed just to get people to click a link to Page 2.

He found that he did indeed lose some visitors because of the click-thru step, but his overall sales increased! He believes it was because visitors to Page 2 were a little more committed and involved in his site, having clicked the additional link.

So then, getting a visitor to take action (even if it's just a click) can be seen as a form of commitment – which if used in the right manner, can increase the chances of a sale.

Objection #2: Don't multiple page sales letters hurt sales?

This is a very general statement I hear quite a lot from people, who likely do very little testing themselves, but prefer to parrot other people's results.

Someone may have run a 1 page vs 4 page test, and the 1 page letter outperformed the 4 page one, but just how many different variations of multiple pages did they test? Did they just “break up” the copy into 4 pages, or was it properly themed and re-written to be appropriate for multiple pages?

In reality, you'll find that many people who speak out against multiple page sales processes haven't done much testing with different varieties and

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versions of multiple pages.

Besides, this objection misses the point. Flow testing is another test you can perform on your site. It is not about the merits of a 1 page versus a 4 page sales letter, but it's about something more fundamental – testing your copy's flow, finding bottlenecks, narrowing down the culprits, and being able to measure the level of interest in your copy, as best you can.

4.7 How To Use Flow Testing Effectively

Here are some additional tips for using flow testing to maximum effect:

1. Don't simply “break up” your single page sales letter into several pages. Write each page to develop one or two principle points that move the visitor towards the sale.

2. Make each page fairly short – although you should test the optimal size and copy of each.

3. Imagine you are writing a series of connected articles, each article having its own headline at the beginning, and call to action at the end.

4. Knowing your unique selling points (USPs) in advance means you can focus a page on one or two of them, showing the importance of each one to the visitor. These could be the “themes” of each intermediate page.

5. You must provide a strong motivation to read further. (This should be done in sales letters anyway, but by splitting it into multiple pages you are basically forced to do so!)

6. You can create multiple paths for your visitor, to target and qualify them better. For example, if you're selling to both affiliate marketers and marketers selling their own product, you could provide two links, one for each – the copy on the next page can then be geared to that type of visitor, increasing your chance of getting the sale. Just remember to continue moving them towards the sale, regardless of which path they take.

7. A good technique to use with a multi-page sales letter is a “cliffhanger”. Let's face it, television soaps use this technique all the time to get people to tune in to the next exciting episode. So without being too annoying, leave

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people wanting more at the end of each page, which is only provided on the next page.

8. Should you give visitors an idea of how many pages there are? The only thing to do is to test, and see whether that makes a positive difference or not.

How I Developed A Product And Single-Handedly Took On The Might Of Google

At this point, let me give you an example of how I used marketing intelligence to develop a new product. I held back from showing you this earlier because I think you'd appreciate it more with a basic understanding of split testing.

In 2007 I decided to revise my ebook Small Changes: Big Profits, which I'd originally written in 2003. While the original had stood the test of time very well, there were some additional concepts I wanted to discuss, and there had been some technological developments that I wanted to address.

Back in 2003 I also sold a split testing tool I'd developed, but by 2007 I'd stopped selling it. Google had come out with a testing tool (Website Optimizer) that was free of charge for their Adwords customers, and several free split testing tools had appeared (most of which were “upsells” for more expensive products).

It was precisely because of this situation that I decided to develop my current split testing software, Power Split Tester.

The first big question I had to ask myself, and the question potential customers would ask was, Why would anyone pay for a split testing tool, when free ones were available?

The answers I came up with to this question would give me ideas for my product, and my unique selling points, as you'll see.

First, I didn't want to use Google's Website Optimizer myself because it

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would give Google far too much of my business data. By using their tool, they would know how much traffic I was getting, where it was coming from, and most important of all, how well it was converting. (Most companies would pay top dollar to get this kind of data, which they could then use to decide whether it was profitable to enter your market or not.)

Second, you had to be an Adwords customer to use Website Optimizer. Now, as far as I could tell, the price of keywords in an Adwords campaign were dynamically set – which basically meant there appeared to be no hard and fast rules as to what a keyword would cost at any particular time.

In fact, many marketers I knew had experienced the so-called “Google Slap”, where the cost of certain keywords suddenly skyrocketed – which made me wonder whether other bidders were solely responsible for the price of keywords, or whether Google had an arbitrary hand in them as well.

If Google had that much control over the prices of keywords without knowing my conversion data, what might happen if they knew exactly how well a product of mine was doing, and how well certain keywords were converting, which they would know if I were to use their tool?

So that was my primary reason for not using Google's Website Optimizer – and a potential selling point, although it would mean educating customers as to the risk. I didn't want my conversion data (Website Optimizer) going to the same company who also dynamically set the prices to advertise with them (Adwords). Can you hear that slap yet?

Third, there was the issue of support and experience. I'd used several other free split testing scripts, and I'd often found they were difficult to install, and if anything went wrong or you got stuck at some point, you were basically on your own. (You do usually get what you pay for, after all.)

Now, I've been a strong advocate of split testing for many years, so the last thing I wanted was for people who were new to split testing to have a bad experience just because they were using “free” software. That

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might put them off testing altogether, because they think “it's too much hassle”... when in reality it was just the software they were using was too much hassle, and they didn't get support because it was “free”.

In other words, “free” (or even “cheap”) normally comes with some other hidden price tag. (A lot of the free scripts are basically upsells, so you get fed up enough to eventually upgrade to the paid option. Or in the case of Google, they were very generously offering their testing tool, just so long as you used Adwords.)

The other issue of major concern to me was that of accuracy – an issue that most people didn't even know existed! Naturally they would just see the data given by their split testing program, and assume it was accurate.

Whenever you do split testing, you need the data to be as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, many of the testing tools I used just weren't that accurate – although they'd never admit to it!

I knew this because I'd been writing scripts and programs since 2001, so I had a pretty good idea of how they worked.

A lot of split testing scripts rely solely on "cookies", little bits of information that are sent to the visitor's browser. The problem is, cookies aren't entirely reliable – for example, they can be deleted or blocked from a visitor's browser. When that happens, those scripts can't track visitors any more - making them effectively useless!

Other scripts combine cookies with IP tracking, i.e. they record the visitor's IP address as well, so that if one fails, the other acts as a "backup". This is a definite improvement over using cookies alone.

However, a visitor's IP address can change each time they connect to the Internet - so IP tracking is only reliable in the short term.

Although these are quite important, here's the real problem that most other scripts don't address, because quite frankly, they don't want to draw attention to it...

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If a visitor deletes their cookies, and takes action on your site from a different IP address, what do most split testing scripts do with that visitor? To which version does the script assign this visitor?

Basically, most scripts just “guess” - or they treat the visitor as another “new” visitor, regardless of whether they are or not.

To make the problem even worse, if the unidentified visitor (i.e. someone without a matching cookie or IP address) comes to your action page a second time, most of these will count the action again, because they can't recognize that it's the same visitor!

Why is this so important? Because even a single incorrect action assigned to the wrong version could have a critical effect on your decision - let alone 2 or 3!

For instance, let's say your split testing software reports 12 sales from your current sales letter (which we'll call Version A), and 18 sales from a variation you're testing (call it Version B). Based on these figures alone, it appears that Version B is an improvement.

However, what if your split testing software had really been "guessing" with one or two of those sales? What if one of them was really a randomly assigned duplicate visit, or just incorrectly assigned?

If just one of those actions was assigned to the wrong version (i.e. the split was really 13/17), you can be much less confident the difference was not down to chance. And just one more mistake (at 14/16), and there's really no significant difference at all! (The difference is quite likely to be down to chance).

In other words, it's absolutely critical to get accurate data – and most of the “free” testing tools on the market just weren't up to the task of providing this accuracy, even though this would obviously not be admitted in their sales material, and so most people would not even be aware this was even a problem!

With these things in mind, I decided to create my split testing tool that could tackle all four issues, so that my product would have several

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unique selling points, which could then be used in the sales material.

Here's how I designed the product so that I would have selling points and unique selling points for my sales letter:

● Installation. I avoided the use of a MySQL database, the source of lots of installation problems for people, and I created an installation script that would do 90% of the installation for them automatically. This made it easy to install.

● Use. I designed the program to be as intuitive as possible, so that you could probably use it even if you lost the instructions. While it had more advanced features, setting up a basic campaign was easy for people who were new to testing. In the instruction manual I also included a “Quick Start Guide” which would introduce them to all the main features, and get them running a test campaign in just about 10 minutes. This made it quick and easy to use.

● Support. I already decided in advance that I would offer 90 days of technical support as part of the purchase. Knowing this, I also wanted to make the program as intuitive and easy to install as possible, to cut down on support issues.

● Accuracy. I created an additional method of tracking which, when combined with email, could eliminate any dependency on the cookie and IP address. And if an action was taken but the program couldn't work out which version had originally been shown, it would never “guess”, but would simply class the action as “unattributed”. However, it also kept its own log file, to help you identify these actions. This made it as accurate as possible by eliminating the possibility of bogus actions skewing the data.

● Additional features. To create more unique selling points, I added extra features which I knew both myself and my customers would find useful. For instance, you could track up to 10 different actions per campaign (very useful for flow testing, for instance – since you could track multiple actions such as visits to multiple pages). You could change the percentage of visitors sent to each version (so, for example, you could send 90% of visitors to your

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current control, and just 10% to a test version), and you could have an unlimited number of versions per campaign – you weren't limited to just an A/B test.

In other words, I designed a program that went far beyond what the “free” scripts were offering, and with plenty of unique selling points. Then, it was then simply a question of educating my potential customers about things like the importance of accuracy, and why so many free scripts just weren't that accurate.

Now, there are two reasons I'm sharing these things with you.

First of all, let me be very frank with you – I want you to use my product if you are going to be doing any split testing. I say this not simply to make a sale, but more importantly to me because it's the product of many years experience of programming and split testing - so I really do believe it is the single best split testing tool out there; and while it's not “free”, I think you'll be very happy with the tiny investment involved.

(But if you're happy to give Google your valuable business data, that's your choice. Just please don't act too surprised if your most highly converting keywords mysteriously get the “Google Slap” one day – I'm not saying it will happen, of course... but who knows? Your data becomes their data, too. Or if you choose to go with a “free” script, then are you going to be confident that the testing data is accurate enough to make a decision on?)

However, the main reason I've shared these things with you is I want you to see how I not only came up with the product in the first place, but also how I deliberately built the program so that I would have selling points and unique selling points that I could then use in my sales material.

To a certain extent, I was forced to understand that marketing my product required educating my potential customers.

For instance, people who are already using Adwords might just think it natural to use Website Optimizer, without considering the consequences of their decision.

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And many people are taken in with using a free tool because, well, it's free. So I had to demonstrate to potential customers why free is most likely not better – they are potentially risking the accuracy of their data, and they are probably on their own if anything goes wrong.

So it was my responsibility, as it were, to make potential customers aware of these issues.

We'll discuss how to actually write the sales material later - but can you see how it's much easier to write your material when you have a good idea what you want and need to say?

5Pre-Selling Power

Pre-selling is another part of the “big picture” that is somewhat neglected. However, it can turn the casual visitor into a hot prospect, and it doesn't really involve much actual “hard selling”, as it were – which is why it's called “pre-selling” in the first place!

If you're an affiliate marketer and you have a review page, then you are basically pre-selling the product.

Let me show you three particularly effective pre-selling models.

5.1 Site Pre-Selling

Ken Evoy's book “Make Your Content PRESell” really opened my eyes to the power of pre-selling.

It appears Ken doesn't advocate a straightforward single-page sales letter approach, but rather a multiple page site. Most of these pages act both as

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information funnels for the search engines, and as pre-sell pages.

In his book, he gave an example of a site created by his daughter, about a favourite island of hers. It was basically designed to earn affiliate commissions for various services connected with travel to and vacationing on this island, but her unique "spin" was that she wrote about her wonderful experiences of the island, in her own unique voice.

At the time of writing his book (some years ago now), Ken reported she was earning about $2,000 a month from that one site alone.

Ken shrewdly pointed out that most of the pages on her site effectively acted as a pre-sell, both whetting people's appetite for travel to the island, and providing information, packaged as his daughter's unique experiences and memories of the island.

What I liked about this approach was that people would come to the site from search engines – the site was optimized for the most relevant keywords - so they were already somewhat interested in the subject. And after reading of her experiences, they would naturally be in a buying mood – so very little hard sell was probably needed!

In other words, the somewhat interested visitor was pre-sold on the idea of a vacation to the island by the information and experiences shared on the site, and then it was simply a matter of presenting the right offer at the right time!

So consider the possibility of developing a pre-sell site, that builds desire for what your product offers, but in a “non-sales” way, and then direct your visitors to your sales page, after they have been “warmed up” for what you have to offer!

By the way, Ken Evoy's ebook “Make Your Content PRESell” is an eye-opening and enjoyable read on the subject of pre-selling. It's free to download (at the time of writing this paragraph), and it's a miniature case study on using an ebook to pre-sell (in Ken's case, his own SiteSell product).

5.2 Blog Pre-Selling

Blogs are another useful tool for pre-selling. In fact, as I discussed earlier, one of my favourite marketing models is the blog, acting as a pre-sell for a

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sales letter (i.e. BLOG > SALES LETTER).

Why do blogs make good pre-selling tools?

First, they are not generally viewed as sales devices – and, indeed, the bulk of them aren't. Most of them are written by people writing up their latest musings for the world to read. Even the top business blogs do not blatantly sell products, because they want readers first and foremost, and very few people will keep reading a blog that is just a continuously running sales pitch.

Bear in mind that most people read blogs for information, entertainment and “conversation”.

Second, search engines love them. Since a search engine's role is to provide fresh and relevant links, blogs are the perfect match-up for them, which explains why blog posts can often be indexed very quickly by a search engine. An indexed post means traffic from potentially very targetted keywords.

Third, bloggers love linking to other bloggers. They like to do link round-ups (i.e. “best posts of the week” type of collections) and to carry on “conversations” across the blogosphere, referencing posts on somebody else's blog and taking a different “angle” on it.

Furthermore, many blogs have “trackback” facilities, which can detect when another blog with the same facility has linked to one of your posts – and an extract of their post appears in the comments section of your post.

Fourth, the best blogs encourage interactivity and “conversation”, both on their own blogs (via comments), and with other bloggers.

Fifth, blogs can demonstrate your authority on a subject. It's about showing, not telling. Share some of your knowledge with your readers, and you become an expert to them.

Now, there are right ways and wrong ways of pre-selling with a blog. In my opinion, the wrong way would be to make every post a blatant sales pitch.

The problem with this is, while each post may generate you some traffic from the search engines, you'll probably find it difficult to build up a regular blog readership. Plus, who is going to want to hold a conversation with a “sales

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pitch” in the blogosphere?

The right way, in my opinion, is to be subtle. First and foremost, deliver valuable content which people will find informative, entertaining, and which provokes conversation – this is why people read blogs, after all.

Keep in mind that you are using your blog as a pre-sell, so you don't have to actually sell here. (Although there's probably nothing wrong with making a direct pitch to your regular readers, from time to time.)

It's important to make sure that people can get access to the sales page, so it should be a prominent link on your blog. And since people may arrive on your blog via a search engine link to an individual post, it's a good idea to mention your product in as many of your posts as possible.

Just keep in mind your regular readers. If your blog ceases to be informative, entertaining or conversation-worthy (i.e. it turns into a pitch-fest), you'll lose readers and turn off potential subscribers.

5.3 Powerful Blog Pre-Selling Techniques

(1) Focus on subjects upon which your product has the strongest advantage.

For instance, if you sell carbonated widgets, and your widget is carbonated to a higher degree than most, then write posts about the importance of high degrees of carbonation. Perhaps you could find customers who would be willing to share their stories about how high carbonation benefited them.

(2) Direct visitors to your sales letter at the end of each post.

One technique I've found effective is to have a link to your product at the end of each blog post. You can perhaps italicize it to distinguish it from the post itself, but not so distinctive that it's ignored.

Regular readers might learn to tune it out (they probably know about your product anyway), but new readers will read it, and if the link text is compelling enough, they may click.

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Try a different link headline each post, ideally connected to the subject of the post itself, for most effective targetting. You should also track your clicks, and correlate them with the number of readers to each post, to see which posts and link wording are generating the most interest.

(3) Employ the “missing out” effect

This technique is a little “sneaky”, but it can be devastatingly powerful when done right. It's most effective when it's subtle, rather than blatant – and also when it's genuine.

The technique basically involves hinting at something the reader is missing out on, by not having your product.

For example, if you've read my book Small Changes: Big Profits, you already know the powerful psychological secrets behind asking those magical questions, don't you?

Now, that isn't particularly subtle, I admit – so it probably doesn't have quite the same impact – but it's one of those things that just might nag you, because we're all curious cats, aren't we?

Now, if I were writing a blog post, I'd probably just state it matter-of-factly, and then move on to the subject I wanted to discuss, i.e.

“... if you've read my book Small Changes: Big Profits, you'll know why 'magical questions' are so psychologically powerful when asking for feedback, but let's look at...”

In other words, it's a casual reference to something in my book, but it makes the reader curious, and feel just a little bit left out – unless they actually go read it!

5.4 How To Get People Addicted To Your Blog In 5 Easy Steps

1. While people often use the Internet to find information, it's also an entertainment medium. So be informative and entertaining, and

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you'll fulfill both desires at the same time.

2. Use my Arabian Nights technique. The famous Arabic collection of stories - called “Arabian Nights” in the Western world - tells the tale of a Persian king who marries a new wife each day, and then has them executed the next morning.

One particularly smart woman - Scheherazade - realizes that, when she was a little girl, being executed was not on her list of things to be when she grew up, so she devises a scheme to survive.

On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade tells the king a tale, but does not end it. The king is thus forced to keep her alive in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins (and only begins) another. And so it goes for 1,001 nights.

Eventually the king pardons his wife, and spares her life. (You know it's true love when you don't get executed).

But the lesson for us here and now is, if you want your visitors to hang around (no pun intended) for 1,001 nights or more, write your blog posts like Scheherazade. Introduce the theme of the post to come (and why they should stick around to read it) in your current post! That's why planning ahead is useful.

3. Ask yourself the “Two Hoots” question before writing or posting. Your mother may be interested in how you felt this morning, or what music you're listening to right now, but will readers of your Forex Trading blog really give two hoots about what cereal you had for breakfast?

Your readers probably lead busy lives, and there may be many other things vying for their attention. So before posting some random thought you had three minutes ago, ask yourself what's in it for them to interrupt their day to read your post. If you can't think of a good enough reason, it's not a good enough post – hold off until you have something that's more substantially relevant to them. Remember the “Two Hoots” rule before pressing that “Post” button.

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4. Not only allow but actively encourage comments, participation and conversation. The more a person gets involved in your blog, the more commitment they are showing to it. Comments provide “social proof” (i.e. that yours isn't a dead blog read only by Google bots), they can often provide the raw material for further posts, and commentators are much more likely to become loyal readers, and perhaps customers.

Not only get them commenting, but create new blog posts based on their comments! That will make the commentators feel even more special (assuming you haven't just insulted them), even more willing to comment, and more committed to your blog.

5. Password protect some posts, and only give access to subscribers. Keep the really good posts – the ones where you share a couple of secrets, profound insights or some other really valuable stuff - for your subscribers only. Then use the “missing out” effect.

5.5 Tips For Creating An Effective Blog Presence

My personal favourite blog platform is Wordpress when hosted on your own site. I recommend getting your own domain name for your blog, and make it fairly short, memorable and “brandible”. For instance, I chose ConversionBlogger.com because it is fairly short and conveys exactly what my blog is about – it's the definitive blog about conversion (at least the business type of conversion).

Now, some of the following tips below may require “plug-ins” (little programs that extend Wordpress) to achieve. I haven't gone into the technical details on how to achieve them all – which is beyond the scope of this report – but you'll find links to the relevant keyword searches on Google, which should help you out when looking for the technical aspects of each, and ensure the information is up-to-date.

● Optimize your blog for search engines. Make sure your blog generates an XML sitemap for the benefit of search engines, and that the index page has a title, description and keywords. (Google Search: xml sitemap wordpress)

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● Make subscribing to your blog easy. The most common way of doing this is through a “feed reader” such as Google Reader. These readers utilize the RSS technology built-into blogs, which enables your content to be “syndicated”. It's not essential to understand RSS fully – although it does help to get a basic knowledge - just make sure you have an RSS subscription button prominently displayed on your blog. (Google Search: rss subscription wordpress)

● Optimize your post titles both for search engines, and to attract human eyeballs. The more effective your headline is, the more likely you will make a big impact on the social bookmarking sites. (For inspiration, I suggest taking a look at the headlines that make it to the front page of Digg, and see how they capture attention in just a few words.)

● Optimize your posts for search engines. Use certain keywords in your title and post. Also, in Wordpress you can use the “post slug” facility to specify how the post's link will look. Use it, and put the most relevant keywords in the link, separated by a dash. (Google Search: post slug wordpress)

For example, if your post title is, “How To Effectively Carbonate A Widget”, your post slug should read something like...

how-to-effectively-carbonate-widget

Using the “post slug” feature gives you more control over the format of each post's individual link. (Either way, don't use the default way that Wordpress indexes a page, which is basically something like “?p=6” - this is not optimized for search engines.)

● Customize the look and feel of your blog. Don't just use the default. With Wordpress, you can install different “themes” which give your blog a different look. However, if possible, give your blog a unique look that is a sort of brand. (Google Search: wordpress themes)

● Inject life into your blog. Make it look popular, and widely read. (We're going for “social proof” here.) In particular, get people to comment on your blog. One way of doing this early on is simply to visit related blogs, comment on their latest post in a way that “adds to the conversation” (to quote a blogging cliché), and then to politely ask the original poster to pop over to your new blog and return the favour if

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they get the chance. Believe me, many will – it's called reciprocation.

● Add social widgets to your blog, such as ones that enable visitors to bookmark a post on the major social bookmarking sites; as well as networking widgets such as MyBlogLog and Blog Catalog. (Google Search: social bookmarking widget wordpress)

● Keep abreast of the latest posts that may be relevant to your blog and product, by creating Google Blog Alerts on relevant keywords. (For example, setting one up for “carbonating widget” means you'll be emailed by Google every time a new blog post appears in the blogosphere with the words “carbonating” and “widget”.)

● Make your blog part of a larger blogosphere “conversation”. By knowing when someone else is talking about a subject that is relevant to you (i.e. through Google Blog Alerts), you can go and read what they're saying, then write a post that extends their ideas, or perhaps even clashes a little bit with them! Then, add a comment to theirs, “adding to their conversation”, but also linking back to your related post. You can get lots of interesting cross-blog conversations going this way!

● Think long term. Most blogs are abandoned after about 3 months, when the owner doesn't make enough money and their blog isn't yet Number 1 in the blogosphere. So, get real - do not expect immediate results from a new blog, but keep posting regularly and do something to promote it every day, like you would your sales letter. It's much easier to promote a blog than a sales letter, because your blog is primarily a source of information, entertainment and conversation – isn't it?

5.6 Email Pre-Selling

As I discussed earlier in the chapter on choosing your marketing model, many marketers use an email autoresponder sequence to sell or pre-sell.

On your web site you can request a visitor's email address in an “opt-in form” for later follow-up. The autoresponder sequence will automatically send them email messages that you have pre-written, in a timed sequence such as every 3 days.

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Now, I'm not going to go into the technical details of how to do this – it's fairly simple, I'd recommend using a third-party autoresponder service such as Aweber or GetResponse, and then using the opt-in forms they provide.

As a suggestion, you could offer an email “course” spread out over several days, and a weekly “newsletter” to keep in contact with the visitor.

The “course” provides them with useful information that is related to your product, and gently pre-sells it.

The “newsletter” provides more general tips and news on a weekly, again related to your product.

By doing this, you are (a) pre-selling, (b) increasing your opportunity to make a sale, and (c) building a list.

Incidentally, many of the tips I've shared with you for blog pre-selling can also be applied to your autoresponder sequences. For instance, to keep people reading and anticipating your next message, use my Arabian Nights technique.

When it comes to the “course”, you'll have to decide how many emails should be in it, and the length of time between each email (i.e. 1 day, 3 days, 1 week).

As for finding the optimal number and frequency, this is something you will ultimately need to test.

Incidentally, with GetResponse autoresponder messages you can include a link which, when clicked, will deliver the next message in the sequence to your subscriber. This is a very useful feature to make available for subscribers who don't want to wait a day or 3 days for your next message.

6Super Conversion Sales Techniques

Or, “How Direct Salespeople Achieve 20-40% Conversion Rates”

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Whether you like it or not, if you're selling something (either your own product, or somebody else's), then you're a salesperson.

Now, first of all I understand that the word “salesperson” has somewhat of a negative connotation – some might picture the pushy man in a suit and tie trying to sell you a vacuum cleaner, for instance.

On the other hand, some of the best salespeople with whom I worked didn't fit that stereotype at all. In fact, one particular colleague of mine was the nicest person I've ever known – not at all pushy in the conventional sense, very friendly to other people and to customers... and yet he consistently had a higher conversion rate, and earned more than the other sales rep in the branch, and he was one of the top earners in the company (at least for sales reps).

Incidentally, most of the sales reps in our branch, including myself, were converting between 20% and 40% of our appointments into sales. And while some were better than others, the main reason we achieved conversion rates that an Internet marketer might consider “phenomenal” (whereas our company considered 40% to be “average”), was because the company had an exceptional understanding of the selling process, and the psychology behind it - and that was reflected in their training for the sales reps.

So in this chapter I'd like to share with you some of the insights I learned from my time in direct sales, and how they can be applied online.

By the time you've finished reading this chapter, you might be wondering why I have taken up quite a considerable amount of space explaining how a direct sale is made in a face-to-face selling situation, when you are selling on the Internet.

The fact is, many sales letters do try and achieve some of the things I'm going to share with you, but to be blunt, they do it poorly – and that's because a lot of Internet marketers don't have a background in sales.

So that's why I wanted to share with you some of my direct sales experience, to help you see how a powerfully constructed sales process works – and more importantly, why it works, and how you can apply these insights to your own sales process.

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6.1 Selling In “Steps”

Working for this particular home improvement company as a sales rep, I was given appointments that had been confirmed with the manager, and my job was to go to the customer's house, and make a presentation.

With each presentation, the sales rep was required to follow a series of “steps”, and each step had been designed primarily with two things in mind – to move the presentation forward, and to move the customer progressively towards the sale.

For example, Step 1 involved the sales rep being prepared for the appointment itself, both mentally and physically. (You'd be surprised how much of a difference the mental attitude of the sales rep could make. Believe it or not, sales reps are human too – and have days when they'd rather be doing anything but sitting in a stranger's home!)

Step 2 was where we'd break the ice with the householder, to put them at ease. (We called it the “Ice Break”).

With Step 3, we'd introduce our Promotion and get the householder – both husband and wife – involved in a brief Questionnaire which would be used to determine their eligibility for the Promotion (which could save them a lot of money on their potential installation).

In Step 4, we'd ask them to fill in a short Customer Survey about their priorities and needs.

In Step 5, we'd talk about the company. (This was called the “Company Presentation”).

In Step 6, we'd talk about the product – the “Product Presentation”.

(Just so you know, there were 15 of these steps in all!)

Now, while each step (with the exception of the first couple of steps) was in a logical order to help and benefit the customer, each one also had a specific sales outcome in mind, for the benefit of the sales rep.

For example, the Questionnaire in Step 3 was designed to get both home

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owners involved - we always wanted to be presenting to both parties where possible, since a major purchase like this would almost certainly be a joint decision.

And it was designed to get them interested in our Promotion, and the potential savings they could receive – which was dependent on their answers in the Questionnaire. It got them actively involved in the presentation, rather than just being passive listeners. And we were also doing more subtle things, such as making the Promotion more credible, which would enable us to justify the savings we could offer later on.

The Customer Survey in Step 4 was ultimately designed to identify the potential customer's needs and “hot spots” - the things that were most important to them.

Once we knew specifically what problems they were having with their current installation, and what was most important to them in choosing a replacement product, we could gear the remainder of our presentation towards focusing on their specific needs and “hot spots”.

Step 5, the Company Presentation, was where I talked about the company, showed them what was available to them in the marketplace and emphasized what distinguished our company from everybody else.

The desired outcome of this particular step was to effectively make the customer see that, despite the many apparent choices available to them, their only real choice was us.

Ultimately, each step was carefully designed to bring the customer closer to the point where it made both logical and emotional sense to place an order with us. When a sales rep followed the specific steps as we were supposed to do, we would usually convert 20% to 40% of those appointments into sales, on the same day.

When we didn't follow all the steps – perhaps because of laziness or the belief that “my way is better” - conversion was usually less than 20%. That's because each and every step was a vital part in progressing the customer towards the sale. Just one step missed would lower our conversion rate.

Now, the reason I'm sharing these things with you, is that their step-by-step process really opened my eyes to the fact that selling is a process, rather

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than a “thing”, and that whenever I left out part of the process (a “step”), a sale was much less likely – i.e. a lower conversion rate.

So reversing that logic, in order to get the highest possible conversion rate, all the steps were necessary and had to be followed! Those 15 steps were the result of 30 years of sales experience they had accumulated as a company.

Now, I sincerely believe that this “steps” way of thinking can be applied online - it's simply a question of understanding what “steps” are needed to move the visitor towards the sale, in what order they must be done, and how to accomplish each step.

What I like most about flow testing - other than the data it provides – is that when creating your sales material it forces you to think in terms of themes, or steps.

On each page, you now have to ask yourself, What am I trying to achieve here? How does this material move the visitor towards the ultimate goal?

In summary...

Selling is a process that involves a series of logical “steps” that are required before a sale can be made. Such steps include getting their attention and interest, reducing skepticism, creating trust, building a desire and making it affordable for them.

6.2 Understanding The Customer's “State” At Each Step Of The Sales Process

In designing their “15 Steps”, the company for which I worked understood that the householder's first state when letting me in to their home was one of skepticism, caution and even a little fear and distrust. After all, they had a salesperson in their house. Understandably, most people just wanted me to give them a price, and then to leave as quickly as possible.

So initially, I needed to get them past their state of skepticism, caution and fear, and to put them at ease, before I could even begin my presentation.

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That was what the “ice break” (Step 2) was for. After that, I'd explain my agenda for the appointment, which justified why I'd probably be with them a bit longer than they initially expected:

“So, Mr and Mrs Jones... what I'd like to do is briefly show you who we are as a company. And I'd like to show you the product. I know a lot of people think they're all the same, but ours is quite a bit different, so I'll show you it to make sure your happy with it. And if you're happy, then I'll work you out a quote which will be valid for 12 months – does that sound fair?”

Once I'd laid out my agenda and they'd agreed to it, they were usually happy to listen to the remainder of my presentation, so I could show them the product itself, and start to build a desire for it.

As the presentation progressed, I also needed to build in the urgency. This was partly achieved by drawing particular attention to why they needed our product sooner rather than later (thanks to the Survey, I knew the biggest problems they had with their current installation). And it was also achieved through the Promotion, which was time limited.

Now, I always mentioned the Promotion at the start of my presentation, but I really only got into the details once I'd sufficiently built up the desire for the product itself.

I'll show you how the Promotion was used to create urgency a bit later, but the point is, the order of the steps was designed to take into account the “state” of the customer at each particular point.

I could only proceed with my Product Presentation once the customer was at ease, and was willing to let me show them it in the first place. And I could only really start to build the urgency once the customer started to desire the product, which could only happen once they fully understood the need for it.

So when creating your sales material, recognize and understand the “state” your visitor will be in at each point. Unless they've been pre-sold on your product, it usually starts off with skepticism, curiosity or maybe indifference. You need to deal with those “states” as quickly as you can, then move them to better ones such as desire.

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In summary...

Recognize that your potential customers are in different “states” throughout your sales material, and seek to change those states. For instance, they may initially be skeptical, cautious and distrustful.

6.3 Closing Doors

The same company taught me this technique as well. Their particular industry was highly competitive, with literally hundreds of other companies competing for orders that often had values in excess of $7,000.

So potential customers had plenty of choice – too much even. In addition, there were lots of reasons for them to say “No” to me at the end of my presentation. They might want other quotes, they might believe they couldn't afford the product, and so on.

With this technique, every reason for saying “No” was compared to a door – a door through which the customer could “escape” the sale, as it were. I was taught that one of the main purposes of the 15 Steps was to close each of those doors, to the point where the only sensible choice left to the customer was for them to buy, and to buy now!

(Obviously they could still say “No”, but by the end of the presentation they shouldn't have any good reasons left for doing so!)

If I left just one “door” open, you could usually bet they would escape the sale through it.

Now, to “close a door,” you must first understand what doors there are. In the home improvement industry, the biggest one was people wanting to get other quotes from another company.

If I hadn't closed this door by the end of my presentation, then after I'd finished, it was almost certain they would thank me for my time, but decline to place an order because they wanted to get other quotes.

In classical marketing terms, this is called an “objection” – and we would still deal with objections when they came up, but the point of closing doors was

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to effectively kill the objection before it even arose! We were basically preempting their objections.

So how could I possibly close this particular door of “other quotes”?

Here's an example of how it was done. In my Product Presentation, I'd compare a typical product with ours, highlighting our unique selling points. At the end of this particular part of the presentation, I'd ask the question (in reference to our product), “Price aside, Mr and Mrs Jones... is this the product you'd like to see installed in your home?”

If the answer was “Yes”, then they had basically agreed that they wanted our product, subject to price. So, ideally, price was now the only possible reason for not buying.

Price was then another door which we'd need to close – particular the “I can't afford it” objection that might arise. So it was no coincidence that the step immediately following the Product Presentation was called the Funding Presentation, where we'd present them with different options for funding their investment.

After that, I was no longer selling a $7,000 product which they probably couldn't afford, but a $150 a month one, which was more likely to be within their budget. And at this stage I'd always find out just what they could afford a month, before pricing up – because there was no point in pitching a $150 a month product if they could only afford $50 a month.

If their budget turned out to be only $50 a month, it didn't mean a sale couldn't be accomplished, it usually just meant downselling to a smaller order value.

The point is, we were closing more and more doors at each stage of the presentation – other quotes, affordability, etc - until by the time we'd reached the end, they didn't have any good reasons left to say “No” - but plenty of reasons to say “Yes”!

Of course, that's not to say that everyone bought at the end of this process – but our conversion rate was always directly connected to how well we closed the doors throughout the presentation.

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Now, this whole process of closing doors might sound sneaky, but think about it for a moment – if you genuinely believe that yours is the best product for your potential customer, and especially if it is the best product for them, then closing doors should be natural, and in your customer's best interest!

This is why I place so much emphasis on developing great products in the first place.

So then, you need to close all doors in your sales material. If you've evaluated your competition, and built unique sales points into your product that give the customer plenty of reasons to buy from you now, and you've made it affordable for them, then it really shouldn't be difficult to do.

In summary...

“Closing doors” is about knowing the reasons a customer might not buy from you by the end of your sales process, and preempting those objections in advance. It's about gradually limiting their perceived options to the point where buying from you and you alone is the best possible course of action to take. To achieve the maximum possible conversion rate, you need to close every possible “door” through which the potential customer might “escape”.

6.4 Closing Questions

A common phrase sales people are often taught is to “always be closing” (ABC). Closing is basically a sales term for getting the potential customer to commit to something – not necessarily the sale.

This is often achieved by asking closing questions. So when I asked the householder, “Price aside, is this the product you'd like to see installed in your home?”... if I got a “Yes” answer, I was basically committing the customer to the product, subject to price. (I couldn't commit them totally at that stage, because they didn't yet know the price).

We were taught to close on literally every aspect. So after highlighting the security features of our product, and how they would benefit the customer, we'd ask, “Is this the level of security you want from your installation?” After

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describing the unique features of our guarantee, we'd ask, “Is this the kind of guarantee you want, Mr and Mrs Jones?”

By asking closing questions, they were making small commitments, so that if they later wanted other quotes, well... didn't they earlier agree that they wanted our unique level of service, our unique warranty, etc? Only our company offered all of those things. So then, closing questions were designed to gain small commitments from the customer at every stage of the process, of which the customer could be reminded later.

Obviously when it comes to written material such as a “sales letter”, you can ask closing questions, but the commitment effect is not going to be quite as strong, because they can always just click away from your sales page whenever they want.

Nevertheless, I'd still recommend asking closing questions in your copy... because they may answer the question in their mind – and if the answer brings them closer to a sale, that's a good thing, isn't it?

In summary...

Closing questions are questions designed to commit the potential customer to something (“Is this the level of security you're looking for?”), and can be used as reminders when asking for the order. (“You agreed that this is the level of security you're looking for...”) Close on every feature and benefit of your product, and remind them of their agreement when asking for their order.

6.5 Price Conditioning, and Price Justification

Price conditioning is one of those techniques that is taught at high-powered direct sales seminars, but is not usually discussed outside of sales circles – in fact, I hardly see any Internet marketers talk about it.

And while I have seen attempts to use it in sales letters, a lot of the time it doesn't come across as convincing at all – which is a pity, because if done correctly, it can be very effective.

At its simplest level, price conditioning basically means training your potential customers to expect and anticipate a high price for your product – so that

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any price that is lower than their expectation makes it easier to clinch the sale.

Now, a lot of sites think they're using this technique, but they're not. I've often seen these kinds of phrases in a sales letter:

“It cost me over $900 to put together this information. It's worth over $500, but I'm selling it to you today for just $19.”

This is not price conditioning. They've attached an apparent value to their offering, but it's not what I'm talking about. In fact, I don't personally find the above example particularly convincing, do you? How do we know it's worth “over $500”? What has actually determined its value?

Price conditioning is a lot more subtle and effective. Sales people call it price “conditioning” for a reason, because that's basically what it is – no less than conditioning the customer – just like Pavlov's dog, which was conditioned to respond to the sound of the trainer's bell.

Price conditioning cannot usually be achieved in a single sentence like the above – it's an entire process, which is best employed throughout your sales material.

Let me give you a few examples of how we applied this technique in our sales presentations.

First, the reason we used it was because most people hadn't really got that much of a clue as to how much things should cost in our particular industry, since price and quality varied a lot.

Furthermore, we were one of the more expensive companies in the industry, so we utilized the fact that people often associated high prices with quality, and lower “cheap” prices with inferior products.

So I'd often remind customers of that fact – that “cheap” often equates to inferior.

“Mr Jones, how many times have we bought something 'cheap', only to find out it doesn't quite do what we wanted, or it breaks down on us? We end up replacing it with a better product – and so we've paid twice, haven't we?”

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Occasionally during the presentation, I'd use phrases like, “It's not cheap, it's expensive.” I'd often refer to the “cheap and cheerful” companies out there that would install a cheap product and then go bankrupt 2 years later, leaving the customer with an inferior product installed, and responsible for the cost of repairs themselves. (This was actually quite a common occurrence in the home improvement industry, unlike the company I worked for which had been around over 30 years.)

I'd point out the superior quality of the materials used in the construction of our product, and even price particular parts for the customer...

“... at $50 a metre, this material isn't cheap. But we don't want to install something that will break down on you after 2 years.”

As part of my presentation, I'd show a news clipping of a survey taken from a newspaper which showed the average cost of a home installation such as the one we were selling was about $14,000.

The purpose of these things was twofold. First, it raised their expectations on the cost of the job generally. If they'd been thinking they could get a complete home installation for $10,000, then by showing them a survey published in the media (i.e. independent from us) which had the average price at $14,000, it would have made them think twice about their own valuation – price conditioning.

Second, since we were claiming to be based on quality, and not “cheap and cheerful” like so many others, the phrases I used were reinforcing this in their mind. (“It's not cheap, it's expensive.”)

When it came to pricing individual components of the product, the customer may have been thinking, “Wow, if just that one part costs $50 a metre, how much is the overall product going to cost?”

In fact, the company had developed a brilliant price conditioning tool for selling their doors. They'd taken the prices of individual door components from a trade catalogue (independent from us), and put together a leaflet to show customers how much it would cost to build a high security door from scratch, at trade prices.

Since customers often had their own expectations as to how much a door should cost, the leaflet was used to show them that buying the materials to

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build a high quality security door just out of wood was going to cost quite a lot more than they'd probably expected – and that was without it being fitted and guaranteed!

This was an amazingly effective bit of price conditioning, to the point that when we presented the price of our doors (which were always much higher than they expected before my presentation), they weren't quite as surprised – they'd been conditioned to expect the high price by the comparison leaflet.

Also, by showing them the prices of individual components from a trade catalogue not connected to us, our own high price had been justified – so they could no longer say they couldn't understand why our price was so high!

By the way, it might sound counter-intuitive to be emphasizing the expensive nature of our products, but there was a method to our apparent madness. Basically, this was for the purpose of calculating their 12 month quote. If they wanted to save a substantial amount of money off that quote, then they could take advantage of our Promotion, which was the main tool used to secure the actual order. (I'll explain in more detail how this worked shortly.)

So you can see, price conditioning is a lot more subtle than saying, “This is worth $997 but you can have it for $19.”

How do we know it's worth $997? (What, because you say so? Well, OK then...) And second, it's not very subtle. We're expected to believe that you're selling a product worth $997, for just $19? (Things that make you go, Hmmm.)

When selling on the Internet, I think the best way to price condition is to help people to understand the price and value of your product in the first place – through stories, examples, points of comparison, and by laying out the costs, in a way that lets people draw their own conclusions.

I find that comparison examples are always useful. For instance, let's say you've written an ebook which contains useful tips on carbonating a widget.

Perhaps when you first got into widget carbonating, you made a mistake that cost you $500. In your book, you recount the story and explain how your readers can avoid that costly mistake.

In your sales material, you could point out that many of your readers might

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make this $500 mistake while carbonating a widget, and you will show them how to avoid making it. (This gives the customer a point of comparison for your price. Your book might cost $27, but that's nothing compared to the cost of making that mistake.)

Let me share with you a specific example of price conditioning. In the sales copy of a software product that I sold, I recounted my experience with outsourcing the creation of the program:

A while back, a client of mine paid me $895 to implement a more basic version of this on their site, which was what inspired me to come up with these ideas in the first place. (Trouble is, it was custom-made for their site, and couldn't be adapted to a different site very easily.)

So I decided to create a tool which could be used on other sites. I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I outsourced a programmer to write part of the script for me... only to find out a few months (and $1,795 dollars) later that he couldn't finish the project. (Don't you just hate that?)

So... I sat down and wrote the whole thing from scratch. (If you want things doing properly, eh?...)

After countless hours of hard work (and a few sleepless nights), I created the tool to do it all for me...

Now, while this story appears to be simply about “how I came up with the idea for the program and my experience with outsourcing”, it's actually doing several other things:

(a) Price conditioning and price justification: “...somebody had paid me $895 to implement this on their site...” [I can now justify that it's potentially worth $895 because that's what somebody paid for a customized version.]

(b) Closing doors: “...I outsourced a programmer... only to find out a few months (and $1,795 dollars) later that he couldn't finish the project.” [I'm basically putting the customer off the idea of outsourcing instead of purchasing my product, by recounting that script outsourcing was an expensive option for me, and became a nightmare.]

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(c) Price conditioning: The tool took “countless hours of hard work” to make [... so don't expect it to be cheap!]

So then, price conditioning can be achieved through recounting stories and experiences, by breaking down the cost of the individual components of the product, and by creating points of comparison - such as the widget carbonation mistake that cost you $500, or the $1,795 outsourcing nightmare, or the little-known search engine tip that generated you $782 of sales in one day.

And don't simply state a value, but demonstrate value. I know many copywriters tell you to put a “price tag” on things, which I sort of agree with, but without demonstrating how you came up with that figure, and why it's justified, you could be doing more damage to your offer's credibility.

In the outsourcing example above, I'd demonstrated that the script was potentially worth $895 (and that I could justify a $895 price tag if I chose) because that's what someone had paid, albeit as a somewhat customized version.

And I also justified their price because I'd made it specifically for that client – so at the time I wasn't mass marketing it.

In other words, while many marketers tell you to attach a value to things, i.e. “Free gift, $97 value” - it has so much more impact if you can actually demonstrate that value!

And always justify your prices and value claims. Why on earth are you selling an ebook with a value of $997 for just $17, anyway? Or why are you giving it away? Why not just sell it for what it's worth! Or is it that it isn't really worth $997 in the first place?

Unless you can justify the value you attach and the reason you're selling it for less, it just makes you sound like you've plucked the value from thin air!

Years ago I came across one of Jay Abraham's ebooks that was given away by a marketer as a free bonus. Jay actually used to sell the book for $997 or something like that, and this particular marketer had acquired the rights to give it away. You can be sure he made it very clear that Jay used to sell it for $997, and that he had acquired the rights to it because he wanted to offer his potential customers something of high value.

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I remember thinking at the time, that was a very credible way of justifying the $997 value – it used to be sold for $997, so there could be no disputing the value tag! Plus, he gave a very credible reason for giving it away.

In summary...

Your potential customers do not necessarily know the value of things, or the costs involved, so to help them make the right decision you must help them out in this regard. Price conditioning helps them to see that your product is good value for money, by showing them the costs involved, by showing the costs of choosing an alternative, and by creating points of comparison through stories and experiences. It also helps in establishing an expectation for your price. Price and value tags (even on bonuses) should always be justified, to create credibility and to show the value you are offering.

6.6 Creating Urgency

When an appointment was booked with the householder, they were told that I would be coming out to give them two prices - a 12 month quote, and a Promotion price, which could save them a substantial amount of money in return for the householder allowing us to use their property for promotional purposes – but the sales rep would explain the Promotion in more detail.

The Promotion was basically designed to create the urgency, and was the main reason for them placing an order with us on the same day, as I'll explain in a moment.

Now, as sales reps we were taught that, when we first arrived at an appointment, we didn't know how much of a priority the installation was for the customer. It might have been urgently needed, or it might have been something they were possibly maybe thinking of perhaps doing some time over the next year or two.

My job as the sales rep was to gradually create the urgency for our product throughout the presentation. We did this in several ways, but the main technique was through the Promotion itself.

The main Promotion we used was where customers could become a

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Showhome, in which they would give us permission to take photos of the property before and after an installation, and place an advertising board on their property, in exchange for a substantial subsidy on the cost of their installation. (We were taught never to call it a “discount”, but a “subsidy”.)

At first, urgency was introduced in a subtle way, by hinting at the limited nature of the Promotion. However, we couldn't really build the urgency until we had built the customer's desire and made our product affordable for them.

During the Customer Survey, I discovered their “hot spots”, and these could be developed during the Product Presentation into reasons to see the installation as a priority.

The Product Presentation would build desire for the product. And then, before measuring up and presenting the price, we had a step which involved “pre-closing” on the offer.

In this step, I went into further details about the Promotion itself, and produced a memo which explained the rules.

With the exception of the product itself, this memo was probably the single most effective closing tool in our arsenal, because it basically introduced them to the concept of having to make a Yes or No decision, at least on the Promotion.

The memo explained that the more they could agree to on the Promotion, the more they could save. In particular, there was one powerful clause, that read something like this:

“Quotations including subsidies for urgent installations or immediate surveys, cannot be left with prospective customers for consideration. This must be clearly stated, in order not to mislead the customer.”

If the customer raised an objection here, we simply related the fact that, since we had a limited subsidy to spend, slots for the Promotion were available on a first-come first-served basis.

Once I'd measured up, and just before giving them a price, we would then

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close them on having an installation as soon as possible:

“Mr and Mrs Jones, the most important aspect of our Promotion is speed., since the quicker you can have the installation, the bigger will be the marketing affect in this area for us, and so the more money you can save. So putting price aside for one moment, is there any physical reason why your installation could not be fitted within the next 6-8 weeks?”

This question was important for several reasons. If they said “No” here, then assuming I'd closed all the other doors beforehand, the only thing that could really stop them placing their order with me today was the price!

So then, I'd work out the price for them, and present it to them, showing how I worked out my prices from the company's price list.

Now, the price I'd calculated for them at this point was their 12 month quote. However, as a sales rep, I wanted their order there and then – and this is where the Promotion made all the difference.

The Promotion was my negotiating tool, which would ideally provide the reason for them to place their order with me on the same day, rather than in 12 months.

If I'd successfully built the desire beforehand, had closed them on having our product (subject to price), and had closed them on having an installation within 6 to 8 weeks, then it was usually just a question of using the Promotion to negotiate the right price.

Basically, they could get the subsidies under the Promotion, in exchange for their order.

Now, please understand that what I've shared here is just a very simplified outline of the process we used, to highlight the key points. There was a lot more to it that made it effective, but I'd probably need a whole other book to show you all the elements that contributed to getting the sale.

However, it was mainly the Promotion that created the urgency, and provided the motivation for the customer to place their order with me the same day.

We were taught three invaluable lessons in regard to the Promotion that can also be applied to your online offers:

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(1) Never give something away without getting something in return.

Under the Promotion I could offer certain specific subsidies to the potential customer, but each one required something in return – such as agreeing to a 6 to 8 week installation, and their agreement to have an advertising board outside their home, for 4 weeks or so.

And ultimately, these savings were only available if they were willing to place their order with me the same day.

Now, after I'd given them the subsidies under the Promotion, perhaps the price was still more than they were willing to pay. I could perhaps negotiate the price down further, but that was always conditional on receiving their order. “Mr Jones, if I could get that price for you... could I have your business?” Often that extra bit of negotiation would close the business and secure the order.

(2) The reason for the discount is often more important than the discount itself.

I've heard sales people say, “Mr Jones, the job will cost you $10,000 – but I tell you what... if I can have your order, I'll do it for $7,000.”

This is not credible - it simply sounds like the $10,000 wasn't a real price in the first place!

When I presented the customer with their 12 month quote, that was their price. I wouldn't get into the savings under the Promotion right away, but instead I would justify the 12 month quote. After reminding them of all the things that price included, and going over the unique selling points again, I'd make sure they felt it was value for money – even though it might be more than they were thinking of paying.

By doing this, it was reinforcing that this was a real price, which it was - it was their 12 month quote, and I was justifying it. Plus, by not presenting the offer price right away, the 12 month quote would sink in, as it were.

Only then would I move on to the Promotion, and the savings they could make if they were willing to become a Showhome.

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The point is, it wasn't a question of, “Here's your price, Mr Jones... but I'll knock 25% off if you place an order with me”.

Each discount was fully justified and explained, so that they could see exactly why we could offer it.

For example, under the Promotion I could offer a 10% “subsidy” if they agreed to have an advertising board outside their home for 4 weeks. This was justified by the fact that, if we could get several advertising boards up on installations in a small area, this was the equivalent of a local advertising campaign – so we'd save advertising money, and hence could pass that saving onto the customer in the form of a subsidy.

So this is what I mean by, “the reason for the discount is often more important than the discount itself.”

By justifying the discount, it became credible. Sometimes, the customer would play “hardball” and said, “I'll order if you can get it for $X”. This was always what a salesperson wanted to hear! It meant the customer was willing to place an order, they just wanted to feel they had gotten the best possible price out of us.

Again, it was always important to make any extra savings I could give credible. And that is why sales reps phone their manager – if they could give extra savings themselves, the question could be asked, “Why didn't you just offer it to me in the first place?” The answer is,we couldn't. (If we could, where would be the credibility? But a third party may be able to!)

Even then, any extra savings needed to be credible. The manager wouldn't just give them what they wanted, but asked for something else in return, besides the order. For instance, could they agree to have the board outside for more time? Would they be willing to write us an endorsement if they were happy with their installation? Would they be willing to have the installation on such-and-such a date, which might be a particular installation slot that we wanted to fill?

So then, every discount, every offer was presented in a credible way, giving a reason – a justification – for why we could offer it, because we knew that “the reason for the discount is often more important than the discount itself.”

That was the difference between a poor salesperson, and a good one. A poor

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one made the customer feel like they'd just been “had” with a false price at the start and shenanigans with “phoning the manager”. A good one made the customer feel they'd negotiated the best possible deal, that they had played “hardball” and had basically “forced” us to phone our manager.

(3) People are often more motivated by fear of loss.

If they didn't place their order with us today, then they would still have their 12 month quote, but they would lose the opportunity to become a Showhome, and the savings involved.

Just like everything else, the reason the subsidies were only available the same day as the appointment had to be justified and made credible, and the reasons were worked into the presentation.

First, at the start, when it was hinted that the Promotion was time limited. Then, when I ran through a Questionnaire with them near the beginning, I would then phone the office to get a grading for their property, and put an installation slot on “temporary hold” for them. Later, when I went into the Promotion in more detail, I explained why it was important for us to do a large number of installations in a narrow window of time (to save on costs and to get maximum advertising from the boards), and then I read out the rules, which essentially told them the savings under the Promotion couldn't be left with them. After presenting their 12 month quotes and the Promotion price, if they decided not to take advantage of the Promotion (i.e. they said “No”) then I would find out the reasons, which after I'd closed all other doors, usually turned out to be price.

I would phone the office to release the installation slot (after all, I couldn't hold the slot over – those were the rules!), and if the customer was fortunate enough, there might be an additional slot available which we could combine with theirs to get them more subsidy... if they would place an order with us. But they would have to decide today, because somebody else may have been after that slot, too. Or maybe there was extra marketing subsidy available only if they could agree to having the board outside for longer (more advertising for us), and if they placed their order today.

The point is, fear of loss combined with a credible offer and credible urgency is a powerful motivator, and since many householders didn't want to lose out on the benefits and savings of becoming a Showhome with us, and because they understood the reasons for the urgency, they became customers.

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In summary...

Creating urgency is vital, as it gives people a reason to place their order as soon as possible. This can be achieved by highlighting the importance and urgency of the problems your potential customer is facing, and with a credible offer that utilizes the fear of loss. Anything given away in an offer (such as a discount) should always be justified to make it credible, and should come with some form of commitment in return (such as the order itself).

6.7 How Are These Things Relevant To You?

As I suggested near the beginning of this chapter, by this point you might be wondering why I have spent so much time talking about how we made a face-to-face sale, when you are selling on the Internet.

As I explained, many sales letters try and use some of the techniques I've mentioned, but to be blunt, they do it poorly – and that's because a lot of Internet marketers don't have a background in sales.

So I wanted to show you the anatomy of a direct sale, because this will help you to understand the selling process involved.

And as I said at the outset, if you're selling something, then you are a salesperson whether you like it or not - but it doesn't mean you have to be the kind of “foot in the door” salesperson with the cocky attitude. As I mentioned earlier, the best salesperson in our office was one of the friendliest and least “pushy” people you could meet, who defied the typical stereotype of a salesperson.

And yet he still used exactly the same 15 Steps as everyone else.

So what made him different? He was a sales professional. He knew how to bond with his customers, he presented the product and company in an engaging manner that drew out what the customer was looking for, he geared the presentation for them, he closed them on literally everything, he presented the Promotion and the savings with the utmost credibility, and he left the customer feeling happy and pleased with their purchase.

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In fact, he had a phrase which seemed to sum up his whole attitude. Whenever we talked about selling, he would say, “I'm not selling to them, they are purchasing from me.”

In other words, he was enabling the customer to come to what he sincerely believed was the right conclusion – that doing business with him was the right, best and most natural thing for them to do.

And that is the difference between an amateur and a professional sales person. It's also the difference between a weak and a powerful sales process, and between sites that achieve 1% conversion rates, and those that get 10%.

Also, please understand that none of the techniques I've shared with you in this chapter need be used in a dishonest or underhanded way.

For instance, if your product really is the best choice for your potential customer, then by closing all doors you are making that choice easier and more natural for them.

And often people really do not have a clue how to place a value on things, so it's important to help them out, by price conditioning and by justifying your price and value tags.

And by creating genuine urgency and fear of loss, you're helping them to make up their mind and to prevent hesitation, indecision (“putting it off”) and possibly confusion at a later date, when they get bombarded with adverts for inferior products to yours.

6.8 Using These Techniques On The Internet

Of course, the question you're probably asking at this point is, “How can I apply all this in my sales process on the Internet?”

If you put together your sales material in a sequence of pages, then you're already thinking in “steps”. However, we'll come onto actually creating the sales material in the next chapter.

I've already gone into quite some detail about price conditioning, which is basically about raising people's price expectations.

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However, two aspects in which I think many Internet marketers fall short is “closing doors” and “creating genuine urgency” - so let's now look at these two in more detail.

Closing Doors

To close all doors in your sales material, you first need to know in advance why your visitors might not end up buying from you.

In direct sales, the four biggest reasons for not buying from me the same day were:

● They wanted to compare products.

● They were not able to afford it.

● They wanted to think about it.

● They didn't see the need for the product.

These are probably the same for a lot of other products as well, so let's see how we can close the doors, to prevent these objections from arising in the first place:

”I want to compare products...”

Some people may be just “browsing” your site in the shopping sense of the word, so that's why it's important to have unique selling points, explaining why they are of benefit, and emphasizing that they are unique to your product.

If you have a couple of well-known competitors, you could even have a comparison chart, with your product's features compared to your competitor's – assuming, of course, that your product's features deliver better value for money!

“I can't afford it...”

My potential customers usually couldn't afford a $7,000 product – until they

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learned it could be available to them for just $150 a month. And if their budget was only $50 a month, when possible I would “downsell” to a smaller order value that came within their budget.

Whatever you're selling, there's probably several ways you can make it “affordable” for your potential customers. Here's a few ideas:

● Offer an option to split the cost into several payments. For example, a $99 product could also be sold in 3 monthly payments of $33, or 9 monthly payments of $11.

● Offer a scaled-back “budget” version, for those who claim not to be able to afford your regular product – with an opportunity to “upgrade” later by paying the difference between the “regular” and “budget” price. (On the other hand, why not also offer a “deluxe” version for those who want more? There's always a demand for “first class” airline seats, isn't there?)

● Give your product out in “chunks”. For example, if you're selling an ebook, you could break it up into 3 parts and sell each part for a third of the regular price. With the last “chunk” you could deliver the full ebook, but make the order link available only to people who own the previous two parts (to prevent regular customers from acquiring your book at a third of the price).

And don't forget to point out the value they will get from your product, and the potential costs associated with not using it.

For example, if your book could potentially save a person hundreds of dollars in “pay-per-click advertising” costs, then how could a pay-per-click advertiser afford not to spend $27 on your book?

“I want to think about it...”

Naturally my customers didn't want to feel “pressured” into buying, and wanted to make sure they were making the right choice, so this was always a common objection.

Apart from the fact that we were salespeople and wanted the commission, the other big reason we wanted the order the same day was that their desire level was at the highest by the end of our presentation. Once we'd left, their

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desire would gradually fade, and other things in life would distract them – to the point where most potential customers would think or distract themselves out of placing an order whenever they could put off the buying decision.

So the only way round this was to politely remind them of all the reasons for making that decision today (and not putting it off), the reasons they agreed they wanted the benefits derived from our product and our level of service, and the genuine urgency of the Promotion.

Now, when it comes to your particular product, there may be situations where the person reading your sales material cannot place the order – perhaps because they work for a company and are not authorized to do so.

The solution in this situation is to target your material to the people who can make purchase decisions - or if that's not possible, then create material that can be given to the decision makers, such as a PDF report.

In situations where the visitor can become a customer right away, then you need to build the desire for the product throughout your sales material, emphasize their need for it, and make an offer that creates genuine urgency, as I'll discuss shortly.

“I don't see the need for this product...”

To prevent this from being a reason they don't buy from you, make sure you understand the problems your potential customer may be facing, and how your product is the solution for them.

When writing notes for my sales material, I find it useful to write down a list of all those potential problems, and then to cross each one out as my sales material highlights the problem and shows why my product is the solution to it.

As for discovering any other reasons they're not buying, I usually like to put a Feedback Seeker at the end of my sales material, asking them if there's a particular reason for their hesitation. (I'll explain more about these in the next chapter.)

Creating Urgency, and Utilizing Fear Of Loss

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Speaking from personal observation, I think that quite a few sales letters on the Internet don't really create a real sense of genuine urgency.

Sure, the classic “Hurry, this offer is time limited and I may put the price up at any time” is often used, and may certainly increase sales, but it doesn't necessarily create a sense of powerful urgency. (You know, the kind of urgency you feel when you're stuck in traffic and trying to get to an appointment on time!)

Even worse, in my opinion, are the “Buy before midnight of [today's date] or the price goes up!” statements – because you return one minute after midnight and the price is the same!

Some people may buy because of it, but for those who decide to go back after midnight to see whether you stick to your word, the credibility and urgency of that offer is lost altogether – hurting your own credibility in the process.

So how can you create an effective offer on the Internet that (a) has credibility and (b) utilizes fear of loss?

There are two particular ways I know of doing it:

A. Genuinely limiting by time.

We're all familiar with these particular type of offers - “Order by [date] and you'll receive X, Y and Z.”

They can certainly be effective, but credibility is important here, so there should always be a good reason for time limiting an offer, and people should be able to see that it actually does expires when you say it will.

First, here are some reasons why your offer might be time limited:

● You're running a genuine sale, such as a January sale or a “Weekend Special”.

● You are temporarily testing out the low price to see what effect it has on sales.

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● You intend to release an upgrade soon, so you'll be withdrawing the lower price once the newer version is available (although people who buy now will be entitled to the upgrade free of charge).

● Your costs are going up, so you'll shortly need to reflect that in the price.

The point is, if you get creative, you'll always be able to find a reason to justify why the offer is time limited.

Second, people should be able to see that your deadlines are real. I use a specific program called Dynamic Deadlines™ to achieve this, which I'll explain in more detail in the next chapter. It enables me to create personalized deadlines for each unique visitor, which can be used to raise the price or remove bonuses over time, and to create whole sequences of deadlines.

When limiting by time in this manner, I like to set a short deadline at first, such as 30 minutes, depending on the length of my sales material – so that, if it takes about 10 minutes to read, by the time a new visitor gets to the end there are 20 minutes left before the first deadline passes.

In addition to a large “Early Bird” discount for purchasing within the next 24 hours or so, I like to offer a small extra “Super Response” discount or extra bonus, for those who purchase quickly (i.e. within the remaining 20 minutes).

I justify these discounts by explaining that, because of the high cost of pay-per-click advertising, if I have to re-advertise to them before they buy (and some people need to see a message several times before they do so), it costs a lot more to generate a new customer – so by purchasing right away, they are helping me to save on advertising costs, which I can therefore pass on to them as an “Early Bird” and “Super Response” saving.

If they miss this first short deadline, a second deadline commences, with the “Super Response” saving removed (so the price becomes a little higher).

This achieves two things – first, it provides a little extra incentive to the impulse buyer; and second, it demonstrates that my deadlines are real. When the visitor sees the “small” discount disappear, they know I'm serious about removing the “large” one also!

At first I offer both discounts, but I deliberately make the “Quick Response”

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discount small, and the “Early Bird” discount large, so that if they allow the short deadline to pass (which many do, just to see if I keep to my promise about removing the discount), they see the price go up a little, which suddenly gives my main offer heaps of credibility, and then the fear of losing the larger discount really kicks in!

That's just one of the many ways in which you can use time limited offers creatively and credibly. I've found that the method I outlined above works better for lower priced items that can be purchased impulsively.

B. Genuinely limiting by quantity.

Why do you think some stores have queues outside when they launch a sale? It's because the people in the queue instinctively know there's only a limited amount of stock on sale, and that “once it's gone, it's gone”.

Now, if your product is “digital”, it might be a little more difficult to justify why you're limiting an offer to specific quantities, but in order to create a credible “limited quantity” offer, you should always give a credible reason for limiting the quantity – and you should stick to that limit.

Some of the reasons for limiting an offer to specific quantities might include...

● You don't want too many people to have the information, because if everybody knew it, it would lose its effectiveness.

● You can only support so many new customers at a time, which is why you're only “opening the doors” to X new customers.

● You cannot sustain selling at this low price for everyone, but you wish to build an initial base of customers who can provide testimonials, endorsements, and recommendations.

Limited quantity offers work best when you are selling to a large group of people, because it can then utilize not one but three powerful forces:

(a) Social proof. People often like to see other people doing something, before they do it themselves. So by showing a live count of how many units are left, you are demonstrating to individuals in the group that others are buying it too.

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(b) Scarcity. As the live count decreases, the number of units available become more scarce, and scarcity increases desirability.

(c) Urgency. As the number of units left go down, people know there might be more competition to grab what remains, and so if they were thinking of buying, it becomes more urgent that they decide to do so before all the units sell out!

The challenge in this situation is deciding how many units to offer. Too few, and you might end up missing out on extra orders. Too many, and you might lose some of the “scarcity” effect.

Sadly, there's no magic formula to determine the perfect quantity – you'll have to test, and try out different quantities. However, each time you run a new campaign, your “marketing intelligence” will increase, giving you better insights into what is the right amount to offer at any particular time.

And don't forget that audience size matters when making a “limited quantity” offer, so you might want to calculate the quantity to offer in proportion to the audience size. For example, let's say you're advertising in two different resources, Resource A with 1,000 readers and Resource B with 10,000. By limiting the number of units to 10 for Resource A and 100 for Resource B, you're offering the same proportion of readers (1%) the chance to buy a unit.

Now, I also use the Dynamic Deadlines™ program to create “quantity deadlines”, because you can display on your site how many units are left, you can use it to raise prices or change some other element of your site when the units are sold out, and you can have as many of these “quantity deadlines” in sequence as you like. (I'll talk more about this program later.)

7Creating The Sales Material

Writing the actual sales material, such as the sales letter, autoresponder sequence, or advertising offer, is often one of the biggest challenges for marketers.

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However, when you have a grasp of the “big picture”, then the process becomes a lot easier. That's why I haven't really talked about it until now.

7.1 The Sales Letter As An Online Sales Person

Your sales letter is the online equivalent of a sales person. Its role is ultimately to convert the potential customer into an actual customer.

While many people believe it's the single most important part of the overall “jigsaw puzzle”, that's not necessarily the case, as you'll see from the next chapter. However, it's certainly an important piece of the puzzle.

Now, in my own personal opinion, I think it's beneficial for you to at least attempt to write your own copy, since you are the person who came up with the idea for, researched and created the product, so you are the one who can speak the most passionately and with the most authenticity about it.

On the other hand, if you don't like writing, or you just feel like you're not up to the task, then hire a copywriter. Or, depending on your budget, do both – and run a split test to see if your copywriter's copy converts better than yours!

Unfortunately, I cannot teach you how to become a master copywriter overnight, and this report is not intended to be a course on copywriting – but I sincerely believe that what you've already gained from this book will make copywriting so much easier for you, since you already have a good idea of what customers can get out of your product, and hopefully you already have two or three unique selling points that you can emphasize in your copy.

So what I'd like to do now is share several tips and techniques for writing powerful and effective copy. You may already be familiar with some of them, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded.

7.2 Essential Things You Should Know Before You Start Writing Your Sales Copy

A. Follow the AIDA formula.

This stands for “attention, interest, desire and action”. Your letter should

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grab the visitor's attention, ideally through a bold headline or powerful statement. Your letter should keep and hold the visitor's interest, build their desire, and call the visitor to take some form of action.

B. People buy benefits.

Understand the differences between a feature and a benefit. Features are what the product does, benefits are what the features will do for the customer. Your ebook on carbonated widgets may give them tips on how to carbonate a widget successfully (features), but those tips could save the reader many hours of frustration (benefits).

C. People have problems and want quick solutions.

If a tire on your car deflates, and you haven't got a pump on you, you might walk to the nearest garage and buy one. It's simple - you have an urgent problem, and you want a quick solution. If you can put out a product that quickly solves a problem for a group of desperate buyers, you have a great chance of clinching the sale when you put it in front of those buyers.

D. People buy desires, hopes and dreams.

Why do people buy acne cream? Obviously it's because they have acne, and want to get rid of it. However, if you look at the adverts for acne cream, they often dramatize the problem the potential customer has before using Brand X of cream (buckets over the head, horrified looks in the mirror, you've seen the ads!), and play up the results after using Brand X (instant popularity with peers, and sudden attention from the opposite sex – all from a cream!)

Regardless of whether the ads are realistic or not, the advertisers are targetting the deeper desires of their potential customer base – the desire to be popular, liked, attractive, self-confident etc.

So they're not just selling acne cream, but they're offering a means of feeling more self-confident about your body, of being more attractive, and so on. This is because, often we are buying more than simply a solution – we may be buying for deeper reasons which stem from our desires.

E. People aren't always aware of potential problems – you may have to educate them.

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For example, in the case of my split testing tool, many people are probably unaware of why many split testing tools may not be particularly accurate, and the importance of accuracy - so I needed to educate potential customers on that issue, before the accuracy of my own program could be conveyed as a benefit, and a unique selling point.

F. Showing is more powerful than telling.

In direct sales, we had a phrase, “Show, don't tell.” Here's what it meant: Anyone can say, “We're the best in the field”, or “We're number 1”.

These are basically marketing slogans, but they carry very little weight. How many companies are going to say, “Our product is pretty lousy and we're not very good, really.”

Instead, if you're an expert in your field, show how that's the case. If you have 10 years experience, show it, don't merely tell it.

For example, in the sales material for my split testing program Power Split Tester I demonstrate my several years of expertise in the area of testing in several ways – by showing people how split testing programs in general work, by showing them what could go wrong, and showing them (with an example) why accuracy is so important to them. (I also like to mention that I wrote an entire book on the subject!)

While each issue that I raise is ultimately used as selling points for my own product, they simultaneously demonstrate my expertise on the subject. I'm not simply saying, “Hey, buy my product because I'm an expert!”... I'm showing my expertise by sharing the benefits of my expertise with them.

Examples, stories, testimonials and case studies can also be used to show, rather than tell.

For example, I know a friend of a friend who likes to tell a particular story to women he meets in bars – about his “last girlfriend” who was an exotic dancer. The story basically recounts a couple of his adventures in some foreign country with his dancer friend – I can't recall the details.

Anyway, his reason for using the story was simple – it conveyed value to his prospective date that said, “hey, I'm fun and adventurous”, and the subtext of his story was that, “hey, my last girlfriend was an exotic dancer... can you

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match that?”

If you want to convey something (i.e. that you're an expert, or the best in your field), find ways of showing it, rather than telling it – it's far more powerful and convincing.

G. People often make purchasing decisions based on their feelings and emotions.

Your potential customers are human beings who have imagination, feelings, emotions, desires, hopes, dreams, and fears.

Sure, you might buy that vacation home near the coast because it's a great investment. And that's what you tell your investment people.

But I bet it's also because as you're thinking about buying, you're able to imagine the wonderful breaks you could have, to picture the beauty and calmness of that blue sea rolling gently against the golden sand, to feel the warmth of the sun on the skin and the cool breeze through your hair, and the smell of sunblock in the fresh, breezy air, and to imagine and really feel just how relaxed and energized and fun that would be.

Can you feel it yet?

Good... now at this point, let me introduce you to my Florida property affiliate link.... nah, just kidding!

But you do like to feel good, don't you?

That's how your potential customers should be feeling and desiring just before they purchase from you. Help them to really feel and imagine and desire all the wonderful benefits of using your product.

Remember, it's not just acne cream.

H. People defend their purchasing decisions with logic.

Once the emotion has died down, and people consider their purchase in the light of day, they like to believe they made the right choice, and that their choice was logical and rational. So make sure you are actually delivering benefits to them that are logical and rational, and that they easily understand

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those benefits. (It doesn't hurt to remind them after their purchase.)

As a sales rep, after a customer placed an order with me I'd usually remind them that they might end up having second thoughts tomorrow, and that this was perfectly normal – most of us go through that after a major purchase. And, I'd explain, they might discuss their purchase with friends, family and colleagues, and that they'd get very normal responses, such as, “I could have got that cheaper for you”. But, as I'd remind the customer, “everyone knows someone who can get something on the cheap... but remember, Mr and Mrs Jones, it's not always about the cheapest, is it? You bought today not because we were the cheapest, but because...” and so on.

This reinforced the reasons they purchased in the customer's mind, helped them to know what to expect over the coming days, and to be able to logically defend their purchase both to others and to themselves.

I. Fear of loss is equally or more important than desire of gain.

Yes, it's true. And that was the final thing to come into play when I sold home improvement products. Sure, they could buy the product whenever they wanted, but if they didn't place an order with me on that day, they would lose all the potential savings under the promotion.

After building desire for the product, and closing all the doors, it was often the fear of losing out on the savings that compelled them to place their order.

As you can see, we've covered a lot before we've even started writing the sales material, because it's important for you to understand what your material needs to accomplish.

As I said at the start of this chapter, the sales material is your salesperson.Ultimately, it must do these three things:

(1) Highlight the problems your customers have (even the ones they didn't know about).

(2) Demonstrate why those problems are so important and urgent.

(3) Highlight the solutions, as presented by your product, and why your product is the right product for them, right now.

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For this reason, it's useful to write down a list of problems your potential customer may face, so you can make sure that your sales material both explains the problems, and highlights the solutions.

7.3 Using A Thematic Outline To Get Started

Now that you're armed with a good understanding of what your material needs to achieve, the unique selling points of your product, the points on which you need to educate your potential customers and the biggest problems facing them...

... only now are you about ready to start writing the sales material!

One of the next challenges is to decide in what order to present the material. Naturally there should be a logical flow to it, but at the same time you want to create an immediate impression, to hook readers in, early on.

One of the advantages of flow testing is it trains you to think in terms of themes or “steps”. Each theme could tackle a particular issue that you wish to raise.

For example, in writing the sales copy for my Power Split Tester product, there were several things the customer needed to know before I could successfully sell it:

(1) They needed to know what split testing was, and why it was so important to them.

(2) They needed to understand the risks of using third-party services such as Google, and the disadvantages of free scripts.

(3) They needed to understand the importance of accuracy and how many programs may be undermining it – without the end user even knowing!

So I needed to educate potential customers on these three issues, before I had a real hope of selling them the product.

I viewed #1 as the most important, because - why would they buy a split testing program unless they understood what it was, and what it could do for

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them? So this was what my sales material first needed to convey (the immense benefits of split testing), and it also provided the main reason for them to continue reading my material.

On the other hand, I needed to quickly convey that there were many problems associated with this technique, so that people who were already familiar with split testing wouldn't simply click away thinking they knew the technique already – yes, they did... but did they know the problems associated with it?

So I decided to write a thematic outline for my sales material, giving me the logical order in which I needed to develop the material. (I'd recommend you do the same.)

Here was my thematic outline for Power Split Tester's sales material:

1. Convey the biggest benefits of split testing, which are potentially vast increases in conversion, sales and profits – and that it can be done at minimal cost by affiliate marketers and people with just 10 visitors a day.

2. Briefly explain the technique but warn of the many pitfalls.

3. Explain the risk of using a third-party service such as Google.

4. Explain the risk of using a “free” script, such as lack of support, and accuracy.

5. Explain the importance of accuracy, and what can go wrong.

6. Offer the solution.

7. Present the offer and price and complete the sense of urgency.

There are a couple of things to note from this outline. First, the numbers don't necessarily correspond to page numbers, but simply to logical “steps” in the sales process.

Also, note that the outline puts the biggest benefit first (potentially huge increases in conversions, sales and profits) – and it answers the two fundamental questions asked by visitors when they first arrive on a site,

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“What's in it for me?” and “Why should I continue reading this?”

I also intended to immediately nullify potential objections to split testing such as, “I'm an affiliate marketer”, or “I don't have enough traffic”. These objections would be handled by phrases such as, “It can be done even if you have just 10 visitors a day, as I'll show you in a few moments...” - although I would obviously need to demonstrate this later on in the material.

I would also be closing the doors to the competition fairly early on, by tackling the Google issue, and the problems associated with using free scripts.

A little later on I would deal with accuracy, which would mean educating visitors on the issue – why it's so important, and why so many free split testing tools didn't have the required accuracy I was looking for.

Finally, I could show how my tool Power Split Tester tackled all of the issues that I had raised – and my offer would give them the extra incentive they needed to buy now rather than later.

Now that I had this thematic outline, it was simply a question of creating the copy for each section. I'd always recommend creating a thematic outline before you get started writing your actual copy.

Remember, your outline is not the complete sales letter – it's for your benefit, so you can remember the key points that you need to convey in each section of your sales material. Plus, it helps you to see how to develop a logical flow between one section and the next.

7.4 Writing The Copy Itself

With a thematic outline already laid out, writing the actual words – the “copy” - should be a lot easier. You know what you're trying to achieve in each section.

Now, I can't teach you to write perfect copy, but I can show you what's worked for me. A few of the following suggestions might sound obvious, but judging by the number of sales letters I've seen which don't follow these apparently “obvious” suggestions, it's worth including them:

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(1) Be clear and concise. Make your material as simple to understand as possible. Unless your target market is poets or language professors, you're not trying to demonstrate your extensive ability with language, you're trying to make a sale. (The classic mantra, “Keep it simple, stupid!” - or KISS – applies here.)

(2) Spell accurately. Type or copy and paste your material into a program that will check your spelling for you, such as OpenOffice.

(3) Don't be a perfectionist. There is clear, concise and accurately spelled writing, but there is no “perfect copy”. Because you're going to be split testing, multivariate testing and flow testing (aren't you?), copy is always a work in progress.

(4) Focus on the potential customer. Note this does not necessarily mean using “you” instead of “I”, as is conventionally believed. (I give an example near the start of Small Changes: Big Profits in which the veteran copywriter Gary Halbert used a whole bunch of “I”s and “Me”s in an advert, and it resulted in plenty of sales. That's because whether you use I or You is not so important as whether the material actually addresses the reader's needs, wants and desires. Whatever you include in your copy, ask yourself, “What's in it for the potential customer to read this?”

Now, as I said earlier, one of the reasons I like flow testing is that it actually makes the task of writing a sales letter so much easier.

For instance, when I talked about flow testing I suggested writing your sales letter almost as a series of articles, each with its own headline, copy and call to action, and each dealing with one or two points on which you may need to “educate” the customer.

Well, why not actually write a series of articles? Then, piece them together and make them into a coherent whole to form the bulk of your sales material!

7.5 Power Tips For Effective Sales Letters

(1) Write for both skimmers and studiers.

The fact of the matter is, some people will read every last word of what

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you have to say, while others will just skim the material.

So you should write with both audiences in mind . When writing sub-headlines, I write them as if, by removing everything else on the page, the sub-headlines alone would still tell the story.

You should also do this with the text you underline, bold and highlight! Since emphasized words and phrases are designed to stand out more, imagine they were the only words on the page, and make them tell the story also!

Thus, the skimmer gets the basic outline from the headlines, but the other purpose is to arouse their desire to read more of your copy.

And the emphasized words and phrases give the skimmer more insight about what you're trying to convey; and if they're sufficiently curious, only then will the skimmer read your copy. (If you want an example of this, read from the headline again, but only the bold and underlined parts.)

(2) Ask for the order multiple times, and increase your opportunities to do so.

In direct sales, we were taught not only that you had to ask for the order – it was rare for the customer to just say, “OK, let me place an order with you” - but also that we usually had to do so multiple times before we got the order.

First of all it meant understanding when to ask for the order. Obviously it was best to ask when their desire was highest. Sometimes it involved asking a kind of pre-closing question, such as “So, Mr and Mrs Jones, if I can get the price right for you, would you place an order with me?”

Once they had their price, it was then a question of directly asking for the order. “So then, Mr and Mrs Jones... could I have your business?”

If the price wasn't quite right, that's when the negotiations would start, using the Promotion we had introduced at the beginning of the presentation.

It would take a whole other book to explain the entire sales process that we employed, and the psychology behind it, but let me just say that it was designed to give the sales rep as many opportunities to ask for the order as possible.

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And even when I couldn't get the order that day, the company would phone back the next day, and see if they could close the deal – they never missed a chance to bring in an order, even if the sales rep did.

So then, in your sales material, how many times do you ask for the order? And how many times do you have the opportunity to ask for the order?

You should aim to ask for the order in the appropriate places as many times as possible, but also increase the opportunities to do so. For example, if you have a subscription process somewhere in your marketing model (and if not, why not?), you can ask for the order via email. If you have a blog, you can ask there. If you also offer a free PDF report for signing up, that's where you can also ask – as well as multiple times in your sales letter.

7.6 Using Technology In Your Sales Material

One of the reasons I'm not particularly keen on the term “sales letter” is that it boxes many marketers into a particular way of thinking - “because it's a sales letter, I must write my material like a letter”.

This form of thinking came about because many copywriters and marketers based a lot of their inherited wisdom from direct mail marketers, who actually were sending out letters.

Now, don't get me wrong - there's a lot to learn from the direct mailing people – and they've been using techniques like split testing and copywriting well before the Internet took off as a commercial medium.

On the other hand, one of the key differences is technology – there are many technologies you can employ on the Internet that you can't in a mailed piece.

Let's now look at several of them, and their advantages:

(1) Testing and tracking.

I've already discussed this one in detail, but you should always keep track of where your visitors are coming from, and what they are doing on your site.

(2) Pop-ups.

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I'm not a huge fan of pop-ups that explode in my face the moment I enter a site and am just about to read a potentially great headline. It makes me wonder, which one do you want me to pay attention to – your headline, or your pop-up?

If the pop up is converting so well, why not just use it as the headline to your site in the first place?

On the other hand, pop-ups definitely have their place – but if in doubt at all, see (1).

(3) Feedback and objection handling.

I love my Feedback Seeker program, because not only does it allow me to gather anonymous feedback from visitors (who probably wouldn't have bothered to comment by email), but it can respond intelligently, based on the feedback given!

So on my squeeze pages, I usually ask people, “What would motivate you to subscribe today?” or “What is the main reason you're hesitant to subscribe?”

There are two benefits to doing this:

A. I get amazing insights into why some people aren't subscribing, such as this one comment left by an anonymous visitor to one of my squeeze pages:

“50 parts sounds like a lot. I'd rather read it all in one go and keep my train of thought. I want to know, too, whether you're just gathering my name to use it to sell endless offers from your "best friends" in the business.”

Believe me, these anonymous comments are invaluable, because I actually discover precisely why someone isn't subscribing – no need to guess! (And let's face it, since they weren't going to give me their email address, I had no other way of asking them.)

And they give me lots of new ideas to test. For example, the comment above gave me the idea of testing a squeeze page that didn't mention that my email series was in 50 parts. And also it suggested I should improve the “What I'll do with your email” details.

Plus...

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B. I get to overcome their objection!

I can program my Feedback Seeker to respond differently, based on what they type in. So if my anonymous visitor above thought it was “a lot” , my Feedback Seeker could automatically respond, offering perhaps a shorter, more infrequent version.

Slap a Feedback Seeker on your squeeze page, and say to your visitors that, if they decide not to subscribe, could they leave a brief note as to why. The feedback alone will be worth a huge amount to you – and you'll get a chance to respond automatically, based on their feedback!

In fact, I love using a Feedback Seeker throughout my sales material, to determine weak spots in my copy, to find out what objections people raise, and to get a chance to automatically overcome those objections.

(4) Dynamic Deadlines.

I invented Dynamic Deadlines™ back in 2003, and now they are part of a program with the same name.

Dynamic Deadlines™ are timed from the moment a visitor first arrives on your sales page. The program “remembers” the time and date they arrived, and can display how much of a deadline you create is left. So the first time they arrive, your order link might say, "Buy within the next 1 hour to receive a 20% discount".

If they came back 10 minutes later, you could have your sales page say, “Buy within the next 50 minutes...” and so on. Once the initial deadline expires, you can raise the price, withdraw the offer, remove a bonus or begin another deadline - the choice is yours!

You can have as many deadlines in sequence as you like - so you could offer an “early bird” bonus or discount for people who order with an hour, then a smaller discount for people who buy within the next 24 hours, and so on. And you can set each deadline to whatever length of time you want, from 1 minute to 30 days or more.

Once a visitor sees your first deadline expire and the price increase or perhaps a bonus disappear, don't you think they will take your next deadline

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much more seriously?

Dynamic Deadlines™ are an effective way to generate the urgency your sales letter needs.

(5) Live chat.

Many marketers have reported quite a significant increase in their conversion rate after using a live chat facility on their site. Such a facility enables you to chat directly with your visitors, which gives you the ability to handle any objections they might have, or make them an offer in return for their order.

(6) Cookies.

"Cookies" are little bits of information that are sent to the visitor's browser. It's worth learning a little bit about a programming language called PHP, just so you can understand how to set and read cookies in a visitor's browser.

You can then detect whether a visitor is new, or is returning to your site. If they're returning, you could have your site display a “Welcome back!” message, with a direct link to the order button!

7.7 Selling With Video

Many people who use video in their sales material are reporting quite substantial increases in their conversion rates. So I decided to track down an expert on the subject, and got an exclusive interview with Frank Bruno (for UK readers, that's not the boxer!) who has been using video in his marketing material for some time now, to absolutely devastating effect.

Here's the questions I asked him, along with his answers:

(1) Frank, you're using video to successfully increase your sales and conversions. What would you say are the main advantages of using video on a sales page?

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The reason video works so well is because it’s all based on the Psychology of human emotion.

We all know (should know) that by using as many human emotions as possible in your marketing that you can have a significantly higher chance that you will convert more leads into sales. I won’t get any deeper into the Psychology of marketing because that’s a whole new topic that would require quite a bit more explaining.

But the advantages by integrating video into this marketing process is compounded because video is a form of entertainment. Whether a specific video is viewed as actual "entertainment" or not, video can still capture all the senses that a human has, dependent on if there is also audio.

Video can trigger higher levels of human emotion than static web pages, putting your marketing on overdrive - thereby increasing your overall sales.

(2) How did you get started using video, and what sort of results were you getting after you added video to your sales pages?

I actually started using video on my OTO pages (“one time offer” pages). So I guess most people would say I started in reverse. However, in any marketing strategy you should always start or concentrate on areas where the highest or quickest possible return will be.

In my case I started with my OTO pages and worked outward from there.

When I’m using video on my sales pages most of them convert between 4%-12% on average for a straight sell, which is a good start in my video funnel until they hit my lethal hidden videos.

(3) I understand you have a niche site where about 10% of visitors opt-in to a subscription, but some 35%-40% of those become instant buyers. Could you explain how this works?

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Yeah, the 10% opt-in is relatively low by most peoples standards, but there is a reason for that in this particular case.

When they opt-in on that particular site they’re actually getting on a pre-notification list for a deep discount on a future product, thus there may be only 10% initial opt-ins but they are pre-qualified buyers which automatically leads them to my lethal video “death trap”...

As soon as they opt-in they are really hot about this particular future product so I hit them with a video OTO. Video has to be used in specific ways for specific niches. One video doesn’t constitute a “blanket” video to be used for all OTOs. It has to mesh with your particular niche. You also have to say things in a specific way on video to create urgency about your offer. Do this wrong and it will kill your sales.

With this site it was a more serious niche in the credit industry. So by not having a video on the opt-in page they are blown away when they see a video for an OTO. It changes the whole dynamics of their mind set and psychology of the lead. The first thing that comes to their mind is “wow, this must be serious” if they have a video telling me about this offer. So their attention is hypersensitive and 35-40% of all leads become instant buyers for a related product I developed.

As far as numbers, it comes down to this... Previously on average I was getting about 1 or 2 sales every 20 days from 1-5 opt-ins each day, maybe more maybe less.

After I integrated my lethal video, literally overnight, I started getting approx 1 or 2 sales each day. I have since tested several niches over the course of about 6-8 months and the results are always the same. Sometimes higher.

In my latest conversions statistics, about 50% of my buyers will purchase the OTO. Now you can see why I call it lethal.

(4) Can you share with us more details about what makes your OTO video so effective?

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As I stated before there are some things that you should be aware of. There’s certain keywords that must be said when conveying your OTO and if you don’t know what to say or how to convey those words about your offer on video, it will have a reverse affect and kill your sales.

To give a basic example: what has worked for me very, very well and hits the "G-Spot" every time, is when I tell them the following on video for an OTO in a casual way...

“Hi, I'm [name] and I wanted to thank you for purchasing XYZ... but before you go to the download page to get XYZ, I wanted to tell you about my one time offer to get the perfect companion to XYZ.”

Then the person in the video lists the benefits, with emotional triggers and so on – and reminds them...

“And this goes absolutely perfect with the XYZ that you just ordered..”

And then I add the lethal part with some killer phrases that close the deal 50% of the time. I don't want to reveal too much detail about the exact phrasing because it has taken me months to find the right words and actions... and I just don't want to see hundreds of people trying to duplicate this on every OTO I see.

I’ve mastered a formula after several months of testing and have since developed a line of Video Marketing Tactic products so others can put to use my "lethal ingredients" to make their sales go ballistic using video.

They can find my complete line of unique video marketing products at:http://VideoMarketingTactics.com/video-marketing-products.html

(5) Do you have any advice for people who have not used video before, but want to increase their conversion rate?

I would suggest to use video on your auto responder thank you pages if you do not have a system that has a true OTO capability in place. You can use Windows Movie Maker to edit your videos freely and comes pretty much standard on most Windows systems.

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Thanks, Frank!

8Word Of Mouth Secrets They Don't Tell You

Every marketer thinks they know “word-of-mouth”. It's about people talking to others about your product, right?

Well, yes and no. In this chapter, I'd like to totally revolutionize your opinion of “word-of-mouth”.

So let's get straight down to it...

8.1 Two Word-Of-Mouth “Secrets” That Can Make A Difference Between 1% And 10% Conversion Rates

One of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read on the subject of word-of-mouth was “The Secrets Of Word-of-Mouth Marketing” by George Silverman.

I had it on my shelf for a couple of years before I decided to get round to reading it, because I basically thought I already knew everything about the subject. After reading it, I realized just how wrong I was.

The book totally changed my perception of what we marketers call “word of mouth”, both in its purpose and importance.

Although the book is full of great insights, there are two in particular I'd like to share with you here, that profoundly changed my whole way of thinking on this subject – and once you fully grasp them, I think they will change yours also.

First, I'm going to use the book's definition of “word of mouth”, because it's probably a little different from other definitions you've heard, but it's one of

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the best I've seen:

“Word of mouth is communication about products and services between people who are perceived to be independent of the company providing the product or service, in a medium perceived to be independent of the company.”

Now, just by itself, this is a very insightful definition, because marketers often forget the key phrase, “perceived to be independent”. Much of the talk about word of mouth is focused on schemes that motivate customers and visitors to “recommend a friend” through incentives.

However, people who are being given incentives by the company for recommending something risk losing the perception of independence, and hence the impact of word of mouth.

So with that definition in mind, let me share with you the first profound insight the book gave me, which when fully understood has the potential to do explosive things for your conversion rate, and I'm not even kidding:

Word-Of-Mouth Insight #1

“What gives word of mouth most of its power is the fact that it is an experience-delivery mechanism.”

This might sound a little puzzling and not very remarkable at first, so let me explain.

Often, what people crave when they are considering a purchase is experience of the product - but since they can only get direct experience by actually using it themselves (which takes time, money and effort), hearing from people like themselves who are already using it successfully provides them with indirect experience of the product.

This indirect experience is often preferable to direct experience anyway, because it means little expenditure of their time, money and effort on their part. Plus, these indirect experiences are perceived as more credible, because they are independent of the company's sales channel.

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In other words, when we're thinking of purchasing a product, before we buy we're likely to ask or seek out other people who have bought the product, to benefit from their experience of it.

While this is an incredibly powerful understanding, it's power may not be immediately apparent. However, couple this with the second profound insight, and you'll begin to realize the truly nuclear power of word of mouth:

Word-Of-Mouth Insight #2

“What overwhelmingly has the greatest effect on accelerating customer decisions is word of mouth.”

I also credit George Silverman with introducing me to the concept of decision speed, which is possibly one of the most important – and least discussed – business concepts of all time. It is basically “the time it takes your customers to go from initial awareness to enthusiastic full use and recommendation of your product or service”.

Quite simply, he pointed out that if you can increase the decision speed for your customers, you will get more customers faster – which in the language of this report, means at the very least an increased conversion rate.

So how do Insights #1 and #2 combine to give you truly awesome sales and conversion rates?

It's this...

Given that customers are probably going to seek out indirect experience of your product via word of mouth (#1), if you can harness the power of word of mouth in your sales process, you can accelerate your prospect's decision speed (#2), turning more visitors into customers more quickly and in greater quantity!

This is, yet again, something that I've barely seen discussed by other marketers – which is why I'm so glad I decided to actually read the book, instead of leaving it on the shelf.

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You see, most marketers talk about the importance of social proof elements such as “testimonials” and “case studies” (which are undoubtedly very important), but please understand that a testimonial on your web site is still part of your marketing “channel”.

Anything that is perceived to be part of your marketing channel is less trusted – and therefore less effective - than a truly independent verification of your product's value, through word of mouth.

So let me put this into perspective (the jigsaw, as it were), to fill in the gaps left out by many other marketers.

The simple fact of the matter is, no matter how many proud testimonials you have on your site, many of your prospects will seek independent verification of your product – away from your marketing channel.

They may do this by plugging your product title into a search engine and looking for reviews.

They may post on a discussion forum, asking its members if they've used it and what they think of the product.

They may ask friends and colleagues whether they've heard of or used your product.

This may happen whether you like it or not. It's simply the process of people seeking independent verification of the material they read on your sales channel, and indirect experience of your product.

Do you now start to realize the amazing importance of word of mouth? Are you starting to see the pieces of the puzzle as part of a much bigger picture?

Now you can see why I believe it's so important to have a great product or service, along with great customer service. When people talk about your product on the Internet, they are often leaving a “digital trail” of forum posts, blog entries and page reviews – which may be read later on by people searching for indirect experience.

And each happy customer of yours can become an evangelist for your product. Let me give you an example of how the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together:

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I post regularly on several marketing forums. Since my ebook Small Changes: Big Profits is basically the definitive book on the subject of testing, whenever the subject of testing comes up on these particular forums, sooner or later someone will usually post a link to my ebook – without any prompting from me, and it's usually not an affiliate link.

Then, I'll often see another person post, agreeing with the person who posted my link and commenting that they also thought it was a great book.

Many times I've then seen a third person who hasn't already bought my book say they'll check it out, and within minutes they've bought.

In some cases, the purchase happens so fast that I know they've basically just skimmed the sales letter and gone almost immediately to the order button. And this often happens before I've had a chance to post anything myself!

Now, please understand that I'm not telling you this to boast (although I do believe it's the best book you'll ever buy on testing – but I would, wouldn't I?). I'm telling you this to show you the incredible power of word of mouth.

The original forum member who recommended my book, along with the person who agreed with the original member, both acted as independent verification for the third member, and supplied him with the indirect experience he needed – which is why he purchased so quickly, in spite of my carefully crafted sales letter, which obviously was only skimmed!

It demonstrates three powerful principles...

1. A great product that has genuine and tangible benefits is easy to sell,2. Independent verification trumps the most artfully crafted sales letter,3. The most powerful pre-sell is word of mouth.

8.2 How To Use These “Secrets” To Devastatingly Powerful Effect

As you shop online, you may have noticed more and more companies enabling their customers to rate products, and write their own reviews on the site.

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These companies are discovering that customer product ratings and independent reviews are increasing the conversion rates for those products!

Now, this should not come as a surprise to you, since you've gained an insight into the two most powerful “secrets” of word of mouth.

When the customer ratings and reviews on these sites are perceived as “independent”, people trust the reviews in general, and they provide both the independent verification and indirect experience that the potential customer craves – shortening the time it takes them to “make up their mind” about a purchase.

So it should also not come as a surprise to realize that Amazon.com, the company with a 10% conversion rate, have been using this kind of system for a long time!

What's particularly interesting about their customer rating and review system (and others like it) is that the reviews are on the same page as the product!

Yet, the system is still effective, because it's about the perception of independence.

Many people view “testimonials” on a sales letter as part of the sales channel. After all, only the best testimonials are usually selected by the product owner for display. You're hardly likely to see one saying, “Your product sucks!”

By contrast, companies like Amazon are careful to give the perception of “independence” to their customer rating and review system. You might have to be a customer to leave a review, and the reviews might be “moderated” by Amazon, but ultimately the company want to appear “neutral” - which is why you might see bad reviews mixed in with good ones.

This is fine with Amazon, because they are an online “store” anyway – it just means they might sell less of a “bad” product, and more of a “good” one. It means their customers define what's “bad” and “good”, in terms of reviews, ratings and sales.

(And just think of the marketing intelligence they get from all those ratings and reviews!)

Now, if you're selling one or two products, it may be more difficult to pull off

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what Amazon have done with their customer rating and review system.

However, there may be several ways in which you can help to accelerate the decision speed of a potential customer, and to help them out with independent verification and indirect experience.

Here's a few suggestions:

● “Testimonials” and “case studies” are important, but remember they are usually perceived as being part of your marketing channel.

● Consider implementing a “comments” system on your sales page, similar to one used in blog posts. While you might consider this to be “risky”, if your product is good enough you shouldn't have too many problems - ask people to leave reviews!

Just make sure you have a few rules. For example, “moderate” the comments to prevent abuse, tell people you moderate them to prevent spammers and abusers, and request that people use the same email address which they used to purchase the product, to verify their customer status (but clarify that their email address won't be on display to others).

It's worth allowing negative reviews through, as long as the bulk of the reviews are positive, because the occasional negative review may add credibility to the reviews in general. (Even the best product on Amazon has the occasional negative review, because you can't please everyone all of the time.)

Just remember to politely reply to the negative reviews, either apologizing if you're in the wrong (increasing the perception of honesty and credibility), and gently putting them right if you're not. (You don't want a slanging match on your own sales page!)

From a technical point of view, Wordpress blogs enable you to create static pages with a comments facility.

● If you come across a forum post, a blog post or a web page that gives a genuinely independent and positive review of your product, consider linking to it on your sales page!

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Once again, you might consider this “risky”, but when it's off your own sales channel, and perceived to be independent, the review can carry a lot more weight and may help your potential customer to make up their mind.

If you do this, I would give the following extra suggestions:

(a) Make sure the off-site link opens in a new browser window or tab, so they don't lose your sales page.

(b) Keep a regular eye on those links, to make sure they still fulfill their function of acting as independent verification and indirect experience.

(c) Demonstrate that these links are independent and have authority. A lot of reviews aren't so “independent” as we think, so you may need to explain to your potential customer why the outside link can be trusted and why the review should carry weight. “John Ron Smith runs the Combustible Widgets Blog and decided to give my product a try without any prompting or incentives from me. Here's a link to his review...”

Even linking to an average customer and their experience carries weight, because you're helping the potential customer to find indirect experience with which they can relate. “Here's what some of our customers are saying, in their own words, on their own sites, and with no prompting from us...”

In summary...

Word of mouth is intensely powerful because it indirectly delivers what potential customers crave – experience with your product, without necessarily having to spend the time, money and effort actually using it themselves.

For maximum effect, word of mouth must be perceived to be independent of you and your marketing channel.

By offering great products and great customer service, you are nurturing great word of mouth which spawns positive reviews, blog and forum posts.

And if you can help your potential customer to acquire indirect experience and independent verification by pointing them in the right direction, then you

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can accelerate the time it takes them to make a decision, and ultimately your sales and conversion rates.

9Customer Loyalty and Evangelism

By reading this report, I genuinely believe you now have the advantage over most people who are selling on the Internet. You now see how and why the product itself is probably the single biggest factor in determining your conversion rate, you understand what your sales material needs to achieve, and you realize now just how important word of mouth is to the whole process.

One thing that I haven't yet talked about in much detail is how to create tons of positive word of mouth. Well, it should almost go without saying now that having a great product is a big part of it.

On the other hand, there are many other things you can do to encourage positive word of mouth.

Let's look at these things now...

9.1 Buyer's Remorse, And How To Eliminate It

I'm sure we've all been there some time in our life, when we bought a product that perhaps we regretted later. It's called buyer's remorse.

In the presentation I made to people when I was selling home improvement products, the entire last “step” of the sales process was devoted to consolidating the order.

The aim of this step was to relax the customer, to reassure them that their decision to purchase was the right one and to reinforce that decision, to make the process of filling in the paperwork as painless as possible (there was a lot of paperwork!), and to leave them with the feeling that their order was in good hands and that they could be happy and confident with their

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decision.

In short, it was designed to eliminate buyer's remorse, the main reason people cancelled their order.

Now, when it comes to selling online, the very first thing your customer will see after purchasing is your “thank you” page. Buyer's remorse will probably not happen right here, but you can use this page to give the customer a pleasant experience which will help to lower buyer's remorse at a later date. So here are a few tips to make their initial buying experience as pleasant as possible:

Tips For Thank-You Pages

● Thank them for their purchase. Make them feel good, and smart. After all, they are smart – they've made the right decision, purchasing with you.

● Make it easy for them to get the product. If it's downloadable, bear in mind that not everyone is tech savvy, so hold the hands of people who don't know how to download and access it, while making it simple and intuitive for people who download stuff for a living.

● Make additional follow-up optional yet desirable. I don't believe in forcing people to jump through additional hoops after paying for the product. I offer an optional sign-up form for people to receive upgrades and extra tips for using the product, with a “Skip This” link for people who don't want any follow-up. Some 90% of customers voluntarily opt-in to further follow-ups.

● Because of the voluntary nature of the sign-up box on the “thank you” page, I use 2 pages, but I tell customers that they are on “Step 1 of 2”, so they know exactly where they are.

● Ask for feedback. On my “thank you” pages I use a Feedback Seeker to ask them what was their main motivation for ordering. Not only does this give me great feedback on the reasons people buy, but it reinforces that reason in the customer's mind.

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● Provide contact details. I always have a “Contact me” link on my “thank-you” pages, so that if anything goes wrong with the order process (which it sometimes does), I'm a short email away.

In the first direct sales company I worked for, the top sales person in the branch had a great little technique. The same night after a customer placed an order with him, he would write out a short thank-you postcard, and post it to his new customer. With bigger orders, he'd also send a little gift, such as a bottle of wine, or a bunch of flowers.

It was no surprise to me to discover that he had one of the lowest percentage of cancellations in the entire company! (We'd usually get “cancellations” rather than “refunds”, because many people were paying for the product using our finance package, so they hadn't actually paid anything themselves.)

So here are my tips for preventing buyer's remorse, after their purchase.

● Thank them again, by email. As you've seen, showing gratitude goes a long way.

● Help them get the benefits they desired. You could send them tips or tutorials on how to get the most out of your product.

● Offer support. Sometimes, things go wrong, so be there for them when they do.

● Over-deliver. Deliver more than you promised, and they expected! Perhaps you could send them a valuable bonus once in a while.

9.2 Why It's Important To Give Only Good Experiences

I spent two hours just before writing this section struggling to get a YouTube video embedded into a Wordpress post. The problem was that Wordpress was breaking up the code, and causing the text of the blog post to spew out all over the place.

In the end, I did a Google search and managed to find a solution - someone

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had written a blog post on the same subject. (I couldn't find the solution on Wordpress site itself!)

My opinion of Wordpress, although still high, went down a notch or two after having experienced 2 hours of frustration. Admittedly, some would say it was my fault for not reading the instructions (the solution was fairly simple, although not immediately obvious), and I guess that's true - but how many people want to wade through instruction manuals nowadays, anyway? Plus, Wordpress' own site was not the best place to find the solution to my problem.

My point here is, no matter who is to blame, I felt 2 hours of frustration, and it was associated in my mind with Wordpress. Fortunately, that frustration is still outweighed by the generally good experiences I've had with Wordpress, which is why I still use the platform.

But if you want people to be happy and loyal, deliver good experiences to your customers as often as you can, and minimize the bad ones.

9.3 Why Feedback Is So Important, And When To Ask For It

In my ebook Small Changes: Big Profits I devote a whole chapter to the subject of feedback, because it's a critical component of a highly converting sales process.

When we discussed flow testing, I mentioned that it was useful for detecting bottlenecks – places where you were losing visitors and choking sales.

Well, feedback is another way in which you can detect not only bottlenecks, but places where something else might be “broken” - such as your customer support!

I believe it's very important to ask for feedback as often as possible...

(a) On your site.

I use a Feedback Seeker to gather anonymous feedback from visitors, to find out what's on their mind at a particular moment, and to spot any weaknesses in my sales copy.

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Plus, I can use the Intelligent Response feature to automatically deal with any questions or objections they might raise.

(b) On the “thank you” page.

As I mentioned earlier, on my “thank you” pages I use a Feedback Seeker to ask what was their main reason for the purchase – providing me with valuable insights into what motivated them the most, and reinforcing their decision to buy.

(c) At the end of your information products.

As you'll see, I ask for feedback at the end of this report. Since it's fresh in your mind, that's the best time to ask for your honest opinion.

Note that I also ask both what you liked most about it, and where you think it could be improved, and I ask for a possible endorsement if you liked the book.

(d) After x days.

With some of my software products, I'll send out an autoresponder message several days after their purchase, asking how they are finding it, if they're running into problems, and ideas for improvements.

One other critical thing I've learned is not to be afraid of negative feedback. If someone has had a bad experience with your product, then this knowledge can help you to improve the experience for the next customer.

Here's the illustration I use in Small Changes: Big Profits:

If you were building a bridge, and somebody pointed out a dangerous weak spot that could cause it to collapse within a few years, would you be offended, or would you be eternally grateful to the one who pointed it out?

In other words, most of the people who give you negative feedback are basically just pointing out the weak spots in your “bridge”. These weak spots need to be fixed, so that the “bridge” doesn't come crashing down in the

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future!

This might sound dramatic, but now that you have a good understanding of how everything fits together – the “big picture”, as it were – you can see how those weak spots could be preventing your customers from recommending you. And fewer recommendations mean fewer sales, fewer opportunities to provide someone else with indirect experience, and a lower conversion rate.

9.4 Reward Loyalty

Another way to turn customers into happy and loyal customers is to reward them for their loyalty. The thing to bear in mind is, loyal customers are much more likely to become evangelists for your product. So here's a few ideas for rewarding loyalty.

● Give free upgrades, tips and bonuses to your customers.

● For membership sites, allow loyal members to stay “locked” into a lower price – perhaps even for life.

● Offer discount coupons to your existing customers. (Hint: You can use Feedback Seeker as a coupon program, using the Intelligent Response feature.)

10Final Insights

10.1 From 2% To 20% Conversion By Communicating

What is the advantage sales reps have over sales letters? The biggest advantage is that sales reps can communicate with their prospective customers – because they are there in front of them.

That isn't the case with visitors to your site. However, I've noticed that whenever a potential customer contacts me, about 20-50% of the time they become a customer.

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I'm sure that's partly because I'm naturally going to encourage them to buy, but I think it's also because the simple act of communicating with me gives them the reassurance that there's somebody real on the other side of the sales letter, somebody that can help them out, answer their questions, and give them that little extra motivation they need to buy.

I know that some Internet marketers want to live in a completely automated push-button environment, which is fine – but why not see what happens to your sales and conversion rates if you were to actively encourage and welcome your potential customers to contact you?

The simple act of communication might make all the difference to the potential customer.

Let me share with you an experience I read about on a marketing forum, which may also inspire you to consider the importance of communication.

One particular marketer was building a list in his gardening niche, by offering a short report on the best gardening tools, along with a discount to purchase them from a local gardening store in his area.

When his list had grown to 300 subscribers, he sold them a report on gardening for $17.99, and had 8 people purchase, which was a little higher than a 2% conversion rate.

He wanted to do better than that, so he decided to try a uniquely different approach.

This time, after they signed up with their email address, they were taken to a page with a short 5 question survey, helping him to gain information about each one of his prospective customers.

The questions were...

1) What city do you live in?2) Which day do you garden?3) What time of the day do you garden?4) Do you have limited time to garden?5) Which of the following would be great to know?

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The questions were designed so that he could then send them an email with tips and tricks that would make it feel like he was talking to them personally. He gave an example email:

Subscriber name: Susan ------

Hello Susan,

How is your day going to day? I noticed that you read my report on gardening tools, and was wondering what you thought about it? I also noticed you lived in Delaware. Well, just so you know when you go to garden this Saturday it is going to be pouring, lol. However, I'm sure you knew this already. My suggestion would be to garden this coming Wednesday if you have time to fit it into your busy schedule. Also, I wanted to let you know that I'm soon going to be making a guide book to "[the choice they picked for question 5]", if you are interested in seeing a sneak peak at that book, you can just go here: [link]

He did this for the next 450 subscribers. To his surprise, he got 300 of these new subscribers to check out his sneak preview, and around 95 of them to purchase the ebook!

In other words, his subscriber to customer conversion rate had gone from 2% to over 20%.

Now, to me this demonstrates the power of both targetting and communication.

The email sounded personal (and not merely because of the “Hello Susan”), so it would almost certainly have gained the reader's attention and interest.

And by specifically mentioning the thing that Susan had picked as something that would be “great to know”, he was using effective targetting.

While he was using his own technical solution to achieve this automatically (he had a friend create a script to do it), you could always test this technique manually first.

The point, however, is that because the customer felt they were being communicated with directly, his conversion rate skyrocketed.

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So why not give direct communication with your potential customers a try? It's one of those techniques that's been used effectively for thousands of years!

10.2 Bonus Tips

Here are a couple of extra tips that I saved until last. They are like the icing on the cake. If you've taken the rest of the advice in this report to heart, then I think you'll be able to achieve powerful things from these tips, as well.

● Close the “trust gap”. If you've never sold your own product before, then there may be a “trust gap” with a potential customer. They don't know what your product is like, and they may have never heard of you. This is why it's a great idea to participate in forums and on blogs that your potential customers may read, because (a) they can see you are a real person, and (b) you are leaving a positive “digital trail”.

● Pay for case studies. One company I recently stumbled across was offering $500 to its customers who created their own case studies based on their use of the product. I thought this was a brilliant idea, and while you don't have to offer that much money, you could offer some form of incentive for your customers to submit their own case studies to you. Case studies are often more powerful than testimonials, because they actually show how a customer used your product effectively.

● Ask for referrals the “right” way. There are whole courses on referrals, but the biggest tip I can share with you about asking your customers for referrals is to be specific about they type of person you are looking for. “Who could you recommend?” is not specific. Here's an example of a specific request: “Who do you know who would benefit from a book on widget carbonation, that is perhaps running into problems carbonating their own widget, or who would just like to get more out of their current carbonation efforts?” Can you see the difference?

● Set up a formal referral program. While an affiliate scheme is the ultimate referral program, you could also have a much simpler referral

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system in place for people who just want to refer their colleagues and friends. Offering incentives (such as coupons and discounts) can be good, but bear in mind that referrals that are perceived to be “incentivized” may be less powerful than spontaneously, freely given referrals.

ConclusionOr, “Now The Fun Really Begins!...”

Thank you for taking the time to read this report, which I hope has given you plenty of ideas, insights and things to think about and test.

You know, when I first started to write this report, my biggest difficulty was deciding in which order to put each subject.

For example, many people start off with a product idea, put it together, write a sales letter, and then figure out how to sell it.

And yet, as I've shown, it's hard to write the sales material before you know what it needs to achieve. And it's hard to know what it needs to achieve before you have an idea of your “unique selling points”, and on which points you may need to educate your potential customers. And even then, it's hard to sell unless there's a demand!

In other words, everything is related to everything else. In fact, in this report, I've attempted to show how each component is part of a greater “whole”.

It's like the difference between “holistic” treatments and treating “symptoms”. If you have a headache, and you pop a pill for the headache – you're dealing with a symptom, but the pill may not address the actual cause of the headache.

For example, my brother used to suffer from quite crippling migraines. So the doctor prescribed a pill which he could take every time he developed a migraine. The pill worked, in that it stopped the migraine – but it didn't stop them in general. One day, he just decided to cut out artificial sweeteners

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from his diet, to see if he could identify the actual source of the migraines – and he's not had a migraine since.

The point is, just as our body is an interlocking series of parts that each have an effect on the other, it's the same with your sales process.

You simply cannot look at your conversion rate as a function of one particular thing, such as your sales letter – it's a function of everything about your business, from you and the product itself, right through to your current customers and the word of mouth they generate.

Now, if there was only one thing you were allowed to take from this report, I'd love it to be the following phrase...

Selling is a process.

In other words, it's not simply about creating a product, putting up a sales letter and throwing some traffic at it.

Sure, that might work – and you may generate sales, but you bought this report because you want more.

You want more than the “average” conversion rate – but up until now, perhaps you couldn't see just how it all fitted together.

I often see questions on forums, asking something like...

“I've got everything set up, including my sales letter. I'm promoting the product, but I'm only getting a 0.5% conversion rate... what am I doing wrong?”

Inevitably, most of the answers involved how they could re-write the headline, conduct split tests, and so on.

All very good answers which certainly could boost their conversion rate.

On the other hand, all of the answers could be dead wrong. For all we know, the person asking the question may have given lousy customer support in the past, and this fact has gotten out to the wider Internet.

So he could be getting a lousy conversion rate because of poor customer

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service!

Or he could simply be targetting his promotional campaigns to the wrong audience.

Or, quite simply, there might not be a demand for such a product!

The point is, there's a lot more to getting a phenomenal conversion rate besides the “headline, copy and offer”.

If we look at Amazon, to which a 10% conversion rate is “average”, they are not necessarily doing anything more remarkable than any other Internet bookstore – but they are selling stuff that's in demand, their affiliates pre-sell (and often link to individual book titles), they can price competitively because of their size, they have earned brand recognition and word of mouth, and they are good at building brand loyalty and “stickiness”, all of which no doubt contribute to their high conversion rate.

But do you really have to be Amazon to achieve a 10% conversion rate? I hope by reading this report you'll see the answer is “No”.

In fact, to people who have worked in direct sales, 10% is low! A good sales rep can often convert 20% to 40% of their qualified leads into sales.

And in this report I've given you a basic outline of how they achieve it, and many of the things they use can be applied online. For example,

● Their leads are pre-qualified so they only go out to people who can be potential customers,

● They deal with a customer's state at each stage of the sales process,

● They close all doors, so that by the end of their presentation, the customer has no real objections left (i.e. they pre-empt objections before they even arise),

● They emphasize unique selling points as reasons to buy only from only them,

● They close customers regularly with powerful closing questions,

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● They use price conditioning to train the customer in regard to their price expectations,

● They build desire, and know the right time to ask for the order,

● They justify their price tags and make sure the potential customer recognizes it as value for money,

● They can upsell and downsell effectively, based on the customer's budget,

● They ask for the order multiple times, in several different ways,

● They know how to create urgency, to make limited time offers credible, and to utilize the fear of loss.

Throughout this report I've shown you how you can achieve all of these in your sales process – and also why it's important to do so.

It's because selling is a process. And by understanding that process, you now have the potential to achieve some killer conversion rates!

So then, now that you can fully see the “big picture”, the only question left is,

How are you going to apply the insights you've gained from this report?

There's a lot of very valuable stuff here, but ultimately, it's about how you apply it that matters. And for that, you might need to sit down and brainstorm, based on the ideas I've shared with you in this report.

For instance, if you're thinking of creating a product, have you established that there's a demand for it? Have you evaluated your competition? Do you know the unique selling points of your potential product?

If you're already selling your own product, ask yourself – do you know what “doors” your visitors are using to escape the sale? Does your sales copy close all doors? Do you effectively educate your potential customers as to why your unique selling points are of benefit to them? Do you even have unique selling points?

Are you price conditioning, to help customers with their expectations, and to

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demonstrate the value of things? Do you have an offer that can create urgency in a credible way? How many times do you ask for the sale, and how can you increase the opportunities to do so? Are you testing?

And if you're selling someone else's product, do you have a product review page? Are you testing it? Are you making a unique “buy through my link” offer? Are you adding value? What about creating your own product?

A high conversion rate is not a fantasy – achieving it is simply about understanding that selling is a process, and that every aspect of your business has an effect on your conversion rate – the market itself (demand), your product, your sales material, and your existing customers (through word of mouth and recommendations).

So now that you have the knowledge to build a really stunning conversion rate – go use it... and let the fun really begin!

In closing, I'd once again like to thank you for reading. This report will always be a work in progress, so as the very last step, I'd ask you to please click here.

Thanks again.

Paul HancoxMarch 2008

P.S: Here's that link again, in case you missed it: click here.

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REFERENCES / CREDITS

Chapter 1

(Ia) Blog post: “Why You Can’t Have A 10% Conversion Rate”, by Craig Danuloff, Commerce360. (February 2, 2008)

Chapter 2

(2a) Endless Referrals, by Bob Burg. © 1999, 1994 by Bob Burg. Published by McGraw-Hill.

Chapter 4

(4a) Blog post: “Conference Update: The #1 Thing To Test In Your Sales Letter” by Rich Schefren, StrategicProfits.com (February 25, 2008

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