Information Product Buying Triggers
- Sales is sometimes about timing.
Thanks primarily to ProBlogger in the last couple days I’ve had hundreds of visitors to my sales page and it is converting visitors to customers at a rate of about 1.5%, which I have to say is a little bit less than I had hoped for.
Rookie Mistakes
Of course, it is the first time I’ve ever written a sales page
and it’s my first product so it’s really not worth being to tough on myself for a mediocre conversion rate.
Do Sales Pages Suck?
I’ve been considering running a split test, but I’ve also considered scrapping the “sales letter” approach entirely and going to more of an e-commerce type of product presentation. I find the sales letter with the tiny scroll bar a little bit distasteful and my usual reaction is,
“oh, crap I’ve landed on some BS page trying to sell me something that has a price ending in 7 and has no real value so I’m going to get $4100 dollars of freebies to prove it.”
I also know that it usually isn’t wise to try and re-invent the wheel, until you have a bit more experience under your belt, but the idea of trashing the sales page is certainly in the back of my mind. I think it is important to present products, and represent your business in general, in a way that resonates with who you are and what your beliefs are; and the sales page is a bit of a discord for me…that said, I do routinely buy stuff from them.
Timing The Buyer Cycle
Besides the obvious conversion factors, I have thought about who my target customer is and have uncovered an interesting factor that would definitely limit sales.
My product is targeted towards beginner bloggers. Most of the people who read ProBlogger.net already have blogs, so my product has a timing element to it. It is necessary to catch prospective customers at just the right time in their blog set up cycle. [Or entice them off of Blogspot.com which is probably a bit tougher sell but one that I will focus on too.]
Target the 90% Rather than the 10%
If we compare that limitation to my next product…
http://www.SetupAlternateAds.com
…there is a huge difference in potential because rather than targeting customers entering the market, it targets the bulk of the market, which would be people who are already using AdSense. My expectation is that this product will be easier to sell because of this reason.
I’ve learned something that is important when creating products. Of course it is essential to know your customer, but what are the buying triggers is also an important factor and it is worth considering that some buying factors can really limit or expand the potential for sales.
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 3 )
J added these pithy words on Aug 14 06 at 11:51 amJon,
I think your forgetting about selling new products to your established customer list… treat that list like gold man! People who are buying your blog videos today are going to be perfect candidates to purchase your more advance alternate ads course, and other products in the future. Especially since you already have an established relationship with them.
As far as the sales page, I wonder what James B. (since he reads your blog) has to say about this or make any comments because all of his products that I am aware of use this technique and he would certainly be the type of person to back it with hard data.
-J
Jon added these pithy words on Aug 14 06 at 12:01 pmHi J,
I haven’t forgotten the “gold”…that’s why I have a 75% comission for my affiliates.
I asked JB about the sales page:
“The format I teach is the result of a study of the most profitable sales pages on the ‘net (and off). I didn’t look for the “sales page” format. I just looked at who was advertising. Those paying for advertising have something to sell.”
So he hasn’t done side by side testing on it, but if you come to a sales page, like his from a blog where you are familiar with the author then I think that is a lot different than just landing on a sales page from a search or an link in an email.
Dominic added these pithy words on Aug 14 06 at 1:54 pmJon,
It is important to remember that this is your first product and that you are learning valuable lessons that will make your future products more profitable.
Allready you have gotton further than heaps of other people who set out to make wealth on the internet.
Dominic.