There
are two techniques that you can use when marketing your product
or service by e-mail. Your first option is to e-mail your sales
letter directly to your customers. Your second option is to
use the "two-step" process which involves mailing
a letter to your customers which contains information that will
be of interest to them… and then directing them with a
link to your actual sales copy.
These "teaser
letters" are usually about two to four paragraphs long
and attempt to generate a lot of excitement. They close by telling
the reader to reply for more information… or to click
on a specified link.
Generally speaking,
you will be more successful closing sales if you can get your
reader to visit your web site because people see that you are
a "real" person or company, and not just some scam
artist hiding behind an e-mail address. They also get more "involved"
this way; they can surf your web site and read other pages that
interest them, they can see pictures of the product or service,
they can even see pictures of you… all of this gives you
that much more credibility. Once you've established credibility,
your offer appears much more legitimate.
Whatever method
you choose though, there are some key steps that you need to
adhere to if you want to be successful:
- E-mail
a "targeted" list of people who will be interested
in your offer. You'll be wasting your time and energy
if you don't. Remember that your job is NOT to sell your product
to everyone. Everyone doesn't want your product. Focus your
energies on the people who do! These people include those
who have opted-in to your mailing list, your customers and
leads, and individuals who request information from your autoresponder.
- Personalize
each and every e-mail! The best way to do this is
to e-mail each person separately. Unfortunately, this would
take hundreds of hours of tedious work and the profits would
never pay for your time. However, it is critical that you
personalize each e-mail by using their personal e-mail addresses
in the TO: field and addressing the reader personally with
their name. That way, it doesn't come across as spam.
There are a few programs available that will take your customer
database and e-mail each address individually, personalizing
each letter so that you get a much higher response to your
e-mail. One such program, which I highly recommend, is Mailloop.
The term I use to describe what this program does is "guerrilla
marketing" because it will literally give you an unfair
advantage over your competition! Click
here to learn more about Mailloop.
- Your
headlines are key! Good headlines make the difference
between e-mail that automatically hits the trash bin and e-mail
that is opened and read. The key here is to write your headlines
from your customer's point of view, emphasizing how the customer
will benefit from taking a moment to read your letter.
Consider your product or service from your customer's point
of view. What are the benefits that will be of interest to
them? Is your product/service going to save them time? Is
it going to save them money? Or is it going to improve their
lives in some way? Write headlines that emphasize these benefits.
Some examples
of good headlines might be:
| > "Learn
how you can safely lose 30 pounds in 4 weeks" |
| > "Get
a better rate on your mortgage using this secret trick!"
|
| > "Learn
how you can spend two weeks on the beach for the price
of one!" |
| > "Ten
steps you can use to cut the time you spend doing your
taxes by 25%!" |
- Given
them ownership! A key secret that every successful
marketer knows is that it is very important that you give
the reader ownership by using the word "You".
For example, take another look at the headlines I just showed
you:
| > "Learn
how you can safely lose 30 pounds in 4 weeks" |
| > "Get
a better rate on your mortgage using this secret trick!"
|
| > "Learn
how you can spend two weeks on the beach for the price
of one!" |
| > "Ten
steps you can use to cut the time you spend doing your
taxes by 25%!" |
Notice that in each example, I have strategically used the
word "You". This technique works extremely well
because you are examining the benefits of your product or
service directly from the customer's viewpoint.
- Your
entire sales pitch should be summarized within the first paragraph.
The first paragraph should make reference to your headline,
building further excitement, and motivating the customer to
continue reading. Just because you've convinced them to open
the e-mail with a compelling headline doesn't mean your home
free... You need to build more excitement and make them curious
about what's to come! Again, the key here is to focus on benefits!
- Paint
a picture that includes them! While there is a time
and a place for stories about how your product or service
has benefited YOU, you need to spend the majority of your
time illustrating how your product or service is going to
benefit them. This means providing examples which describe
how they would benefit if they were to use your product or
service. For example, you might say:
"One way this product might benefit you is by doing this.
If you did this, you would see fantastic results! Just imagine
how great this would be! Wouldn't you like this product to
help you in this way?"
Essentially,
you are giving the reader ownership of the example. This makes
it easy for them to visualize the benefits of owning your
product or using your service.
- Creative
copy is key! Examine your product or service from
all angles. What makes your product special? What differentiates
you from your competitors? If you don't know, then you need
to take some time and research your competition. How are they
selling their products? What features and benefits are they
emphasizing? Once you've figured this out, you can use this
information to develop your own unique selling proposition.
Try to approach your product from an angle that is both new
and of interest to your target market. You don't want to present
your market with the same offer that they've turned down a
hundred times before.
- Harness
the power of the almighty testimonial! I rant and
rave about the power of testimonials on a regular basis. And
here I go again… Testimonials are a key component of
any successful sales letter because they dramatically increase
your credibility. They let your visitors know that other people
have risked doing business with you and have been pleased
with the results. Did you know that this one simple trick
can actually increase your sales by a phenomenal 250%? It's
true!
- Offer
a strong guarantee! I think you will be surprised
to learn that the longer your guarantee is for, the less returns
you will have. Don't believe me? Well, it's true! You will
actually receive less returns if you offer a one-year guarantee
rather than a 30 day guarantee.
You see, this accomplishes two very important things. First,
it makes the customer feel more comfortable buying your product
because they know that YOU must have confidence in it to offer
such a strong guarantee. Second, the customer does not feel
pressured to make a quick decision about whether they like
it or not. With a one year guarantee (or longer), they feel
that they'll have ample time to test and evaluate what you're
offering… and then return it if they're not satisfied.
Also be sure to use ‘glamour’ words in your guarantee
such as "no risk", "no hassle", "100%
unconditional", etc… It makes your guarantee seem
that much more powerful!
- You
must NOT be mistaken! Edit your copy as though your
business depended on it… because it does! Nothing destroys
credibility faster than copy that is full of spelling and
grammatical errors. Always have a second pair of eyes check
over your work. And never rely solely on your spell checker!
It won't catch those oddities of the English language such
as a misplaced "ewe" instead of "you"…
or "your" instead of "you're".
- Free
bonuses make it easy to say yes! Nothing seems to
grab people's attention faster than the word "Free".
Even better though, free bonuses can dramatically increase
the perceived value of your offer. The trick is to ensure
that your bonuses will benefit your customers in some way,
shape, or form… Again, emphasize benefits!
- Test
your e-mail on a small percentage of your opt-in list.
This is one of the most important techniques that I teach,
yet so few people actually do it. And these days it's so easy
that there is no excuse for you NOT to be testing.
When trying to increase the response to your offer, you want
to test the headline or opening paragraph, your offer, and
your pricing (Too cheap can be just as bad as too expensive!).
And be sure you do these three things one at a time so you
can measure the results.
Testing
your offer and your sales copy is the cheapest and most efficient
way to maximize your sales profits! In fact, this should be
an ongoing part of your business. Instead of sending out your
latest promotional letter to your entire customer base, try
sending it out to a small test group. Doing a trial run will
allow you the opportunity to iron out any kinks, saving you
time, money, and hassle!
- Make
it easy to read! The formatting you choose can make
or break your sales campaign. If the e-mail is difficult to
read, then people aren't going to waste their time trying.
Some tips for effective formatting include:
| > Avoid
columns, fancy fonts, boldface, italics or color. Sure
HTML e-mail may look great on your system, but until
it becomes standard you'd be smart to stay away from
it! Remember, you have no control over what e-mail program
a person is using or how they configure it. |
| > Keep
your e-mail messages simple, and neat. Use lots of white
space. |
| > Avoid
technical jargon that the recipient won't understand.
|
| > Never
compose an entire message using ALL CAPS! It looks like
you're yelling, it's hard to read, and it's rude! |
| > Some
older e-mail programs don't have "word wrap"
so turn the "word wrap" feature off on your
machine and manually hit "enter" at the end
of each line of your message. In this case, a line should
be no more than 65 characters. |
- Be
sure that your e-mail is easy to reply to. When an
URL is mentioned in an e-mail, it should have the "http://"
before it. If there is an e-mail address listed in your message,
make sure you have the "mailto:" prefix before it
as well (i.e. mailto:bob@bob.com). The reason for this is
that most new e-mail programs have a hot-link feature that
will allow users to just double click on the URL or e-mail
address. It will then automatically load the web browser and
go to that site… or start a new e-mail to that particular
address.
Important
Notice:
On July 18, 2000
a law was passed in the United States that limits the use of
unsolicited e-mail, otherwise known as spam. Basically, the
law states that you cannot use spam unless you include a return
e-mail address that the recipients can use to opt-out of your
e-mail database and includes provisions that allow consumers
who continue to receive spam after opting-out to take their
complaint to the Federal Trade Commission… or to sue the
offending company in state or federal court.
As many of you
are already aware, I am neither for or against spam. Generally
speaking, I am neutral on the subject… However, the reality
is that you will consistently get better results by directing
your sales campaigns at people who have opted-in to your e-mail
database. I just felt that it was important for you to be aware
of the "spam" laws because, unfortunately, ignorance
can get you into a LOT of hot water!
Here are the general
rules that you should be following when doing bulk mailing of
any kind:
- Identify yourself
with your full name, address, and phone number.
- Provide a valid
e-mail address in the "from" field for people to
reply to -- do NOT use stealth technology to hide the origin
of the e-mail!
- Remove anyone
who requests to be removed from the list immediately.
- Do not relay
the e-mail from other's servers or resources that you do not
have authorization to use.
Basically, the
moral of this story is to always be sure that you provide the
chance to "opt-out" of your e-mail database…
And be sure that you keep your database up to date! (A program
such as Mailloop can be setup to automatically update your database.
To learn more, click here.)
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how
to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to
$2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all
his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools,
and resources that he's used to grow $25 into over $60 Million
in online sales, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/892189
Article
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