Make More Money From Your Ideas

"I was advised to have my website “American Spelling” (and also to use American dollars). Do you agree that the American spelling is the way to go? Comments on the American dollars? "

The answer to this - as to most other questions about Web site design - is to first ask "What's your market?" If you're aiming primarily at an Australian market - not the American public - stick to Australian spelling and currency.

Taking orders in non-Australian currency is tricky, because you have to convert to A$ to process the transaction, but the conversion rate won't match what the bank uses, so the customer sees a weird amount on their credit card statement, with no sign of their original US$ amount. You can get around this by using, say, PayPal, which accepts transactions in US$.

Labels: market research, sales conversion

"I now have two ebooks. My first thought was to offer a special bonus to anyone who purchased the book, say, within the first two months – as an incentive. I was talked out of it – ‘why give away something for free?’. I then thought ‘what if I offer the two books at a slightly reduced price’? Again, I was talked out it, this time
citing it as being unfair to those who had already purchased the first book.

I’m in two minds about bonuses. Do buyers ever get cross about missing out on bonuses because they purchased at the wrong time?

I would love to boost my sales, but I also don’t want to lose customers because they’ve missed out because either they’ve already purchased the first book, or the bonus wasn’t applicable at the time."

You do ask some very good questions, and even the fact that you're asking them puts you ahead of most other people I know.

You asked whether buyers ever get cross about missing out on bonuses. Yes, I think this does happen, but not often. After all, if you go into a shop in February, you don't expect to buy at those post-Christmas sale prices.

My policy has always been to honour the bonus if it's only a day or two after the deadline, but not after that. I think people are OK with that, as long as you give them a good reason for offering the bonus - e.g. it's a special Christmas offer, or a
small publishing run (but that doesn't work with e-books!), a personal goal that you've set yourself, or even just to say that it's a marketing experiment you're conducting for a limited time.

You do have to be careful not to upset your existing customers. My policy is always to make sure that anything I offer is AT LEAST AS GOOD OR BETTER for past customers than for new customers. So, in your example, you could definitely offer the two books as a bundle, as long as past customers could buy the second book by itself at a reduced price. Or they buy the second book at full price but get a $500 phone coaching session with you. Or whatever.

Overall, I'm in favour of bonuses. Yes, you're giving something away free, but it can lead to an increase in sales. The only real way to find out is to test it.

A bonus is almost always better for you than a discount. For example, if you give a $10 bonus report to people who buy both books together, that report won't cost you much (or nothing at all, if you send it electronically). But if you drop the price by $10, that's $10 in cold, hard cash that you now have to make up elsewhere. On the other hand, some people ARE price-sensitive, so again you have to test both options to find out what works best for you.

Labels: sales conversion

"I'd like to give away an e-book to people who sign up for a consulting session, and I'd also like to give them permission to distribute it to their friends. What is the best way to do this?"

If you're giving away "reprint rights", you just have to make sure that it's "re-sold" properly. I suggest you say that it can be give away free, but if it's sold the MINIMUM price is $97 (or whatever retail price you put on it). That way, you allow them to share it with their database without having $19.95 copies floating around.

I suggest you also put a value on the reprint rights. A common figure I've seen is 10 times the retail price - e.g. $970 on a $97 product.

Labels: e-books, free products, sales conversion

"How do I convert people to whom I give free stuff into customers?"

This is a tricky issue. To make this work, I think your stuff has to be REALLY, really good. I've found that people who are quite happy to get free tips and reminders aren't necessarily going to pay for them. So you really do have to create a strong business case and write a strong sales letter in order to convince them to sign up.

It's really a matter of convincing them of the value of it. So you send them really good stuff for a few weeks, then tell them that to get more, they have to buy the paid version.

Alternatively, you could continue providing it free, and use them as a way of promoting other products and services as well. That's the approach that I use with my newsletters.

Find out more about sales conversion.

Labels: free products, sales conversion

"We offer a 90 day guarantee on our main product. If they don't think they get the results they should and can show they have used it, we give them their money back. They can keep the product. No claims on our guarantee have been made yet."

I wonder what would happen if you increased this to 365 days, or even made it a lifetime guarantee. It might convince more people to buy.

I know your product, and it is very good. However, because it's a comprehensive system, it does take some effort to put into practice. Perhaps some potential customers are putting off their buying decision until they know they have a reasonably free 90 days ahead of them. Increasing the guarantee period would make their buying decision easier. Perhaps you could test this by changing the guarantee for a while and checking your sales results.

I notice that you also have a "prove to us that you've used it" approach before they get their money back. Personally, I prefer not to have these conditions. It doesn't cater for the person who might buy it, look through the material and decide that it's not right for them. However, I do know that some marketing experts favour your approach, so again the only way to know for sure is to test it.

Labels: guarantee, sales conversion

"I offer 100% guarantee on my speaking presentations, not my books or tapes. Books & tapes are 'damaged goods' as soon as they've been used, so the money I've already spent creating them is an expense, whereas my presentations are my time."

I urge you to reconsider this policy. I do understand the point you're making, but I think you're looking at the guarantee the wrong way. It's not about minimising your exposure; it's about minimising theirs.

If you apply this principle, the actual cost of the goods is irrelevant. Customers don't care about the cost; they only care about getting value. If they don't get the value, the guarantee means that they get their money back.

Labels: guarantee, sales conversion

"I haven't written a guarantee due to the fact that a speaker may say or do something that is outside my control. What are your thoughts on how I could word a guarantee being a speakers bureau?"

You can offer a guarantee even if some things are outside your control. You're not guaranteeing that your product or service will always work; you're guaranteeing that even if it doesn't, then you take all the risk.

If a speaker says something inappropriate, then yes - it was out of your control. But who should pay for that mistake? Perhaps it's the speaker, who said the wrong thing. Or perhaps it's you, for putting forward that speaker.

But either way, it's not the client's fault! So why should they pay?

Sure, it's tough when you don't have control over everything. But offering a guarantee is still better than making the client pay for your mistakes.

Labels: guarantee, sales conversion

I recently said in my newsletter:

"Give a rock-solid, iron-clad, easy-to-invoke, no-questions-asked 100% money-back guarantee.

Most customers are honest people who'd just like some reassurance that they are making a good buying decision. So they appreciate the fact that you're reversing the risk, and that makes them more likely to buy in the first place.

Sure, you will get the occasional person who exploits your guarantee. But in most markets, they are the exception, not the norm. You'll get far more sales and greater profits from your guarantee than you'll lose by those who exploit it."

I also asked readers for their own experiences with offering guarantees. Click the comments link below to see some of the responses.

Labels: guarantee, sales conversion

"How do I convert visitors to purchase my big ticket items?"

Build a relationship. It's extremely unlikely that a complete stranger will visit your site and buy a big-ticket item right away (This is also true of smaller items, but even more so as the price goes up).

So think "relationship" first, not "sale". Get them to sign up to your newsletter. Give them an incentive to do so - for example, by giving a high-value e-book for new subscribers. Then start - and maintain - a dialogue with them, until they trust you enough to make a big-ticket purchase.

I've seen seminar promoters successfully sell $3,000+ tickets to their seminars. But they rarely do it on the first contact. They get you on their mailing list, run free preview teleseminars with the speaker, send you free downloads, and just keep in touch until you're ready to buy!

Find out more about sales conversion.

Labels: pricing, sales conversion

"I have many visitors to my site over the years and had some sales, but how do I convert more casual visitors to customers?"

There are a number of possible reasons why people aren't buying from your site. The best way to find out why they aren't buying is to ask them! When somebody leaves your site without buying, show a pop-up window asking them for the reason. Give them a "bribe" in return, in the form of a special report or e-book.

Then use the answers you get to refine your site, to make more sales from your Web site.

Labels: market research, sales conversion, survey

"How can I make money from a web site that promotes me and me services as an event manager/coordinator?"

If you're offering purely a service, then the most important goal of your Web site is to get clients to pick up the phone and talk to you. Is that right?

So what do you have to do to convince them to call you?

My guess is that their most important requirement when hiring an event coordinator is to make sure that their event runs smoothly. That's probably a more important consideration than cost.

But do you know that for sure? I suggest you run a brief survey with your existing clients to find out what their most important goals are. Then make sure that everything on your site convinces them that you can achieve that goal for them.

For example, if they really do care that their event runs smoothly, probably the best thing you can do to convince them of that is to provide high-quality testimonials and referrals from past clients. That's likely to be more attractive to them than a lower price or even a money-back guarantee (After all, if their event is a disaster, it's only a small consolation that they get their money back).

This process is what I call answering the "Why You?" question, which is one of the three critical questions that you have to answer to increase the response on your Web site.

But what about the people who visit your site and aren't ready to pick up the phone and call? Instead of losing them, I recommend that you encourage them to join your mailing list. One way to persuade them to do that is to write a short e-book with a title like "The Seven Fatal Mistakes To Avoid When Planning Your Next Event", and give that away free on your Web site - but only for people who join your mailing list.

Labels: sales conversion, survey

"I am a real beginner (having paid a fortune for websites that I didn't understand in the past). I'm starting from scratch and using Front Page and finding my way around. It's like learning to walk. Anything that can help me get websites up and making money for me is great."
-- Mary

Since I know your situation personally, Mary, I know that you've already got an area of expertise, not just looking around for any product. So please read my comments in that context ...

The easiest way to make money from your Web site is to add a password-protected section, and then offer access to existing clients. In other words, when you next approach a new client for consulting or speaking work, add value by telling them that they can get access to your password-protected area. This allows you to justify a higher speaking/consulting fee.

The other good option is to offer on-line courses to supplement your training sessions. These are delivered automatically by e-mail, and provide on-going reinforcement to participants. Again, because you're offering added value, you can charge a higher fee.

You might have been expecting me to talk about search engine marketing, on-line payment systems, and the such. But it's much, MUCH easier to sell added-value services to your existing clients.

Labels: sales conversion, Web strategy

"What am I doing wrong that I get clicks onto my web site but no buyers?"

Don't ask me - ask them!

Seriously. The best way to find out why people aren't buying is to ask them. If they leave your Web page without buying, display a pop-up window asking them for the reason, and offer them a small incentive in return for their feedback.

For example, I did this on one of my sites that sells an e-book. In return for their honest feedback, I actually gave them a free copy of the e-book. That might seem extravagant, but it cost me nothing and I got some excellent feedback. For instance, one potential buyer thought it would take too long to download, and another even thought it would be sent through the post! So I was able to update the Web page to reassure them of the download time.

Many people hate using pop-up windows because they annoy Internet users, and that is true to some extent. However, these people are already leaving your site! So what's the harm?

Labels: market research, sales conversion, survey