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How to Get My Business or Lose It |
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 More and more people are realizing that the Internet offers
great
potential to set up a healthy business for pennies on the dollar. This
is good news for internet marketers
help for asthma
- but it also means that they need
to lift their game.
Why? Because the would-be "netpreneur" has access to way more training
than ever before. It's possible to get up to speed very quickly on what
is needed to get started online. This, in turn, means that people
quickly recognize what offers true value and what does not. They see so
many sales letters that they become, to a certain degree, immune to the
typical hype. They're willing to spend - but they want value for money.
They want to be treated like intelligent and discerning adults.
So here's a message to all 'gurus' (and aspiring gurus) who are keen to
get their share of the dollars waiting to be sent flying their way via
cyberspace.
1) What does it take to make people want to buy "you" rather than some other internet marketer?
2) What might make people want to unsubscribe from your list?
3) And what pushes them into asking for a refund?
What Makes People Want to Buy?
- They buy if they can see that a product will give them new knowledge and understanding.
- They buy if the purchase will speed up business growth.
- They buy if a product will automate a task that eats into their time.
(People quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and product
creation, rather than repetitive tasks.)
Tip: Once newbies have been exposed to a few sales pages, it's not long
before they learn to look beyond the sales hype. They study a sales
letter carefully to work out what the product will "really" offer them.
(Do they need this? Or will it duplicate something else they own?)
They also learn to look for value for money. Some higher-priced
products are worth every cent. Some cheaper products add very little to
what they already know.
(Note: Savvy internet marketers already realize that if they put
together online interviews offering truly valuable information, they
are far more likely to attract and keep new customers. A quick example:
Jane Smith listens to a one-hour audio interview on search engine
optimization and traffic. She finds out some really useful information
she has not so far heard anywhere else. She decides that this guy knows
what he's talking about and shells out a couple of hundred dollars for
his products.)
What Makes People Want to Unsubscribe from a List?
- Getting four identical emails trying to sell them the same product,
because the sender hasn't figured out how to move them from one list to
another after they buy.
- Getting a 'canned' email sounding full of excitement about a new
product or service - which turns out to be a duplicate of the email
they get from six other marketers who are affiliates for the same
product.
- Getting email from a product creator about anything under the sun
because you bought XXX product from them. If your customers sign up for
a newsletter, they expect mailings.
What Makes People Want to Ask for a Refund?
In the past, buyers tended to shrug and write off a bad purchase. But
increasingly, people are prepared to stand up for their rights. If they
feel they have not received value for money, they will ask for a refund.
So what makes them decide to ask for their money back?
- Software that doesn't work as it is supposed to.
- Physical products (CDs, DVDs) that don't work on their systems.
- An e-book that is full of content easily found in an hour's net-surfing.
- An e-book that has skimped on content or that has been poorly written.
- An e-book that not only skimps on content but is full of links to
up-sells to get the 'really valuable' information, or is full of
affiliate links.
The last case, an e-book full of affiliate links or links to an
up-sell...is something you should be giving away free as part of your
viral marketing campaign. Charge for it and you risk your reputation
for being a source of quality information.
Other things that bite into your customer's valuable time.
- MP3's that are streamed from a website rather than being downloadable.
- e-books that are in ".exe" format only, so the customer can't print
them out in one 'hit' (and can't access them on a Mac computer).
Give your clients anything that they can listen to or read away from
the computer. Most of them spend enough hours a day at the keyboard
already. They'd rather load an audio interview into their MP3 players and listen while they go for a walk or relax in
the sun. They'd prefer to print out an e-book and read it or mark it up
while sitting in an easy chair.
Please, please don't tether them to the computer!
And finally, about those "name squeeze" pages. People are very quickly
getting tired of having to give up their email addresses just to get to
a sales page. Do you want them to buy or not? These days, unless
there's a huge buzz around the Net and they want to see what it's all
about, prospective customers are just as likely to click the 'back'
button on their browser, or close the window and leave.
After all, there's always another internet marketer waiting to sell
them a product. Probably one very similar to yours. Marketers who
respect their client's time and intelligence are the ones who will get
their loyalty - and their cash.
 Leon Williams
www.ebuswiz.com
eBusWiz - Smart Tools for Smart Marketers
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