Summary of Adding Value
Product Sales Tips November 8th, 2008
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● In this section we’ll be taking the concept of adding value further, when we look at directly influencing your sales through the addition of value, ranging from specifically crafted offers, JV deals, consultations, bonuses and others to demonstrate perceived value or intangible goods is as good as monetary value with tangible goods.
● There are many ways to add value to your product, and the means and methods are forever changing through new and innovative twists on current techniques. It’s worth looking out for these the next time you read a powerful sales letter from a trusted marketer, and asking yourself, how are they adding value to their products? Watching how others do things on their sites is one of the most valuable cost free and pretty much effort free way of research that you have in your arsenal, but it works extremely well. Keep that in mind all the time, not just throughout this section.
● A good place to start here is cut off dates and limited numbers for your sales letters. Probably the most used and widely known aside from testimonials, this one really gets the sales flowing if done correctly.
● All the cut off dates require is notification that a special offer is ending on a particular day, giving the impression that the reader will miss out if they don’t buy now, an age-old and well-used, but effective, means of pushing home additional sales.
● If using this method, use the language that shows that your low price and your special offer is only guaranteed until a particular date, this way if you decide to continue to a later date it doesn’t cause a stir, and you can avoid using those little java codes that push the date forwards each day relating to the computer clock time at the visitors end.
● Second, think about limited numbers, only allowing a limited number of people into your site a particular point in time. Again, quite widely used, and both catering to impulse buys and adding value. One of my previous sites has this system set up, and still to this day, I have people asking if there’s a space open yet, and even offering more money than he standard fee to get in.
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A Little Something Extra
Product Sales Tips November 7th, 2008
Before we move on, there’s two more ways I’d like to talk to you about adding value to a product. This time, though, the bonuses we’ll be offering aren’t directly related to the product, and aren’t necessarily given on the sales letter as most bonuses are. It’s always nice to give the customer a little something extra, and this is one way to do that and again, as we talked about before, helping yourself as well as the customer.
The first example I want to talk about is adding an option for discounts related to your other products, either now, or in the future through a ticket system. A good way to do this is allow customers to add additional products to their shopping cart at a discounted price when they check out. Not only does it allow them something extra for a little less, but it allows you to make more sales at the same time, again, benefiting both you and your customer.
If this is the first product you’re creating, it doesn’t hurt to reward loyalty. How about giving them 10% off the next product they buy from your business? This might not seem like it’ll do much on the surface, but when you turn a first time customer into a long term customer that keeps buying from you again and again, this is adding value to your products at it’s finest, because it benefits you the most not just today, but far into the future, where your previous customers are picking up two, three, four, and even more of your products within a year.
And last, something that’s rather underestimated and hardly ever used (at least through the products I’ve purchased over the years anyway) is again, about rewarding loyalty. If for some reason you don’t want to include particular bonuses on the sales letter, why not go for something a little different instead, and hit them with it after they buy the product. Granted, you’re losing your additional sales power through presenting this on your sales letter, and instead handing it out after the sale, but let me assure you, if you do this, you will be remembered, and most importantly people will talk about you, and at the same time become long term, loyal customers of yours. Is there anything more valuable?
Above all, if you take nothing else away from this, I want you to remember one thing, and that’s that nothing in business is set in stone. No rules that exist now will exist forever, nothing that works now will work forever. The same applies to everything written before you. Experiment, innovate, be different and you will be remembered, make wads of cash and get your name around, and who knows, in six months time you might just be sitting where I am now, typing out a report revealing the newest and most cutting edge marketing methods that you’ve that you’ve discovered throughout your journey.
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Bonuses Done Right
Product Sales Tips November 6th, 2008
While we’re on this subject, please, please take note here, because if I see anyone trying to flog their product, thinking that an e-book entitled “Doing business today, in the 90’s” is going to shift more of their products, I really might have to start wondering about peoples motives. Things like this won’t add $500 to your price. In fact, let me tell you how serious this issue is. If you put a dodgy bonus together, or do this in the wrong way, you can devalue your product so much, that it becomes worthless, and you just won’t sell any. Simple as that.
So here’s a general rule for you. If you’ve really thought about it, dug about and tried to find something to add in as a good worthwhile bonus to try and tip customers over the edge and to have more of them buy your product, and you honestly can’t find anything that fits the bill, go with nothing or create an original info product yourself. No bonuses are better than one that puts all your customers off. As obvious as that sounds, it seems to be occurring more and more often recently, which is strange, because of the sheer number of people that claim to know what they’re talking about that are teaching people what to do with online business nowadays.
Using the example above I want to demonstrate something to you now that also seems to have become a strange epidemic that pretty much makes me and everyone else I know click right off the website and go somewhere else when looking for their products, and that’s when people take too much time and put in a little too much effort into adding value to one of their products. Or so they think anyway. Have a look at this one, how many times have you seen this recently?
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Bonuses
Product Sales Tips November 5th, 2008
The Standard Bonus
Right, I think we’ve done about as much as we can with those testimonials, so moving on a little to bonuses. Standard bonuses. Nothing fancy really, all you’re doing is offering up some sort of bonus with the purchase of the product, again adding value. Generally these are known as something directly related to your product, or even better, something that will benefit you as well as the customer getting it for free.
How about putting together a small training series that allows the customer to give it away, building your reputation, as well as adding value on the initial sale? Or if you’re really on a brainy one that day, how about putting something together that will make you money through educating the buyer? For example, give away an affiliate marketing course to your customers, helping them become better affiliates, allowing them to promote your stuff and make you money at the same time.
Bonuses - But Smarter
It’s links like this that make up really clever bonuses, where on the surface they might just seem standard to other people that don’t understand where you’re coming from. Always try to put something together that will benefit you as well as the customer, whether it’s increased sales, a re-branded book packed with affiliate links or links to your product they can give away, or an educational tool that will assist your customer, and put money in your pocket at the same time.
In fact, while we’re talking about giving away bonuses to enhance your product, I’ve even seen some really effective products that are just made up of a bunch of bonuses, with no real central product. Of course they have a central theme, and are all related in some way, but this is something to keep in mind for when you’ve been going a while and having a slow day. As long as all the products compliment each other, and are relevant, they can come together to make a whole new product and income stream for yourself.
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Testimonials
Product Sales Tips November 4th, 2008
Next up is the hugely widespread and popular standard testimonial. I’m only going to touch on this, because there really isn’t a huge amount to say, and I highly doubt anyone out there has never seen one. A standard section of text either throughout your sales letter, down the side of your nav bar, on a separate page or a database of happy customers works without a problem and goes a long way to cementing in your customers minds that your product is good. This is especially true if the person or people writing are well known and respected in your field. Try to get in contact with at least one well-known, hand them your product for free, and request a testimonial for it.
Testimonials - But Better
Now, let’s look at the slightly rarer audio testimonials. These cement value in your product even further and increase customer confidence no end. I’ve personally looked at text testimonials before, and seen some major flaws that gave away to me, and proved without a doubt that they were faked. This pretty much put a big dent in what I thought of these things early on, and I’ve even had people come to me and tell me they faked their testimonials in the past. Needless to say I wasn’t happy about that. Granted, audio testimonials can be faked too, but it’s generally not something that pops into your head when listening compared to reading written ones, hence the big confidence booster and value adding of this method.
If you can get some audio testimonials, whether you ask people to call your answering machine and have them leave messages, or if you’re able to record over the net through voice communications, it’s well worth it. The extra effort comes in and hits your customers with a massive boost to confidence resulting ultimately in more sales and resources for you and your business. Can’t be bad.
The Ultimate Testimonial
Ok, seeing as we’ve done the audio and text thing with these testimonials, lets go all out, major bells and whistles professionalism with video testimonials. How often do you see streaming video testimonials up on websites? Not very often I’d say. In fact at the time of writing this, I’ve only seen two in my whole career, and they were great. Real people giving real accounts of using real products that worked. If any type of testimonial is going to add value to your products, it’s going to be this one. A simple idea developed into an all singing all dancing, hard hitting method that works.
The next best thing to video testimonials would be inviting these people over to your house to tell you how good the products are. I admit, this is taking things to an extreme, but with all the digital cameras floating around nowadays, and the ability to capture video through the net, and the larger hosting spaces starting to appear through the thought competition, it shouldn’t be more than a little time consuming to get a few of these. Well worth it in my opinion. Taking testimonials to the max.
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