Archive | October, 2023

Imagine that you’re making a video about how to declutter a closet. In the video you show the closet beforehand, you explain what you’re going to do and how you’ll do it, and then you have a montage of video clips of you working while music plays. Finally, you come back on screen and give a few parting thoughts. Not bad, right?

Except here’s the problem I see happening over and over again…

That video montage is there to show a long process condensed into a short amount of time. You could narrate over that section, but most video makers prefer to use music.

But… because it’s just music, the video makers are worried that it somehow won’t be enough and so they crank up the volume up to twice what it was. Now the viewer is reflexively jumping to turn that volume down – sometimes WAY down. In my case, I’ll usually just mute it.

And when the person comes back on video to talk to the camera and uses a regular speaking voice at regular volume, the viewer can’t hear it unless they turn the volume back up. This means that if the viewer is even still paying attention, they will need to decide if they should turn up the volume or just close the video and go on to something else. Why would anyone put their viewer in that position?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been distracted when the volume was on mute. I never did see the end of those videos, so if they had a call to action… well, I never heard it. And it’s annoying having to reach for the volume button because music is suddenly blasting forth. It’s like if someone came up from behind you with a bullhorn and you’ve got to find the volume button to make them stop.

I know it might seem ‘artistic’ to blast music like it’s a movie scene, but do you really want to alienate your viewers? Probably not.

This is truly old school and yet most marketers never do this. In fact, it can add several hundred dollars or more to your bottom line each and every month. And all it takes is a line or two of text in your emails.

What is it?

The signature line.

Place a simple signature line with a link to an offer as a footer in every one of your emails you send out to your list. This can be to one of your flagship products, such as your coaching program or a high-end course.

Yes, it sounds almost too simple, doesn’t it?

You probably won’t get a lot of clicks on this link for a couple of reasons: They’ve already clicked on the main link higher up in the email. Or your list goes ‘ad blind’ because they keep seeing this same line over and over again.

This is why you want to promote a flagship product with a fairly high price tag. For example, if you have a $500 coaching program and you only get one sale that month from your signature line, that’s still $500 profit. And it’s even more if it’s monthly billing.

You can change the line from time to time to keep it fresh.

Frankly, you don’t need to spend a lot of time on this. Just write your line, add it to your footer and forget about it for a couple of weeks until you change it.

And then see what happens. It could add thousands to your bottom line each year.

If you charge $47 for a product, will you make more than if you charge $27? Think about it… It’s not just the price that matters, it’s also the conversion rate.

If $27 converts at nearly twice or better the rate of $47, then $27 is a better price point for you. But what if you charge $37? Maybe $37 will turn out to be the winner, but you won’t know unless you test. Plus if you have any cost to fulfillment, such as if you’re providing services, then you will need to factor that in as well.

It gets complicated real fast, doesn’t it?

But years ago I heard about the magic of the ‘100 prospect test’. The theory goes that if you send 100 people to your page, you can assess the results.

Not believing this myself, I tested a squeeze page with 100 visitors and 1,000 visitors. And wouldn’t you know it? The conversion rate on the first 100 was nearly identical to the 1,000. Since then I’ve been testing a lot of things with just 100 people, and that includes pricing.

In the above example, you could send 100 people to the $27 price point, 100 to the $37 and 100 to the $47. You can buy the traffic from a solo ad or Facebook or any method you choose. Just make sure you use the exact same method for all three.

Compare and see which price point is the most profitable. If it’s $27, then you might do another test at $17. And if it’s $47, you might do another test at $67. In 24 hours you can know for a fact – without guessing – which price point will make you the most money.

If you think about a campaign that you run for the next six months, even a small increase in your income can add up to very big money. Which is to say, don’t guess. Instead, test and know for certain. Remember and use the ‘100 prospect test’ on your next campaign.