New Mechanism for Increased Sales

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In my favorite book on direct marketing, Breakthrough Advertising, Gene Schwartz writes…

    
     “If your market is at the stage where they’ve heard all the claims, in all their extremes…then what this market needs is a…NEW MECHANISM—a new way to making the old promise work.”

  
       His example?  For weight loss, the limits of its basic promise had been reached with a headline like:

  “I am 61 pounds lighter ...never a hungry minute.”

         How do you beat that headline?  With a new headline that shifts emphasis from what the product does to HOW it works.  Like this…

“Floats fat right out of your body.”

        For promotions I’ve written, one of my goals is to follow Gene’s advice …and it’s worked!

  
       For a new natural pain relieving product, called Mobilify, I knew I needed to tell HOW this product worked, to explain why it delivers superior and faster pain relief than its competitors.

    
     After digging into the research, I discovered that the key ingredient, Indian Frankincense shuts down the inflammation “command center,” called Nuclear Factor Kappa Beta, not just one the main inflammatory genes called COX-2.

     
    Many natural “solutions” for pain try to stop COX-2, but Indian Frankincense deactivates as many as 400 pain-causing genes.  THIS is the new mechanism that makes Mobilify so unique and so powerful.

         Telling HOW Mobilify works helped make this promo a big winner.

  
       For a new anti-aging supplement called Renewal, I had to research WHY this product was different that all the other competitors.   A few things helped me explain a NEW mechanism for shattering the limitations of aging and increasing “youth span” by 20 years.

Facebook…Mobile Ads…Landing Pages: A match made in heaven

I’ve always believed great copy can work in almost any media.

Case in point for a new promotion I created for Juvenon, a remarkable age-defying nutrient that works on the cellular level to keep buyers feeling younger and healthier.

First, I created a landing page with the headline: The scientific breakthrough that makes 70 feel like 40 again.

 

 This promotion described how Juvenon has been hailed as the “first, safe, real, anti-aging formulation of our lifetime” by a leading M.D. and how is backed by research at U.C. Berkeley, Harvard, The Mayo Clinic, Boston University and Cornell University. 

 How to drive traffic to this landing page?

 With mobile ads like the one below and with Facebook ads.

 

   

To reach the maximum number of quality prospects, mobile ads and Facebook are proving to be excellent media options.

Space ads: An excellent funnel for new customers

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I’ve always believed great copy works in all media: Direct mail, online and even in space ads in newspapers.

Case in point is this ad which I wrote for an age-defying, youth-boosting formula called Ultra Accel II.

What makes a great space ad?

It starts with a great headline.  And how important is that headline?

Legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz writes in his classic book, Breakthrough Advertising, “Your headline has only one job—to stop your prospect and compel him to read the second sentence in your ad.”

In this case my headline CoQ10’s Failure Leaves Millions Wanting was written to call out users of CoQ10 and pique their interested as to why CoQ10 has “failed” many people.

Turns out as powerful as CoQ10 is, there’s one critical thing it fails to do: It can’t create new power generators (mitochondria) in your cells.

The subhead Use this pill to supercharge your brain and think better than ever is effective because it makes clear a key benefit for reading on.

Photos, if used correctly, can also be very powerful for an ad.  The photo below of Dr. Al Sears with Dr. Oz from a recent health festival delivers instant credibility for Dr. Sears. 

The ad is also filled with new scientific information, clinical studies and testimonials to back up claims.

This ad has been a super winner, drawing in many, many new customers into the pipeline.

 

 

How much is the voice of an “expert” worth in your marketing?

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One of the critical decisions you need to make for your direct marketing promotion is who is the “voice” behind your direct mail piece, ad, video sales letter or landing page?

Many of my clients have been very successful using a voice of authority, like a medical doctor or a millionaire investment expert to sell their products.  Of course, you’ll likely have to compensate that “expert” unless he/she already works for your company.

Yet some of my clients have also been successful using the voice of the founder or president of a company—or no voice at all.

Much has to do with what you are selling and how much authority that “voice” has.

Here’s a recent example that shows a “voice” of authority can really help boost response.

For a promotion I wrote for Sun Chlorella’s remarkable pet whole food supplement, Reju-A-Wafers, we tested two covers.

Cover JM’s headline was: Why Some Pets Seem Almost Ageless, and featured testimonials from pet owners about their pets who looked and acted years younger than their real ages.  Benefits were highighted, but there was no voice of authority.

This was tested against Cover KD’s headline: Vet’s Prized Superfood Secrets Helps Support Your Pet’s Health, and it featured a photo of a leading Vet, William Farber, DVM and his dog.

In this mailing the voice of authority dramatically lifted response by over 50%.

The lesson?   

If possible, test a voice of authority vs. no voice and see if there is a difference.

Why click through rates are often more important than open rates…(and why you must continue to test, test, and test again all online promotions)

 
Interesting results from a landing page I created show open rates are not necessarily the most important factor for profitability of an online promotion.

Case in point. I wrote a subject line…an email “ad”…and a landing page for a nutritional product.

The Open Rate was X... the Click Through Rate was about Y...and Conversion rate was Z.

Then, a second email was send to non-openers of the first promotion, with a different subject line and email ad.

The Open Rate was about half of X, as to be expected since this was re-sent to non-openers.

But the Click Through Rate was almost 2Y compared to the first promotion—nearly DOUBLE the clicks.

Just as important, the conversion rate was nearly 2Z, too—nearly DOUBLE the number of orders.

The result? 26 percent more revenue!

Just tweaking the subject line and the email ad made a big difference in the dollars generated for this product.

How can you give your customers even better service and increase profitability? (Take a hint from the Japanese, who have perfected the “hospitality culture.”)

I recently returned from a wonderful 10-day trip to Japan visiting my youngest daughter, Amie, who is teaching English in Kashiwa—the sister city of my hometown, Torrance.

         

This was my third trip to Japan, and one again I was reminded that the Japanese have mastered a “comprehensive service culture.”

         

As a guest, whether it be at a hotel, a restaurant, a store or on a train, you are treated with the utmost courtesy and consideration.

         

Eat at most any restaurant, and you will be amazed at the service—with a smile—and with no tipping!  That’s right.  There is no tipping in Japan. 

        

Simply put, the service culture in Japan seems to almost always “over-deliver.”  Sadly, that’s not the case for many services provided in the U.S.

         

The executive director and general manager the Palace Hotel Tokyo says it’s hospitality that’s “extended with the utmost sincerity, grace and respect.”

         

The question is, what lessons can we learn in servicing our own customers (or my case, my own clients)?

         

How can we better serve them and even over-deliver what we promise?  How can we train our staffs to treat every call, email or contact with a customer with the highest degree of sincerity, service and respect?  How can you make your customers feel valued and appreciated?

         Here are a few ideas: 

1)   Give your best customers an automatic credit in their account for future purchases.  I just got one of these, and it felt great to be appreciated.  I used the credit to make another purchase.

2)   Email them a valuable special report at no cost. 

3)   Offer a choice of additional premiums or gifts when they order. 

4)   Take care of any problem quickly, and offer something of value to make up for any ill will. 

5)   Invite them to a special event or “webinar” because of their continued patronage. 

6)   Get input from them on what new products or services they want or need—and reward them for their participation.

7)   Remember: service, service and service—with a smile.

For more on the incredible service and hospitality in Japan, read: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303456104579489824193262260

What’s Better: “Credit in Your Account” or “Special Savings”?

Last week I got an email from iHerb.com.  I buy some of my supplements from them.

This email caught my attention because subject line was: $5.00 Loyalty Credit in Your Account.

The email went on to say they had “upgraded” my account to include their new Loyalty Credit Program.

This new program entitles me to automatically earn a 10% credit on every iHerb order, regardless of size.  The 10% credit can be applied toward my next order, placed within 60 days, once my current order is shipped.

They mentioned, to give me a jumpstart, they’ve deposited a credit of $5.00 in my iHerb account, a 10% minimum of the average order value, based on the orders I placed over the past year.

            This was a very effective mail for three reasons…

1)    The idea that I have a “credit” in my account was very appealing.  Better than the standard, BOGO Free or Special Savings.

2)    Being “upgraded” made me feel valued and appreciated.

3)   Getting on-going credit sounded very appealing—I like building up credit so I can get something at a big discount or nearly free.

Guess what?  I used the $5.00 credit for my next order.

This is a good lesson in how to get the attention of your customers…make them feel valued…and get another order.

Sometimes all it takes is a fresh look at old sales tactics.  Works like magic!