200-Proof Marketing

I recently got the first question in my Ask Chad section from Aaron Smith and decided to write about it here.

You can view the question by looking at the “Ask Chad” page.

The question was based on the fact that stats for most Niche sites show that 90% or more of the visitors who land at the websites leave immediately (or Bounce).

The question goes on to ask whether it would be better to try to convert more of the visitors who stay or to try to get more people to stay.

First I need to say that the web stat that shows 90% of visitors leaving immediately is not accurate.

I use Google Analytics for these kind of stats and there’s a good chance that Aaron uses it also. Or at least another Web Stats service that suffers from the same problem. (more…)

My multivariate test is still on going but one section has quickly reached statistical validity.

That section is the Contact Information. A little line at the bottom of my copy that says something like:

“If you have any questions please email me at: email@address.com”

The test was to see what effect removing it would have.

Why did this one section become statistically valid so much quicker than all the others?

Because removing it had such a huge effect on my conversion rate.

How much?

Removing the contact information reduced sales by over 300%!

I knew it would hurt sales, but I had no idea it hurt them that much.

You may be thinking “why would he test something he knew would hurt his sales?”

Because I wanted to quickly find out how important this part of my copy was.

Now that I know this is a very important part of my copy, I will test a much more helpful, visible, and easy to use version.

I believe this is an important part of building trust and my past experience tells me that trust is huge.

By making the customer feel like they can get help should they run into any problems, you build trust and make them feel more comfortable about buying.

Take note of these results and start testing different ways to build trust in your copy.

While my current Multivariate test is still on going, I’m seeing some very interesting results so far. Some of which are already statistically valid.

Over the course of many tests, I’ve notice one constant. The more obvious you make it you are trying to sell something the worse your conversion rate will be.

In the past I wrote about Gary Halbert and Claude Hopkins who say the same basic thing:

The more apparent you make it that you are selling the more resistance you run into.

One of the great ideas Gary Halbert came up with was the A Pile - B Pile theory. Which basically said that when people go to their mail box, they immediately sort their mail into two Piles.

The A Pile contains personal letters, bills, bank statements, etc. While, the B Pile is for “junk mail” which will not even be opened.

Anything that looks like an advertisement, usually gets a quick glance and then goes to the B Pile (which ends up in the trash).

He used this theory to make his mailings look like personal letters, even going so far as using normal (more expensive) stamps and “fake” handwriting on the outside of the envelope.

What’s cool is that by looking normal and nonthreatening, his letters got more Attention than others that tried to get Attention by putting red writing all over their envelopes.

This is leading me to make big changes in the way I write copy. I’m quickly turning into a “Sneaky Salesman.”

Here are some interesting things I’ve found:

• Black Headlines consistently beat Red Headlines
• Formating a sales letter to look like a helpful article increases sales
• Simple words sell better than fancy sales type words (Ex: Learn seems better than Discover)
• Trust is huge and people seem to trust “normal” people more than salesmen.

Those are just a few of my findings so far.

One thing’s for sure, the next sales letter I write will be as “sneaky” as possible. I will probably make it look like an article throughout and include helpful information that the customer is looking for (to help build trust).

Then at the end, or possibly even on “page 2″ I will hit them with the Call to Action, and Guarantee.

I was just reading a post on Ryan Healy’s blog about a “200% Lowest Price Guarantee” a furniture store offers. They guarantee there price is the lowest or they will pay you 200% of the difference in price.

As I was reading, I remembered something Gary Halbert wrote about guarantees and how they could not only increase sales but also reduce refunds. I believe Gary’s example was a 200% money back guarantee for some kind of home business product that was getting hit hard by refunds.

The catch was that if you wanted the 200% refund, you had to provide proof (business license, merchant account records, etc) you actually followed the steps outlined in the product.

By setting the guarantee up that way he reduced the perceived risk and as Ryan said built trust. He also drastically cut the amount of refunds. Evidently most the customers asking for refunds never put the information in the product to use.

So if you’re looking for something to test, why not try testing a bold guarantee.

Which Guarantee do you think is better?

Try my Niche Annihilation System for 30 days. If you aren’t making at least $100 a week by the end of the 30 days, I’ll give you a quick 100% Refund.

OR

Try my Niche Annihilation System for 30 days. If you aren’t making at least $100 a week by the end of the 30 days, send me a link to your Niche’s website and links to the 10 “free ads” described in my system and I’ll not only refund your order, but I’ll send you a $100 dollar check just for trying my system.

No matter what happens you make money!

I don’t know about you but the second guarantee would tempt me a whole lot more than the first…

I’ve been working with Google’s new Website Optimizer and I’m impressed. Multivariate Testing is much more powerful than A/B Split Testing, but it does take longer for reliable results. Still it’s faster than it seems since you are testing so many things.

The first test I set up was on my most profitable product’s sales page. Why? Because the more visitors and conversions a site gets, the quicker and easier it is to increase it’s profits. In all I am testing the maximum of 8 sections (I originally tried to test 10).

Here’s what I’m testing:

1. Two new background colors, a new shade of blue, and a purple-blue.
2. Headline quotes vs no quotes. (no quotes almost always wins)
3. Headline color - black (consistent winner), blue, and red
4. Using the word Discover instead of Learn (supposed to be better)
5. Size of an important image - big vs small
6. Background color of testimonial box - blue vs beige
7. Active or inactive link leading to another website of mine that helps build trust
8. Contact information vs no contact information (contact should win)

It’s still to early to say on any of those but I could make some pretty good guesses. The best part of testing for me is seeing the results. I love checking the reports to see which variables are doing the best. You may want to test new headlines, sections of copy, different guarantee’s, etc. I didn’t because I’ve already tested the crap out of this site and wanted to test these first.

It looks like it may be awhile for valid results but when I get them, I will let you know what they are.

There’s no excuse for anyone to buy testing software anymore. I haven’t tried them all but I doubt any can beat Google’s ease of use and reporting features. If you’re thinking of buying some testing software, do your self a favor and try Google’s Website Optimizer first.

Funny, I sound like a Google advertisement. I don’t like everything they do (that page quality score thing cost me a good bit of money), but I have to praise them for making such a great tool available to their advertisers.

Now stop reading and go set up some tests. The easiest way to make more money is often to improve what you’re already doing.

Google had a surprise in store for me today when I checked my Adwords account. They made their Multivariate Testing tool called Website Optimizer available free for Adwords customers.

Evidently they’ve been testing it for a while, but this was the first I had heard of it.

This tool could easily double your profit in a fraction of the time it takes old A/B Split Testing.

Multivariate Testing is the king of testing (in my opinion). Some might favor Taguchi but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t work as well for optimizing websites.

So what’s the difference between Multivariate Testing and A/B Split Testing?

A/B Split Testing only tests two different webpages at a time. Usually the two pages are identical except for one part (like your headline).

Visitors are split between the two pages randomly and the one that converts the most visitors into sales wins. Slowly and over the course of many tests, this can greatly increase your conversion rate (the percentage of visitors that buy or take action).

Multivariate Testing is somewhat similar except it allows you to test many different parts at a time. In a sense, it allows you to run many Split Tests at once.

In a Multivariate Test you can test your Headline, Price, Guarantee, Testimonial placement, and more all at once.

Let’s say you want to test your Headline, Guarantee, and Background Color. You decide to test 3 different headlines (the original and two new ones), 3 guarantees, and 3 background colors.

That would give you 27 different combinations of your sales page. Each time a visitor comes to your website they will be randomly shown one of these combinations.

One visitor may see headline 1, guarantee 3, and color 3 while the next visitor will see headline 2, guarantee 1, and color 3.

You can then not only view which variables of the different parts do the best but also which combinations do the best.

The bottom line is Multivariate Testing allows you to increase your conversion rate much faster than A/B Split Testing would allow.

But here’s the kicker…

The fastest way to increase your conversion rate when testing is to find which parts of your webpage effect your conversion rate the most and then find the best options for those parts.

For example: On your first test you test every part of your webpage you can think of. When the test is over you can see which parts increased or decreased your conversion the most.

Next, you retest only those parts.

It’s the 80/20 rule in action (look here for my article on the 80/20 rule). A small percentage of the parts of your webpage, have a large effect on your conversion rate.

I will start some tests tonight with the new Website Optimizer tool and give a more detailed report later.

I’m fairly confident it will replace the Multivariate Testing software I created simply because it will be easier to set up and more convenient.

Much more on this and testing in general coming soon…

I’m constantly getting questions about my calculator. Unfortunately, I’ve been too busy to answer them all.

So here are some of the common questions:

Can I have a stand alone version or the source code?

No, I don’t have time to program a stand alone version and since it brings a decent amount of traffic to this website, I don’t want to just give it away.

However it is just a math equation, that you can learn freely on the ‘net. It may take you awhile to figure out if you’re not a math geek though.

Why doesn’t the Calculator show a exact percentage instead of above 80, 90, 95, etc?

That’s because I couldn’t find a math equation for getting the exact probability, instead I found a table of results and their probabilities and used it to program it the way it is.

Is this the best way to tell if my results are statistically accurate?

As far as I know, yes. There are many other equations for this type of thing, including one called a “Confidence Interval” which gives somewhat different results.

My calculator uses the Chi Squared equation with a Yates Correction. Which is often used to determine whether survey results are valid.

If someone knows of a truly better equation, let me know and I will make a calculator for it. For now it seems like this is the most dependable equation.

In other news…

This website was attacking by some spam robots that spammed all kinds of weird stuff in the comments. Evidently someone specifically designed software to spam this blog.

Unfortunately I had to disable comments to stop the spam. When I get time I will rewrite the php and add some type of validation that will block the spam.

Also I’ve spent the past few months working on my biggest project yet, and so far the results are amazing.

It’s not an IM product, but if I decide to sell it (via a membership site), I will post a link to it here so you can benefit from it.

That’s it for now…

I just released a new product that I was sure would be an instant hit. Turns out I was a little optimistic as usual. Right from the start I lost $200 in advertising, but instead of giving up, I decided to fight.

You see this is a new type of product for me, I know it’s selling well because of how competitive it is but I’ve never made this type of product before. The main difference is all my competitors sell with very short copy, which tells me that’s what the market is buying. I’m used to long copy so it has been a little bit of a challenge for me.

Bad News: My sure thing started off unprofitable.

Good News: I did make a few sales

The fact that I made a few sales is what’s important here, if I can make at least some sales, even at a loss, I can usually find a way to make something profitable. It’s just a matter of tweaking the advertising and copy.

This fight is ongoing so I can’t tell you a winner yet, however I have turned the tide in my favor and just made a change a few minutes ago that should (optimistic again?) finish it.

The Moral here is to not give up so easily when something doesn’t work out the way you had planned. If you release a product and it’s unprofitable, that’s ok. Fight it and do everything you can to make it profitable. At the same time you also need to know when to cut your losses.

One thing I did to help boost the conversion of my newest product was to add “Scarcity” which means a limited quantity or time. A believable Deadline or Limit almost always boosts conversion rates. The more believable it is the more powerful it will be.

Another thing I did was sharpen my PPC Targeting (keywords). You don’t want to sell Bicycles to people in Wheelchairs so make sure the people who see your ad will be interested in buying your product. That also gave me a little boost.

The final move is a combination of Qualifying and Strategy.

Qualifying is another way of targeting your ads. The idea is that only people who are looking to buy will click my PPC ad. That way I will spend less for advertising while still making roughly the same amount of sales.

I’ve seen other people use this method of qualifying but I never have so I’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.

I’m confident that I will make it profitable within a few days, it’s just a matter of how profitable. I expected $500-$1000 per week in sales from this product, but it’s looking more like $200-$500. Luckily, my next product should not only do well on it’s own but will also be a perfect backend for this one.

Alright… Back to the fight…

One of my favorite things to read about on other marketer’s blogs is their test results. Very few ever give them out, yet say they are religious testers.

I too consider my self an insane tester (it can be alot of fun) but sometimes I get lazy and stop testing for a while.

I imagine it’s the same for other marketers but maybe they’re just greedy?

One thing you should always keep in mind is that what works for one market or salesletter may not work for another, so it’s important to test every change you make to your sales page.

Here are some results, (the ones I can remember) that have boosted my conversion rate…

1. Use a blue background just like you see on this website. The color code is #003399 I think. I’ve tested this many times and every time it has beaten a white or light grey background.

2. Make your headline any color but Red (preferably Black, although I’m about to test Dark Blue as an option). Red has always failed against Black in my tests.

4. Make your salespage’s Table Width between 65 and 70 percent. The main Table on this website is about 65% I think.

5. Use a little “Satisfaction 100% Guaranteed” picture in your guarantee. Did I mention you should put your guarantee in a table with a different background color from the rest of the website to make it stand out?

6. Test different PS’s because they are one of the most read parts of a sales letter. Try using it to reinforce a deadline, justify the price, or reiterate your guarantee.

7. Add a fake picture of your Ebook or Software box to your salesletter. My tests have shown this to increase conversions in most cases.

8. Try adding some audio at the beginning of your salesletter. Something as simple as paraphrasing the first few paragraphs of your salesletter can and has boosted conversions by over 200%.

9. Try adding Video near the top of your salesletter. This is still new territory but early results look very promising.

10. Prices ending with 7 tend to out sell others. This isn’t true in all markets and can be tough to figure out, but as a general rule $29.97 will usually outsell $29.95.

OK, there ya go… Ten things you can test right now that will almost certainly increase your conversion rate.

Don’t forget to test them though(individually), because nothing is an absolute in this business. There may be general rules but there are always exceptions.

I’m not going to tell you what I’m thinking just yet. Read below first then I’ll explain…

“One must be able to express himself briefly, clearly and convincingly, just as a salesman must. But fine writing is a distinct disadvantage. So is unique literary style. They take attention from the subject. They reveal the hook. Any studies done that attempt to sell, if apparent, create corresponding resistance.”
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins

Now go read this Chapter of Gary Halbert’s Boron Letters: http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/Boron/TChapter18.htm

Did you read all that? Did you find the similarity in the two? If not, keep trying before reading on…

If you notice both texts are from Copywriting legends and both say that you shouldn’t make it obvious you are trying to sell something.

If it looks like a blatant Ad from the start, people are likely to ignore it and move on. That makes perfect sense, because I do that quite often.

I’m guessing the typical internet sales letter has become a “Blatant Ad” and my stats are reflecting this.

On one of my niche sites, over 90% of my visitors spend less than 10 seconds on my sales pages before leaving. Yet that site still averages a 3% conversion rate.

That’s just screaming to me that something is up. Either the stats aren’t reliable, I have a horrible headline, or people can easily tell it’s a Ad and leave before reading anything.

The current thinking is that at the very least people will read your Headline before deciding whether to stay or leave. Then if you’re headline is good they will be interested and keep reading.

People are told the Headline is there to get attention (which it is), so they think they should make it stand out even more. Why not make it BRIGHT red, or make it enormous? Because that might be telling the customer “THIS IS AN AD, PLEASE GO AWAY!”

In theory something that doesn’t look like an Ad but instead a piece of helpful information should draw people further into the copy, thus increasing sales. I’ve found corresponding proof of this by looking at some successful copy of the past.

So I’m going to potentially create a little stir and say “All the Guru’s are doing it wrong!”

I can’t prove it yet and I could be completely wrong, so I’m going to run a test on one of my niche sites.

I’ve already rewritten the sales page so it looks more like a helpful article at first than a Ad, and I should have the test up and running in a few hours.

Update: I forget the exact results of this test but I know it inceased my conversion rate.