by: Michael Southon
You've polished your sales page over and over again until it's gleaming with benefits. You're getting plenty of traffic. And still - no sales.
What's wrong?
It could be the recession (although that's debatable).
With thousands of people losing their jobs each week, consumer confidence (and therefore consumer spending) is down.
But on the other hand, if thousands of people are losing their jobs, there is without doubt a growing army of people out there who are looking to the Internet to make their living.
But let's leave aside the recession, and look at two other reasons you may not be getting sales:
(1) People very rarely buy the first time.
You must have heard the statistics - people have to see your product an average of 7 times before they buy it. When I cast my mind back to the marketing eBooks I've purchased, in each case I saw those books advertised for months - on websites, in newsletters - before I bought them.
So if you want to make a sale, you must find a way to stay in contact with your visitors - and bring them back.
The easiest way to do this is to offer your visitors a free subscription to your newsletter.
Another way is to offer your visitors a free autoresponder course that educates them about the product or service you are offering. Create a series of 5 emails about your service or product and put them on an autoresponder that provides automated follow-up.
Getresponse is a free service that allows you up to 20 follow-ups (you specify the intervals between each message):
The point here is that if your visitors leave your website without taking anything away (a free version of your E-Book, an autoresponder course, your Newsletter), you've probably lost them for good.
(2) Allow people to feel they already own it.
If you give your visitors the feeling of what it would be like to own your product or service, they're much more likely to buy.
Here's a real-life example of this principle (a rather disturbing one).
It's a well known fact that if a burglar can see into your house, they are much more likely to rob you than if they can't. Why?
Because by seeing into your house, the burglar has already 'owned' it psychologically.
If a burglar can't see into your house, you are much less likely to be robbed (you can't psychologically 'own' what you can't see).
Here's another interesting fact. If your house has been burgled, there's a very high probability that the same burglar will return - 6 or 8 weeks later. Why?
Again, it's the same principle. The burglar has seen the inside of your house - and has psychologically 'owned' it.
It's because of this same principle that car salesmen try and get potential customers to sit in the new car. Once you've smelt the inside of that new car, you're much more likely to buy it. You've imagined owning it.
So give your visitors a free download of one or two chapters of your E-Book, or a free trial period of your service. Let them imagine what it would be like to own it.
(c) 2000 by Michael Southon