5 Ways to Make Your First Product Launch a Resounding Success
Issue #2302
- WEALTHY: Another way your credit card company can stick it to you (David Cross)
- HEALTHY: An unusual way to make sure you cut back on your sugar intake (Dr. Jonny Bowden)
- WISE: Martha Stewart on good products vs. bad products
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- 2 mental triggers that make people buy… and 3 more strategies for a triumphant product launch (Jeff Walker)
- How to find the right list for your Internet marketing campaign (Patrick Coffey)
- It’s Fun to Know… about the largest oil reserves in the solar system
- Add "volte-face" to your vocabulary
New Automated System Leverages the Internet for Faster, Easier Real Estate Profits
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Don’t Pay Your Credit Card Bill Early
By David Cross
Paying your credit card bill on time and in full is one of the best ways to stay out of debt. It’s also a good way to build credit. And it prevents you from running into tricky late fees and interest charges.
I always pay my credit card bill immediately, and never had a problem. But last month, I discovered a new way that credit card companies can stick you with a nasty charge.
I use the credit card in question for my business expenses, so there’s always a rolling balance. Because I knew I’d be traveling a lot in February, I decided to just pay the expected balance early and be done with it.
Imagine my surprise to see a $39 late payment fee on my February statement. And then my shock when I saw $89.37 in interest charges! I called the credit card company (USB). After investigating the situation, they explained that my billing cycle starts on the seventh of the month. Since my payment for February arrived early – on the sixth of January – it was credited to January’s accounting period. Therefore, the February payment was, technically, late. So I got stuck with a late fee. And despite the fact that I had overpaid by $7,000 in January, the computer "thought" there was a balance due for February that I had to pay interest on.
Fortunately, they reversed the charges. (Although it took getting a supervisor to speak to an accounting manager.) But you might not be so lucky.
Three things you can take from my experience:
- Pay your bills on time – but don’t pay them early. You might confuse the computer system.
- Keep a close eye on your statements. That way, you can pinpoint unusual charges immediately and deal with them right away.
- Before you sign up with a credit card company, know all the ways they can charge you for "bad" behavior. If you know the rules, you can work with them. But if you’re unaware, you can face a nasty surprise.
[Ed. Note: David Cross is Senior Internet Consultant to Agora Inc. in Baltimore. Untangle yourself from life's most perplexing situations in business, your personal life, and on the road. Pick up your free copy of ETR's Unscrew Yourself e-book and get 223 pages of our most practical insider information.]
"I think it’s very important that whatever you’re trying to make or sell or teach has to be basically good. A bad product and you know what? You won’t be here in ten years."
Martha Stewart
5 Ways to Make Your First Product Launch a Resounding Success
By Jeff Walker
Every time you launch a new product online, you have the chance to drastically increase your profits. As I explained last week, the best way to generate momentum, interest, and monster cash flow is to turn the launch into an event. Internet users have millions of messages vying for their attention all day long. And by creating an exciting event, you’ll break through the clutter and get tons of eyeballs looking in your direction.
I’ve already given you some ideas on how to do that. I showed you how to use a "pre-launch" to get people salivating for the actual launch. And I talked about how to use different media to grab the attention of as many potential customers as possible.
Now, here are five more strategies to make your first Product Launch a huge success.
1. Use social proof.
Social proof is a mental trigger that makes people want to do what other people are doing. So if you can show that other people are buying your product (or planning to), you will have an easier time selling it.
During your pre-launch, for example – when you get lots of people commenting on your blog or on message boards about how much they like your product… that’s social proof. Your prospects can see that other people are excited about buying it. That will make them more inclined to buy it as well.
How do you get all that buzz? One easy way is to run a contest where you give a prize to whoever who posts the best comment on your blog.
Another good example of social proof is testimonials from people who have benefited from your products in the past. So be sure to include lots of them in your marketing copy.
Yet another way to use social proof is with "case studies." (Actually, a case study isn’t much more than a long testimonial.) For example, when I began the pre-launch for my new Product Launch Formula 2.0, I published an extensive video case study of a man (John Gallagher) who literally went from food stamps to having a six-figure business. At the end, I invited my readers to comment on the case study on my blog. Within a couple of days, I had more than 300 "rave reviews" from people who had seen it.
You can see the John Gallagher case study here.
2. Use scarcity.
Scarcity is another mental trigger that makes people want to buy. When there is less of something, they want it more.
You can create scarcity by limiting the quantity of whatever it is that you’re selling. But I usually don’t like to do that because it limits the amount of money you make. I prefer to limit the amount of time people have to take advantage of the deal. So I set a deadline, after which the price will be higher. And I offer extra bonuses that people will no longer get after the deadline.
I do this with almost every launch. For example, in the pre-launch for a membership site for loan officers, I offered bonus teleseminars for people who signed up on the very first day. This gave them a big incentive to act right away when the launch went live.
Your prospects will respond to a deadline like you wouldn’t believe. Don’t forget to send a last-minute notice 24 hours before it expires. And again about six hours before the deadline. Get ready for a rush of orders right at the end.
3. Get joint venture partners on board.
When you get other people promoting your launch to their lists on an affiliate basis, you multiply its effectiveness.
Give your partners a reason to mail to their lists when you are still in pre-launch by giving them some high-quality content to use. The content should lead people back to your site so they can sign up to be on your pre-launch "priority notification list."
Communicate with your partners throughout the launch. Let them know what’s coming and why they should continue to send you traffic. And keep giving them reasons to mail to their people multiple times. The best way to do that is to give them a series of pre-launch content pieces to be released at different times.
For example, in a recent launch in the massage therapy market, one of my students released a series of content-rich downloadable PDF reports. These reports not only had solid information that would appeal to massage therapists, they were designed to get people excited about the launch. The joint venture partners were encouraged to send their lists to a page where they could download these reports… and join the pre-launch priority notification list.
4. Don’t be afraid to keep e-mailing your prospects.
I call each e-mail leading up to a successful launch a "touch"… and you want to keep touching your prospects. But you have to have a reason for each touch. (No one wants to get an e-mail telling them to watch out for another e-mail in a day or two.)
For example, long before the product launch (and while the product is still actually being developed), I often send a survey to my list, asking them what they think the product should have or do. When I get their feedback, I send another e-mail to thank them for their responses and tell them what I learned. I follow up that e-mail with one or more e-mails that answer any questions or concerns they may have raised about the product. (I take one question per e-mail, and answer it thoroughly.) What I’m really doing here is pre-selling the product.
None of these e-mails are hype-filled sales messages. I am either asking for or giving solid information in each one.
As I get closer to the launch, the frequency of my e-mails increases… and I start to talk more specifically about the product and the offer.
Now this might sound like a lot of work. But it really isn’t hard to do… especially when you consider the enormous payoff.
5. Perfect the launch process.
The single best thing about your first product launch is that it’s just your FIRST launch.
You can take what you’ve learned and do it over and over again. And each time, it will get bigger and bigger. Soon enough, you’ll be thinking about your own six-figure (or even seven-figure) launch.
So good luck. Go get ‘em!
[Ed. note: Jeff Walker is the creator of the Product Launch Formula.
You can read lots of real-life case studies (including the amazing story of a guy who went from food stamps to a six-figure income using product launches) at Jeff's site.
Learn how to meet all your marketing goals - and achieve all your personal, social, financial, and business dreams - with the help of ETR's Total Success Achievement program. Get the details by clicking here.]
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Dear ETR: "I continue to have a problem finding a reputable e-mail list provider."
"I continue to have a problem finding a reputable e-mail list provider. I read the ETR article on how Patrick Coffey built a 100,000+ e-mail list, and was wondering how he ascertained which list providers to seek out for his marketing campaign."
- Tony C.
Dear Tony,
List brokers are people who recommend and rent out other people’s e-mail lists for a commission – and there are lots of them. To find reputable brokers who provide good service, I suggest going to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) vendor search website (thedirectmarketingsearch.com). This site allows you to search for DMA-recommended brokers.
Lists are typically rented on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis. If, for example, the price quoted by the broker for XYZ list is $50 CPM, it would cost you $250 to rent 5,000 names on that list through the broker. But chances are she’s marking up that CPM by 10 percent to cover her commission. Which is why it’s sometimes better to go directly to the source – the list owner. That way, you can send your ad to the list you want without paying the broker’s commission. In this example, you would pay the list owner $45 CPM ($225) to send your ad to the same 5,000 names.
How do you find good e-mail lists without a broker? Here’s the approach I recommend. Do a Web search for websites related to the kind of product you’re marketing. Let’s say you’re marketing a health product. In that case, you’d look for health-related websites. When you find one that looks interesting, sign up for their newsletter. That puts you on their e-mail list. When you start receiving e-mails from them, pay attention to what you’re getting. Does the newsletter advertise products from other companies… or only its own? Are they sending separate e-mails recommending products from other companies? Are there repeat advertisers?
Just as important is to make sure you are receiving useful editorial content in addition to the ads. Take Early to Rise, for example. Yes, we do send you e-mails that sell and recommend various products. However, we also send you a newsletter that is packed full of valuable information, seven days a week. Because of this, you trust us as a sender – and you open the e-mails we send… including ads for products being sold by other companies.
Now suppose we stopped sending the newsletter, and every e-mail we sent was an advertisement. After a while, you’d probably stop opening them. The same is true with websites you might want to advertise through. If the only thing they send people on their e-list is advertisements, you can assume that not too many people are opening them… let alone buying anything from them.
When you find a website that sends out good content and you’d like to test their e-list, contact them directly to ask for rates. But before you do the deal, here are two questions you should ask:
- What is the average open rate for third-party mailings? (How many people on their e-mail list open the e-mails sent to them by outside advertisers?)
- What is the average click-through rate for third-party mailings? (How many of the people who open those e-mails click on the link to the advertiser’s offer page?)
The answers to those questions will help you see what you are actually paying for – no matter how big the list is.
Let’s go back to our XYZ example, where you can rent 5,000 names from the list owner for $225. If they were to say the average open rate for third-party mailings is 10 percent, you could assume that 500 people would open and see your ad. And if they were to say that the average click-through rate for third-party mailings is 10 percent, you could assume that you’ll be paying $225 for 50 people to click through to the offer page on your website (though they wouldn’t necessarily make the purchase).
The answers to those questions can also help you determine if the CPM the list owner is charging is reasonable.
Let’s say you have determined that you can make an average of $15 for each person who clicks through to your offer. So if you get 50 click-throughs, you can expect to bring in $750. In our XYZ example, it’s going to cost you $225 to bring in that $750. Good deal. But if the list owner wanted $1,000 for 5,000 names, you can see that you would be making a really bad deal. You wouldn’t be able to break even, even if everyone who clicked through to your offer bought your product.
Most reputable e-mail list providers should be able to provide you with the answers to those two questions. They also should be able to provide you with a detailed report after your ad is sent, detailing exactly how many people opened the e-mails with your ad, and how many people clicked through to your offer page.
Your success is never guaranteed. But if the results of that report don’t match the average numbers the list owner provided you with, you can oftentimes get them to give you a free mailing or another bonus to make up the difference.
- Patrick Coffey, ETR’s Director of Internet Marketing
[Ed. Note: Send your questions to AskETR@ETRFeedback.com. Include your full name, your hometown and state, and the ETR team may answer you in an upcoming issue.
And for step-by-step instructions on starting your own Internet business, get ETR's Magic Button program. Click here to learn more.]
A Hidden (and Unexpected) Danger of Too Much Salt
For years, we’ve been hearing about the dangers of too much sodium in the diet. In salt-sensitive people, sodium can, in fact, raise blood pressure. (Though there’s no real test for salt sensitivity, it’s believed that about half the population is salt-sensitive.) Now new research shows there’s another reason to lower your sodium intake: It could be making you down excess sugar.
Researchers at St. George’s University of London studied 1,600 children aged 4-18. They found that those who had the most sodium in their diet also consumed the most sugary soft drinks. And they suggested that a reduction of two grams of salt per day (1,200 mg of sodium) would result in two fewer sodas consumed per week.
We’ve talked about the dangers of drinking soda before in ETR. If you need a refresher, check out Jon’s article on one long-term risk. One of the biggest problems is all the sugar they contain. And too much sugar is your ticket to obesity.)
The recommendation for sodium consumption is 2,400 mg or less per day – about six teaspoons. But many Americans consume the equivalent of 15-20 teaspoons, a whopping 6,000-8,000 mg of sodium! And most of it is coming from processed foods, canned goods – almost anything with a bar code.
Bottom line: Read the labels and reject anything with triple-digit sodium content per serving. Eat whole foods, and ease up on the salt shaker. When you do use salt, use Celtic sea salt, which is high in minerals.
[Ed. Note: Dr. Jonny Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition, and health. He's the author of the new book The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth. For more information, go to www.jonnybowden.com. To read more of his articles on healthy living in ETR's natural health e-letter, click here.]
It’s Fun to Know: The Largest Oil Reserves in the Solar System
Scientists have found a source of natural gas and oil hundreds of times larger than that found on Earth. But don’t toss aside your worries about the rising price of gasoline just yet. This huge cache is on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. Nightly oil and natural gas rainstorms on Titan form vast oceans and lakes of the liquid hydrocarbons. But with temperatures reaching minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s safe to say ExxonMobil won’t be drilling there anytime soon.
(Source: LiveScience )
What If There Was A Way To Legally Beat A Traffic Ticket?
“When Attorneys Get Speeding Or Traffic Tickets, This Is What They Do… No Points, No Increased Premiums & Definitely No Stupid Driving School. These Tricks Work Like Magic.”
If you’re like me then the simple sight of a police car in your rear-view mirror is enough to send shivers down your spine, but…
When the lights start flashing…
There Goes That Safe Driver Discount… Right? Not anymore…
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Volte-Face
"Volte-face" (vawl-tuh-FAHS) – from the Italian for "turn" + "face" – is a reversal, as in policy or opinion.
Example (as used by L.E. Sissman in The Atlantic): "Suddenly confronted with the imminent ruin of Angela Lyne, his former mistress, who is drinking herself to death out of loneliness, he [Evelyn Waugh] does the first real volte-face of his life by returning to her."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
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