Alright, so before we took a short break last week for the holiday weekend we left off with a discussion on guarantees. We talked about the 3 mail different types of guarantees you can use, satisfaction, results, and perception as well as using multiple guarantees to boost your response. To review click over to my blog here.
There are two more big ideas I have to share before we move away from guarantees. First is the length in time of the guarantee. In almost all instances the longer the guarantee, the less refunds you’ll have. I know that may go against conventional thinking, that the more time they have with a product/service the more likely they will realize they don’t like it or don’t need it.
It’s actually just the opposite. The more time they have to use your product or service, the less likely they are to ask for a refund. Here’s why. When you only give someone 14 days to use it, at day 12 if they haven’t used it, or are not seeing results, they’ll ask for a refund.
If you give the same product 90 days, the chances that they actually will remember and use the guarantee goes way down. Now, you need to be honest and have integrity with this. If they ask for a refund on your guarantee within the time allowed, your darn well better honor it.
Finally, we’re left with unconditional vs. conditional guarantees. Last week I left you with our Triple Your Money Back Guarantee that reads:
Triple Your Money Back Guarantee - If you use both of your 30 minute One-On-One Coaching sessions, and your 2 Critique Certificates within the first 3 months, and you can show that you actually used our advice
It’s obvious now that this is a conditional guarantee as well. These can be used to bolster your “regular” guarantee, and really give you an added punch that can spark additional sales.
Here are a few examples of great guarantees I’ve seen and some I’ve written for myself and clients.
This is an unconditional guarantee used by Victoria Principal selling facial cream. It’s a whole lot better than just saying, “money back guaranteed”:
“If your friends don’t accuse you of having a facelift return the empty jar and we’ll give you all your money back.”
Here’s another I wrote for a client, a perception and unconditional guarantee in one, I call it the “You’ll be a Star” guarantee:
“If you don’t think my show wasn’t the most amazing you’ve ever seen, and people are not coming up to you after the show patting you on the back for having such a great event, then you don’t pay a dime.”
I can hear a lot of you out there saying you can’t guarantee your products or services. If you’re a doctor, you can’t guarantee patient health, if you’re in weight loss, you can’t guarantee that they’ll lose weight, if you’re a financial advisor you can’t guarantee monetary success.
But there are a ton of things you can guarantee. The doctor can guarantee that he’ll see you within 5 minutes of your scheduled appointment time. If you sell weight loss, you can guarantee that their coach will call them back within 45 minutes of receiving a call, a financial advisor can guarantee something similar to the doctor, or guarantee returned phone calls (wish my advisor did that!), or any number of things not directly related to the product or service, but to the quality of service they’ll receive.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
What can you guarantee?
Last week we hit the tip of the iceberg with headlines. A conversation that, quite frankly, could last a whole year. To see that post click here to my blog. For the next few days we’ll discuss guarantees, another vital role in your copywriting and marketing.
First some guarantee ‘basics’ that we must address. There are three chief types of guarantees, with a very quick blurb on each. We’ll expand on them later.
When you place your first order of 3D Mail over $100 and use my FREE 30 minute consultation, if you’re not extremely happy with your mailing, I’ll refund 50% of the purchase of the 3D mail items up to $500.00.
As you can see, it’s a strong guarantee, but when you give it a name, it adds something extra to it. I’ve also used the “You’ll be a Star” guarantee and, “My Personal Make-You-Happy Guarantee” both with a great deal of success. My mentor Dan Kennedy, has used, “My personal, Big, Bold, Iron-Clad Guarantee” on many of his products for years, again with great success.
In addition, multiple guarantees almost always outperform single guarantees. Here’s an example of a multiple guarantee that we use when we go and speak at seminars and boot camps:
Money Back Guarantee - If you are not delighted with your results or not happy in any way what-so-ever return the system within the first year and I’ll give you your money back.
Triple Your Money Back Guarantee - If you use both of your 30 minute One-On-One Coaching sessions, and your 2 Critique Certificates within the first 3 months, and you can show that you actually used our advice when you created your campaigns, and you actually mailed at least two campaigns, and you’re not absolutely delighted with your results I’ll give you 3 times your money back.
You see, we gave a one-year, no questions asked guarantee (my favorite) but then added to it by adding the triple money back guarantee. Does it work? You bet. When we first offered this at a live event, we sold 83% of the room!
There’s also one more element to this guarantee, but you’ll have to wait until later in the week for me to reveal that one. See you then.
First some guarantee ‘basics’ that we must address. There are three chief types of guarantees, with a very quick blurb on each. We’ll expand on them later.
- Satisfaction Guarantee
- Results Guarantee
- Perception
When you place your first order of 3D Mail over $100 and use my FREE 30 minute consultation, if you’re not extremely happy with your mailing, I’ll refund 50% of the purchase of the 3D mail items up to $500.00.
As you can see, it’s a strong guarantee, but when you give it a name, it adds something extra to it. I’ve also used the “You’ll be a Star” guarantee and, “My Personal Make-You-Happy Guarantee” both with a great deal of success. My mentor Dan Kennedy, has used, “My personal, Big, Bold, Iron-Clad Guarantee” on many of his products for years, again with great success.
In addition, multiple guarantees almost always outperform single guarantees. Here’s an example of a multiple guarantee that we use when we go and speak at seminars and boot camps:
Money Back Guarantee - If you are not delighted with your results or not happy in any way what-so-ever return the system within the first year and I’ll give you your money back.
Triple Your Money Back Guarantee - If you use both of your 30 minute One-On-One Coaching sessions, and your 2 Critique Certificates within the first 3 months, and you can show that you actually used our advice when you created your campaigns, and you actually mailed at least two campaigns, and you’re not absolutely delighted with your results I’ll give you 3 times your money back.
You see, we gave a one-year, no questions asked guarantee (my favorite) but then added to it by adding the triple money back guarantee. Does it work? You bet. When we first offered this at a live event, we sold 83% of the room!
There’s also one more element to this guarantee, but you’ll have to wait until later in the week for me to reveal that one. See you then.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Where do you get good headlines?
So, where did we leave off after answering Steve’s Question on Tuesday… Ah yes, HEADLINES! The most read part of any ad, thus the most important.
Your headline needs to answer:
Here’s my answer. If you can answer all four of those questions above in 12 words or less,then do it! If you can’t, and it needs to be longer, then do that, too ! So my headlines are as long as they need to be to get the job done. I’ve written headlines as short as 5 words, for example:
And I’ve written headlines as long as 48 words when using our x-ray letter to sell computer systems to retailers:
So where do you get these good headlines, as my mentor and friend Bill Glazer says, you ethically S & D (swipe and deploy) them of course! And one of the best ways to S & D headlines is to use proven fill-in-the-blank style headlines.
Here are a few:
How Often do You Hear Yourself saying: _________________________________
If you___________, then you’ll love our _______________________.
Who Else Wants _________________________ (I’ve probably seen this one S & D’ed more than any other)
______________ That other Retailers Don’t Want You to Know.
We could spend months on headlines alone and still not even scratch the surface, but I think you’re getting the idea. Next week we’ll hit on guarantees. Have a great week!
Your headline needs to answer:
- Who cares?
- So what?
- What’s in it for me (WIIFM)?
- Why are you bothering me?
Here’s my answer. If you can answer all four of those questions above in 12 words or less,then do it! If you can’t, and it needs to be longer, then do that, too ! So my headlines are as long as they need to be to get the job done. I’ve written headlines as short as 5 words, for example:
FREE Lunch on December 29th
And I’ve written headlines as long as 48 words when using our x-ray letter to sell computer systems to retailers:
“Why The Heck Is Travis Lee Sending You An X-Ray To Tell You How Happy Alice Balbi, the Manager of Mementos Gift Shop at the Clark Fork Hospital in Plains, MT is After Her Team Started Using The SmartRegister Point-of-Sale Computer System from American Retail Supply?
So where do you get these good headlines, as my mentor and friend Bill Glazer says, you ethically S & D (swipe and deploy) them of course! And one of the best ways to S & D headlines is to use proven fill-in-the-blank style headlines.
Here are a few:
How Often do You Hear Yourself saying: _________________________________
If you___________, then you’ll love our _______________________.
Who Else Wants _________________________ (I’ve probably seen this one S & D’ed more than any other)
______________ That other Retailers Don’t Want You to Know.
We could spend months on headlines alone and still not even scratch the surface, but I think you’re getting the idea. Next week we’ll hit on guarantees. Have a great week!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
White space in emails
I’m going take a quick break from our discussion on copywriting today to answer a question from a client regarding my “white space never sold a thing” tip last week. Here’s the post at my blog to review.
Here’s the question from Steve Hyslop of Chuck's Waterfront Grill & The Endless Summer bar-café:
If white space never sold a thing, why is there all the white space at the right of the e-mail below? As I'm sure you know, others do this too, although interestingly, some do not. I would assume it increases readership. Just wondering. Happy Holidays to you and yours. Others may find this of interest too.
Thanks for the great question, and good job not taking something at face value, but questioning it. Everybody should be doing that with everything they come across (even my posts). Here’s my response to Steve today:
Great question and I’ll probably bring it up this week in my tip. Email is a little different. In the most recent studies I’ve read, readership is better when lines are about 55-65 characters long. I’ve heard this form a couple other internet marketing guys I trust, so I take it at their word.
The reason is everybody’s monitor has different settings like width, fonts etc. The 55-65 characters virtually guarantee that your lines will ‘break’ where you want them to.
Plus, the shorter lines make the text/copy seem shorter. You’ll notice I usually on use 1-3 sentence paragraphs as well. In general, people want quick and short emails, and this gives that appearance.
So I hope I didn’t disappoint you now that the cats out of the bag and you know my dirty little e-mail secrets. But, I do think it’s important, and that’s why I was willing to share this all with you. We’ll pick back up later this week with our copywriting topic. See you then!
Here’s the question from Steve Hyslop of Chuck's Waterfront Grill & The Endless Summer bar-café:
If white space never sold a thing, why is there all the white space at the right of the e-mail below? As I'm sure you know, others do this too, although interestingly, some do not. I would assume it increases readership. Just wondering. Happy Holidays to you and yours. Others may find this of interest too.
Thanks for the great question, and good job not taking something at face value, but questioning it. Everybody should be doing that with everything they come across (even my posts). Here’s my response to Steve today:
Great question and I’ll probably bring it up this week in my tip. Email is a little different. In the most recent studies I’ve read, readership is better when lines are about 55-65 characters long. I’ve heard this form a couple other internet marketing guys I trust, so I take it at their word.
The reason is everybody’s monitor has different settings like width, fonts etc. The 55-65 characters virtually guarantee that your lines will ‘break’ where you want them to.
Plus, the shorter lines make the text/copy seem shorter. You’ll notice I usually on use 1-3 sentence paragraphs as well. In general, people want quick and short emails, and this gives that appearance.
So I hope I didn’t disappoint you now that the cats out of the bag and you know my dirty little e-mail secrets. But, I do think it’s important, and that’s why I was willing to share this all with you. We’ll pick back up later this week with our copywriting topic. See you then!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Message to Market Match
Last week we started our discussion on copywriting that’s going to take us through the next few weeks. To see where we started, visit that blog post below. On Tuesday I left you with some Copy Kryptonite. Today we’ll move on from our Copy Kryptonite (Thanks again to Bill Glazer for the copy kryptonite) and talk about your message to market match.
Message to market match means your matching what you’re selling, the media you’re selling it through, and the words you write to very precise and targeted prospects.
When I say media, I’m talking about the format, and is that appropriate for the task you’re trying to accomplish. For example, sending a ‘stand-alone’ postcards for a retailer holding an event in the Mall is probably OK (though just OK). If you’re sending a ‘stand-alone-postcard to doctors about advanced laser equipment they should have in practice…BAD!!
I’m not saying the postcard doesn’t have a place in your marketing funnel (for more on creating a marketing funnel, (see this past post) to the doc’s for laser equipment, it may very well have its time and place. But to expect a postcard to do the heavy lifting is not smart.
Second, you want to start with people you already understand, and for the vast majority of you that will be your niche. I know we have some freelance copywriters and consultants out there, and so your best bet is to write to those niches where you have the most experience and expertise.
For example, I write to other business owners and salespeople who obviously are interested in growing their business with direct mail and doing it creatively (or why else would you be getting this!). I know and can speak our language, can identify with you, and thus can make a stronger connection with my copy. The same should go for you, when writing to your own niche.
Finally, the best recipients of your marketing, in order, are:
Message to market match means your matching what you’re selling, the media you’re selling it through, and the words you write to very precise and targeted prospects.
When I say media, I’m talking about the format, and is that appropriate for the task you’re trying to accomplish. For example, sending a ‘stand-alone’ postcards for a retailer holding an event in the Mall is probably OK (though just OK). If you’re sending a ‘stand-alone-postcard to doctors about advanced laser equipment they should have in practice…BAD!!
I’m not saying the postcard doesn’t have a place in your marketing funnel (for more on creating a marketing funnel, (see this past post) to the doc’s for laser equipment, it may very well have its time and place. But to expect a postcard to do the heavy lifting is not smart.
Second, you want to start with people you already understand, and for the vast majority of you that will be your niche. I know we have some freelance copywriters and consultants out there, and so your best bet is to write to those niches where you have the most experience and expertise.
For example, I write to other business owners and salespeople who obviously are interested in growing their business with direct mail and doing it creatively (or why else would you be getting this!). I know and can speak our language, can identify with you, and thus can make a stronger connection with my copy. The same should go for you, when writing to your own niche.
Finally, the best recipients of your marketing, in order, are:
- Your list of past and current clients
- Endorsed or JV list
- A lead generated list
- The ‘un-washed’ masses
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Blank Space Never Sold a Thing
Last week we started our discussion on copywriting that’s going to take us through the next few weeks. To see where we started, visit that blog post below. On Thursday, I also left you with some Copy Kryptonite. You can see that post below as well. Today, we’ll talk about two more copy kryptonite that will kill your copy.
Thanks again to my mentor Bill Glazer who has allowed me us his term Copy Kryptonite. We’ve talked about being boring, and writing from a ‘me’ perspective.
Now, another copy killer that I see all too often is BLANK SPACE. As you can probably tell from the subject line of this email, blank space never sold a thing. If you can show me where it has, it’ll be the first time.
It’s important in all your media, but especially important in places where space is at a premium, such as yellow page ads, and postcards. You just don’t have a ton of room with either one, so you’ve got to do the most with the real estate you got. The same goes for your sales letters as well.
Here’s a tip for you. If you find you have blank space in any of your advertising, at the very least, fill them up with good, results oriented testimonials. That’s the least you should be doing with blank space.
The last piece of Copy Kryptonite is placing your logo, business name, address etc above the headline. This again pertains to any media you use, postcards, sales letters, online, yellow pages etc. If your advertising does the job that it’s suppose to, you prospect will find the information as long as it’s somewhere to be found. If you can’t get by without having your name, logo, address on the letter, try putting it across the bottom of each page of a letter or postcard.
So we’ve covered Copy Kryptonite, later this week we’ll get into the nuts and bolts of copywriting. See you then!
As you know, Christmas is just around the corner. If you're the forward thinking entrepreneur I think you are, you've already given some thought to sending them. You know they enhance your image with your clients and build your referral business. But some years it seems like just one more thing to do that takes time, effort and a financial investment. And, you may have to talk yourself into doing it.
I understand. Let me help you make it easy.
Kody Bateman has created an ideal world for salespeople & business owners when it comes to sending real cards with personal notes for about $1.00 a card (including postage).
SendOutCards is an online system that allows you to choose, write and send real printed cards in about 60 seconds per card (and you can send that card to as big a list as you want!) The system also allows you to set up campaigns and select in advance the date the cards are mailed.
These are not junk mail! Your personalized card can include your company logo, your photo (or another photo of your choosing) and is stamped with a real postage stamp.
I heartily endorse the program and hope you will give it a chance. In fact, if you will give it a test drive, you can send your first four cards free:
Deadline Extended:
if you do so by December 16th. I’ve had a ton of calls and I want to be sure I can get to everybody who wants a test drive.
I’ll cover the investment. Just reply to this email (be sure to include your phone number) with a good time to call you back. Be sure you have about 20 un-interrupted minutes by your computer so I can show you how it works.
Thanks again to my mentor Bill Glazer who has allowed me us his term Copy Kryptonite. We’ve talked about being boring, and writing from a ‘me’ perspective.
Now, another copy killer that I see all too often is BLANK SPACE. As you can probably tell from the subject line of this email, blank space never sold a thing. If you can show me where it has, it’ll be the first time.
It’s important in all your media, but especially important in places where space is at a premium, such as yellow page ads, and postcards. You just don’t have a ton of room with either one, so you’ve got to do the most with the real estate you got. The same goes for your sales letters as well.
Here’s a tip for you. If you find you have blank space in any of your advertising, at the very least, fill them up with good, results oriented testimonials. That’s the least you should be doing with blank space.
The last piece of Copy Kryptonite is placing your logo, business name, address etc above the headline. This again pertains to any media you use, postcards, sales letters, online, yellow pages etc. If your advertising does the job that it’s suppose to, you prospect will find the information as long as it’s somewhere to be found. If you can’t get by without having your name, logo, address on the letter, try putting it across the bottom of each page of a letter or postcard.
So we’ve covered Copy Kryptonite, later this week we’ll get into the nuts and bolts of copywriting. See you then!
Marketing Tip Readers Only Special
As you know, Christmas is just around the corner. If you're the forward thinking entrepreneur I think you are, you've already given some thought to sending them. You know they enhance your image with your clients and build your referral business. But some years it seems like just one more thing to do that takes time, effort and a financial investment. And, you may have to talk yourself into doing it.
I understand. Let me help you make it easy.
Kody Bateman has created an ideal world for salespeople & business owners when it comes to sending real cards with personal notes for about $1.00 a card (including postage).
SendOutCards is an online system that allows you to choose, write and send real printed cards in about 60 seconds per card (and you can send that card to as big a list as you want!) The system also allows you to set up campaigns and select in advance the date the cards are mailed.
These are not junk mail! Your personalized card can include your company logo, your photo (or another photo of your choosing) and is stamped with a real postage stamp.
I heartily endorse the program and hope you will give it a chance. In fact, if you will give it a test drive, you can send your first four cards free:
Deadline Extended:
if you do so by December 16th. I’ve had a ton of calls and I want to be sure I can get to everybody who wants a test drive.
I’ll cover the investment. Just reply to this email (be sure to include your phone number) with a good time to call you back. Be sure you have about 20 un-interrupted minutes by your computer so I can show you how it works.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Superman has his Kryptonite
Earlier this week we started a series on copywriting, and on Monday I told you the #1 marketing sin in copy, what my mentor Bill Glazer calls Copy Kryptonite. To review the tip, visit the blog. Below we’ll discuss more copy kryptonite.
Again, thanks to Bill Glazer for allowing me to borrow his term, Copy Kryptonite. There really is no better way to describe these copywriting sins. We’ll go over one that virtually guarantee your copy will suffer.
First, one that I see often and that’s writing from a ‘me’ perspective. You’ve seen this and you’ve probably even done it yourself:
“We’ve been in business for 37 years…”
“We’ve got the most state of the art…”
“We’re the #1 supplier to…”
Blah, blah blah. Boring and WHO CARES. You need to write your copy from a ‘you’ perspective, they ‘you’ being your customer. Here’s a tip, take all the ‘we’ statements and turn them into you statements. BIG tip, turn those you statements from features, to the BENEFITS your customer
will get from the ‘we’ statements.
Here’s how we do it for our retail supply business when we sell point-of-sale computer systems (POS). We’ve been selling and supporting POS systems since 1991, and have installed over 1,000 systems for retailers. Big whoop, right? We turn around and make that a benefit for the client using ‘you’ statements.
For example:
You’ll want the service and support of years of experience and 1,000’s of set up and installations so you’ll never be alone and never have to worry about your technical support abandoning you on a moment’s notice, leaving you standing around wondering what to do.”
See how we took what could’ve been a bunch of ‘we’ statements, and turned them into ‘you’ statements.
Here’s a challenge for you. Go through some of your sales material and see how many times you say ‘we’ vs. ‘you.’ Then go and turn all those ‘we’ statements to ‘you’ statements with a benefit to your client. It’s easier than it sounds and will make a huge difference.
Again, thanks to Bill Glazer for allowing me to borrow his term, Copy Kryptonite. There really is no better way to describe these copywriting sins. We’ll go over one that virtually guarantee your copy will suffer.
First, one that I see often and that’s writing from a ‘me’ perspective. You’ve seen this and you’ve probably even done it yourself:
“We’ve been in business for 37 years…”
“We’ve got the most state of the art…”
“We’re the #1 supplier to…”
Blah, blah blah. Boring and WHO CARES. You need to write your copy from a ‘you’ perspective, they ‘you’ being your customer. Here’s a tip, take all the ‘we’ statements and turn them into you statements. BIG tip, turn those you statements from features, to the BENEFITS your customer
will get from the ‘we’ statements.
Here’s how we do it for our retail supply business when we sell point-of-sale computer systems (POS). We’ve been selling and supporting POS systems since 1991, and have installed over 1,000 systems for retailers. Big whoop, right? We turn around and make that a benefit for the client using ‘you’ statements.
For example:
You’ll want the service and support of years of experience and 1,000’s of set up and installations so you’ll never be alone and never have to worry about your technical support abandoning you on a moment’s notice, leaving you standing around wondering what to do.”
See how we took what could’ve been a bunch of ‘we’ statements, and turned them into ‘you’ statements.
Here’s a challenge for you. Go through some of your sales material and see how many times you say ‘we’ vs. ‘you.’ Then go and turn all those ‘we’ statements to ‘you’ statements with a benefit to your client. It’s easier than it sounds and will make a huge difference.
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