Setting up Autoresponder Emails to Help Increase Sales
One of the sites that I’m currently helping in their affiliate marketing asked me an important question on setting up an autoresponder series of emails to help increase sales. Upon my request to institute an autoresponder series of emails to their visitors who sign up for the newsletter, I suggested to her that a seven-step autoresponder email system may help increase sales. She asked if seven is a good number or six since six is the number that is used by one of her competitors.
I personally don’t think it will make a significant difference whether a series of seven emails are sent out or six emails are sent out over a periodic basis. I think every week would be great but it would depend on the strategy based on the objective. In this instance, we wanted to increase sales. Isn’t this every entrepreneur’s and proprietor’s goals? In this specific example, if a visitor were to search online for a solution to stop their dog from barking – a common problem for dog owners. Evidently, 30% of dog owners have this problem.
Now when someone arrives at the site by way of clicking on a Google Adwords ad then reads the headline “Stop Your Dog Barking Without the Use of Whistles, Collars, Squirt Guns and other devices…and Finally Regain Your Peace of Mind!” The visitor then keeps reading and after reading something like “Sign up for our FREE newsletter and read effective tips and techniques to train your dog –humanely. Tips offered by one of the pre-eminent dog trainers in America today! Sign up now and you’ll learn a couple of tips on dog barking!” they type in their email address and name to receive this excellent offer. A series of emails, possibly seven or six, sent automatically can be sent on the topic of how to train your dog properly, what people should avoid, why what a dog owner may be doing can work against him and some tips on dog barking. These are just example topics. Obviously, you don’t give the entire solution but enough and then within the email create a strong call-to-action to purchase the book.
Like I said earlier I like seven and I’ve read seven is a good number scientifically and statistically tested. But this is a general statistic. The emails could be tested with one email sent out every couple of days and then another set of emails to another test group of recipients going out once a week. If the objective is to make a sale then I would first suggest testing the autoresponder of emails going out every two days. This will help the momentum and the recipient won’t tend to forget about the newsetter.
A good strong call-to-action and incentive to click within the autoresponder emails to purchase the eBook is needed however. To help increase sales conversions you could try one-time offers immediately after the sign up process. This offer should be right after the visitors type in their name and email address and then clicks on the submit button. I do know one-time offers work really well especially after something like a newsletter sign-up.
For example, if the retail price is $39.97 for the eBook there could be a one-time offer discount to purchase the eBook for $29.97 at a 25% discount. But this offer will only be offered once. Or you can offer the one-time offer of $39.97 with a free membership to a membership-paid only forum or a free telephone consultation for 1/2 hour or you could offer another related book (retail valued at $20). This sales process of one-time offers after a newsletter sign-up or immediately after the purchase of some item usually has a very good conversion. You should test this type of sales process on your own site or you could even test this with offline sales. Your sales representatives at the store could offer this to your customers who purchase some particular items. So if your sales rep sells a set of golf clubs to your customer then there could be a one-time offer of selling a golf bag and golf balls at an excellent discount. Perhaps choose high inventory items that you wish to move faster. Just be creative and offer incentives to your customers and potential customers. You may be surprised at the results. As I always say, “Test, test and test.”
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