I finally did it.
I stopped in St. Louis and went to the top of the Gateway Arch with my wife and three kids.
Talk about… Read More »
Author Archive
Sales Lessons I Learned From a Beggar
I recently spent a month in Florida, mostly in the Sarasota, Tampa, and St. Petersburg areas.
I noticed something while I was down there.
The Mark of Lazy Copywriting
Lazy copywriting is fairly easy to spot.
All you have to do is look for those worn and trite expressions you’ve seen over and over again.
For example, how many times have you seen articles that promise to reveal how to… Read More »
Why Affiliates Are in Danger
If you’re an affiliate, you’re in danger.
In fact, you’re being attacked from two sides at the same time.
On the one side, you’ve got cash-strapped states (like California) trying to use affiliates to…
1 Critical Page Almost Every Online Marketer Ignores
Smart marketers pay attention to conversion rates on all their sales pages.
– Which version of the sales letter is converting best?
– Which source of traffic is producing the most sales?
3 Must-Read Copywriting Books
One of the best ways to learn the craft of copywriting is to read and study classic advertising literature.
The classics are affordable, accessible, and packed with wisdom. And when you buy them, you won’t be …
3 Ways to Differentiate Your Affiliate Program
There are tens of thousands of affiliate programs all competing for a limited number of affiliates.
How do you attract the best affiliates you possibly can? Here are 3 different strategies for you to pursue. Read More »
How To Boost Sales In One Simple Step
Improve Sales by Taking Away Their Freedom
More choice is better… right?
Wrong.
That’s the conclusion of Barry Schwartz in The Paradox of Choice.
Common sense says increased variety and more freedom of choice will make people happier. But studies show it does the exact opposite. It actually makes them unhappy.
Why Is This?
It’s because if they make a decision, they will continually contemplate all the other choices they “sacrificed.” They will wonder if they would have been happier had they made a different decision.
This paradox of choice not only affects happiness; it affects the bottom line as well.
The rule is simple. The more choices you give a buyer, the less likely it will be that he will actually make a decision to buy.
Choices overwhelm people. Too many choices offered at once lead to inaction.
In other words, if you give a person too many ways to say yes, you will make it easier for the person to say no. Making a decision is hard work. It’s emotionally taxing. The more choices and variables involved, the harder it becomes to decide.
Make Choosing Easy!
Instead of offering a bunch of choices, offer one choice only. The choice is to either buy or not buy. The prospect must then decide yes or no. That’s it!
In almost every case, you want to make the decision to purchase as easy and simple as possible.
Buy or not buy; call or not call; request more information or don’t.
What Joe Sugarman Says…
One time Joe Sugarman wrote a newspaper ad selling a watch. His client wanted to sell three styles in three different colors for a total of nine different watches. Joe wanted to only sell one watch: the men’s watch in black.
Joe and his client agreed to an A/B split-test. The results were surprising…
When both versions ran, the ad that featured only one men’s watch out-pulled the other version that featured nine models by a surprising 3 to 1 ratio. In short, for every watch we sold from the ad that featured the nine styles, we sold three in the other ad that showed just the one black watch. (Advertising Secrets of the Written Word, p. 162)
Even prior to this split-test, Joe had told his client, “…offering a customer too many choices [is] a dangerous thing to do.” (p. 161)
This only serves to illustrate the point I’m making. If you want to improve your sales, take away your buyer’s freedom by giving him fewer choices. Not only will he be happier, you’ll make more sales, more money, and more profit.
– Ryan
P.S. For more copywriting tips than you can shake a pen at, skip on over to Copywriting Code.
More choice is better… right? Wrong. That’s the conclusion of Barry Schwartz in The Paradox of Choice.
Common sense says increased variety and more freedom of choice will make people happier. But studies show it does the exact opposite. It actually makes them unhappy.
Why Is This? Read More »
3 Easy Things to Split-Test
Split-testing is a fancy phrase for testing a sales page to see what brings in more sales.
It’s a fairly simple process, but it does take time. And certain elements on your sales page are more worth testing than others.
With that in mind, here are three easy things to split-test. Read More »
How to Overcome Your Prospects’ Objections in Your Sales Copy
For any piece of sales copy to be successful, it must do a few critical things. One of these things is overcoming objections.
Many times your prospect will actually want what you have, but he will not buy it. Why? Usually it’s because of an objection he has that has not been sufficiently addressed in your copy.
So as you write, think about the objections your prospect has. Then try to seamlessly overcome those objections in the copy. Read More »
