Boost Your Conversion using the Spirit of Christmas
December 26th, 2006 by Jim
What is probably the best way to increase the conversion rate of any type of sales letter you’re writing (whether it’s a web page or even an old-school direct mail letter) is by invoking the spirit of Christmas - it is better to give than receive.
Of course, if you give something to your potential customers, you are more likely to receive something in return (like a sale). You could provide something to them in many forms, whether it’s free consultations, free product samples, free special reports, free automatic updates, or whatever fits well with your business. The important thing is that it has to have perceived value to that person. Otherwise, you are making yourself look unreliable.
One of the marketing partners we work with has a great story that relates very well
with this topic. His business is direct mail pieces and here is the true story as he tells it:
Several years ago I had two very similar clients. Sal and Frank. Both owned beauty salons. Both salons were located in upper middle class communities. Both enjoyed solid reputations. Both had cultivated talented staffs and each one built a loyal following of customers.
Both Sal and Frank signed up for the Zap New Resident Mailing program about the same time. Six months later Frank is getting more than ten times as many new customers as Sal.
Here’s what happened…
Sal’s mailing piece included an incentive offer. It entitled the recipient to receive a FREE SAMPLE of a normally high priced shampoo. This brand of shampoo can only be purchased in salons and enjoys a good reputation. The sample of shampoo they were offering however was not an actual bottle of shampoo that might have a high perceived value. The sample was actually a foil packet which was only good for one application. Sal confided in me that he was able to obtain these packets free of charge from the shampoo manufacturer and thereby keep his costs down.
As Sal explained it – “I do not want to pay for both the mailing and the incentive offer.” Sal was absolutely convinced his “clever” approach was the way to go. Sal had a 1% response rate. And out of those who responded, 80% became long time customers. I will show you the financial mathematics later in this letter. And you will see that Sal’s New Resident mailing program is making him money. But Sal missed the boat. Big time. Read on…
Frank recognized that targeting new people moving into the community could be a goldmine. In his business, like most, once you acquire a customer and make them happy with the product or service you are providing – they will come back again and again until they move out of the area.
So Frank decided to offer a FREE HAIRCUT – no strings attached. He realized that this was a powerful offer. One that would attract people whom he could convert to regular customers but also people who would just come in for the free haircut and never come back. Each FREE HAIRCUT that Frank provided actually cost him $10.00 in labor to perform.
Frank had a 17% response rate. And out of those who responded, only 50% became regular customers. Frank made a killing. Here’s the math…
Summary: Frank is spending $1575 on New Resident Mailings per month that will bring in $120,960 in future business. This means Frank is getting back $76.80 for every $1.00 he spends on marketing to New Residents.
Frank is getting more than 10 times the results of Sal using the same program.
So as you can see, Frank was able to significantly improve his conversions by offering something of value to his clients. Sal was on the right track but he didn’t provide anything of value that established goodwill with his future clients.
So if you have a website, offer a special report, a personalized analysis, a product discount, or whatever it might be to your visitors and if it’s something of value to your clients, you will see your conversion rate significantly increase.
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