Here’s a simple rule. If you have an email advertisement that works, then don’t repeat it – or if you do repeat it, don’t run it more than a couple of times, at least not straight away.
Instead, you should hold that advert and run it again a little later. Meanwhile you should also try to…
- Vary the medium
- Vary the landing page
- Vary the mechanism
- Ask potential customers relevant questions.
Vary the medium
If you always use email to advertise, try a few tests with Facebook, Twitter and/or a blog. This does not mean that you have to spend money advertising on social media – there are ways of promoting without spending a penny.
If you would like to see an example go onto Facebook and search for The Dyscalculia Centre. You’ll see that we simply post articles there, all without any cost. If you would like to know more about how we do this, please do call. The number is below.
Vary the landing page
We find that a very significant number of the companies that work with schools.co.uk might get a large number of hits on their internet landing page (the page that deals with the specific product they are selling in the advert) but still they get only a modest number of sales.
This is almost always because of the way the landing page is laid out. Potential customers get to the page, but then don’t read on.
You can tell this is the problem simply from the figures. Your marketing company should tell you how many people have clicked through to the landing page. If you are seeing only a handful of sales coming through as a result of a lot of hits on the site, then you will be able to change this very readily.
Indeed one of our most productive areas of work in terms of our customers is that of re-writing the landing page. We’ll be happy to talk to you about it.
Vary the mechanism
One way to get a sale is to advertise a product and try to lead the customer straight to the buying point. Another is to invite the customer to read a landing page (as above). Another is to invite a phone call. Another is to offer a free report, then offer a second free report, and then go for a sale after that (that’s called the Funnel Technique).
Each approach has its benefits so each is worth investigating. Some customers get attracted by one approach, some by another.
Gain insights from potential customers
Very few companies do any research. Those that don’t, justify their position by suggesting you can prove anything through questionnaires, or by the fact that they need sales now and don’t have time, or by the fact that it is all too expensive. (In fact we include research as part of our Velocity campaigns.)
What research can do is help you to know the mindset of your potential customers, and this knowledge can be gained through a simple questionnaire. If you base your view entirely on an assumption, the whole campaign can slip away from you.
