Archive for March, 2009

Why Use 14 Follow-Up Emails?

… And not 4, 5 or even 7 for that matter?

1. If you are using sequential follow-up emails to maximize the closing rate for your product, it is recommended and tested that you should use 14 follow-up emails instead of just 7 (the popular school of thought).

2. I was listening to a home study course and the speaker who held a coaching class did a little social experiment. He had every participant in the room stand up and then he asked, “those who have responded to the first email and purchased access to this coaching program, sit down”. Some people in the room sat down.

3. Next, he asked those who responded to the second email and act on the coaching offer to sit down. Again, some more people in the room sat down.

4. The speaker repeated the exercise until the 7th email, and half of the people in the room were still standing!

5. This meant that had he stopped sending follow-up emails on the 7th try, he wouldn’t have been able to close 50% more sales - and this would have cost him.

6. I used to limit myself to only 7 follow-up emails but after picking this up, I beefed up my sequential autoresponder with another 7 more follow-up emails and I set the interval between each emails to be sent on a daily basis right from the time the prospect subscribes to my mailing list.

7. The emails have but only one purpose, which was to push my main product (in this case the 8 Profit-Pulling PLR Strategies digital course).

8. The PLR Xtreme course together with its 14-part email series were created to tap into a market of people who have never heard of me before, and thus I understand it would be more challenging to build trust and prove myself to them. Hence the 14 follow-up emails, each explaining a different aspect of Private Label Rights and how they can learn to turn PLR content into profitable products to sell. The ultimate goal of each email is to, in the end, pre-sell my digital course.

9. Formerly sold as only an E-Book at $10, I revamped the product and turned it into an audio+transcript course, thus price going up to $47. It proved to convert well over 7% as a $10 product. But at $47 and catering to a pool of people who have never heard of me before, it was challenging.

10. After some tweaking on the sales letter throughout time, I started to experience daily sales for the product priced at $47. Not by any means ground breaking but I wouldn’t have done it without the 14 follow-up emails. :-)

11. I also learned that by setting the email sequence to DAILY basis proved to be alright and not annoying to the subscriber, as many Internet Marketers were afraid of. Usually, the less interested would have un-subscribed at a certain point and I would keep strictly the interested ones.

12. While no set formula, these are the types of emails I found to be captivating to the subscribers: case studies, offline-to-online adaptions (e.g. TESCO and WAL-MART using Private Label Rights), and full-account testimonials with results.

13. It is worth speculating whether 21 follow-up emails would do a better job than 14. However I know one thing for sure: having 14 follow-up emails is better than just 7, as many are doing or led to believe! If you’re using sequential follow-up emails to push your products and maximize your sales closing, and you’re using 7 or less emails, I highly recommend pushing up to 14 to close more sales.

MILE STONE ACHIEVED: 2,000 Followers on Twitter!

While I registered my account with Twitter for the first time back in July last year, it was only 3 months ago that I started to take Twitter marketing seriously. Up until then, I had only above 300 Twitter followers and I hardly used it for any reason.

So starting this year, I ventured other unexplored territories in Internet Marketing knowing that I cannot solely depend on my mailing lists to push my latest promotions in as profitable as it is.

Twitter is one of the channels I started to explore since it’s simple in nature. Simple is good for me. :-)

Thus in 3 months, I get more and more people to follow me on Twitter and actively used it - for both marketing and friendship building reasons.

And the result?

I am pleased to say that I’ve just hit my 2,000 followers mile stone! :-D

While I’m in a business where it’s normal for Internet Marketers to have a ridiculous amount of followers (whether it be celebrity status or even using some ’spambot’ software) I am proud of this recent achievement, considering that social media isn’t my field of expertise at all. :-)

For one, I’m currently ranked #7 in Malaysia’s Most Followed Twitter Users:
(Kuala Lumpur time zone)

Source: http://twittercounter.com/pages/country%26time_zone=Kuala%20Lumpur

That’s a jump in 1,700+ followers in less than 3 months.

Of course, the high follower count wouldn’t have meant much without the opportunities to connect with friends, business associates and other users.

I have used Twitter to successfully strike Joint Venture deals for my previous projects including PLRGold: Videos, The Awesome Fun Gifts event, and recently a 72 Hour PLR Sale. (I got to know a couple of new JV Partners through Twitter and the difference would have meant making an extra $1376 in sales - or $688 in admin profits - or not at all!)

While not a big gush of money just yet, I’ve started to make hundreds of dollars just using Twitter alone (let’s hope that escalates to thousands of dollars in no time!).

I also found that Twitter is truly an incredible brand and credibility builder, a fact known to be preached often but I discounted it too quick. I send tweet messages on the average frequency of 4 - 7 times a day, but at the risk of being labeled someone who tweets nonsense or trivial stuff - and that also the same tweets reflect on my FaceBook status - I minimized and carefully selected what to write in the 140 characters of space.

The verdict? If you aren’t on Twitter yet, you’re probably missing it out. I gave it a pass many times last year (because I can be plain ass stubborn lol) but enough friends got me to sign up for an account and since then, it became addictive for me. :-)

I’m setting 3,000 as my next mile stone!

P.S. You can follow me on Twitter here:

http://twitter.com/edmundloh

Tribute to Barry Richardson

Barry Richardson

It is unfortunate and saddening that I am writing this post under tragic circumstances. I learned that 7AM yesterday, 6th March 2009, one of my online business associates, Barry Richardson, had passed away. While cause is still unknown at this time of writing, Barry is survived by his wife Martha.

I have known Barry way back in my early days of doing business online, and I recognized Barry as a nice and calm individual. Although he had been a regular customer and Joint Venture partner of mine, it is a pity that I had never had the chance to know him more in person when he was alive.

It’s a reminder that our time on Earth is truly short, and any of us may go at anytime without warning.

I am writing this post in respect and condolences to one of my business associates whom I have had the privilege to know in my early days of starting out. Barry had been helpful and charitable, and I am sure he is in a better place somewhere now.

There is an active thread going on in the Warrior Forum, and you can keep tabs on the latest development:

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/62613-barry-richardson-passes-away.html

Also if you can help, Barry’s wife Martha can use some financial help since the bread winner is no more. Martha and many of Barry’s close friends are facing grief and tough times, thus any help you can offer to the fundraiser is greatly appreciated.

Tribute to Barry Richardson:

http://barryrichardsontribute.com/

Rest in Peace, Barry.