Getting good numbers
Early in my marketing career, I looked for the cold hard facts of sales. I wanted numbers. I wanted statistics. I wanted tried and true, TESTED methods of promotion. I wasn’t going to waste my time on crap. Every time I heard someone say something like, “Using quotation marks on headlines improves conversion rates,” I would jump right in and ask “Really? Says who? By how much? Tell me, tell me, tell me!” I would never get an answer. It was very frustrating.
Years of experience has taught me that no one can give you industry-wide statistics. There are no hard, fast numbers. Any information that is available is anecdotal. How did I come to that conclusion? Elementary, my dear reader. There are too many variables involved.
- your ad copy
- your audience (how well targeted it is)
- your price point
- your promotion effort
- your venue (traffic exchange, safelist, personal list, etc)
- your product or service (how good is it? what need does it fill?)
So what is an internet marketer to do? TEST!
Throw all of your traffic exchange credits at one splash page for a week and see how many sales or signups you get. Track your signups from specific exchanges to see which ones work best for you. Blitz your safelists with one promotional email, sending out as often as your membership level allows, and see what happens. If it turns out to be a dud, try a different email. Test different subject lines to see if they make a difference in the open rates of your emails to your list. Don’t stop testing until you are satisfied with your results.
Yes, it will take time to test things one at a time, but in the long run, you figure out where to advertise to get the most bang for your buck. You’ll also figure out if you like writing emails or making splash pages. You’ll find what fits your personality, what works into your schedule, what you do best. It is worth the time and effort to figure that stuff out so that your promotions will become the streamlined, well-oiled machine that we all strive to make our business.
March 8th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Nice article Ray, thanks. I guess that’s what makes internet marketing so interesting and creative – and frustrating!
March 8th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Ray-
I really agree and am happy that you pointed out the variables. Too often those falling for those big promises that it doesn’t matter what you sell, or even if you sell, MY SYSTEM will work for ANYTHING, are generally people just starting up. There are reasons why there are so many different advertising venues out. Different products and services may see significantly different results depending on a whole host of variables. People really need to consider this prior to grabbing any “industry wide solution” they may be floated. As you point out, there are even huge variances sometimes within the same advertising venue (such as traffic exchanges). It is an important point.
Tom
March 8th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Test Test Test, that’s really a good motto to have!
March 10th, 2010 at 2:29 am
Nicely put Ray, Testing is what it is all about and setting up a clean and effective testing system takes a bit of know how but well worth it. I was shocked years ago that some places I thought would be getting me great results actually turned out to be duds. While others I thought because of the low membership numbers or what have you would not produce many results actually converted better and higher then others. Its testing and tracking that saves you time and money allowing you to push ahead to all new levels.