Did you know that “conversions” are at an all time low? Be it a squeeze page, a sales page, a webinar page or even a free membership page the figures don’t lie.
While there is no scientific proof it is reasonable to believe that the average web page converts visitors into buyers at LESS than 2%.
That means that less than 2 out of 100 visitors buys or takes any other action.
There is a simple explanation for this.
Today’s consumer is distracted to the max.
Especially the online consumer who had email pinging, popups popping and more, all while he or she is on YOUR site!
Oh, the horror!
Happily, there is a way to help fix the conversion problem.
And I’m going to share it with you, free, right in this article.
First things first, just what is this mysterious thing called ‘conversion’ and why does it matter.
The word conversion simply means this …
For every 100 people who visit your website (or the site you promote) how many take the action you want them to take?
Many people think of making sales when they think of the word ‘conversion.’
But it’s more than just making sales.
Conversion could be …
- Buying something
- Joining your mailing list
- Filling out a survey
- Registering for a free account
- Referring three friends
- Registering to attend a free webinar
- Or more
The reason it matters is this – only those things that get measured get improved, and we very much want to improve conversions.
They say the average sales letter page converts visitors to sales at about 1%.
Can you imagine any offline store, like Walmart, staying in business long if only 1 person in 100 who entered the store made a purchase?
Not going to happen.
So how can YOU improve the conversion of your web pages?
The secret is something I call a “60 second recap”.
I’ve been using this technique successfully since 2008. I hope it works well for you too.
Here’s how you do it, followed by an example that is working now:
FIRST – LIST THE BENEFITS OF YOUR OFFER
The key here is to list benefits, not features.
A feature is something your product does, a benefit is something it does for me.
Here’s an example:
Feature: The Directory of Ezines is a database of ezines that sell ezine advertising, publish ezine articles, and do joint ventures.
BENEFIT: The Directory of Ezines helps you SAVE TIME when you are searching for ezines in which to advertise, publish articles, or do joint ventures.
See the difference?
People could care less that the DOE is a MySql database driven membership site using PHP or that we are hosted on an Apache server.
But they do care about saving time.
And that’s only ONE benefit of the DOE! 🙂
List ALL of the benefits of your product that you can.
Then prioritize that list from the most powerful benefit to the least powerful.
HINT: Remember the super motivators of Promise of Gain and Fear of Loss. These move people to action.
SECOND – CREATE A BULLETED LIST OF THOSE BENEFITS
The best way to display these benefits is not by hiding them inside fancy words.
After all, just the fact that someone might want to read a 60 second summary page indicates they are in a hurry.
Our goal here is speed.
So give them just the facts. Give them a list.
People like lists. We use lists every day and are very used to the look of a list.
Many people associate lists with saving time because when they need to save time, or make sure something gets done, they make a list!
Simply list the benefits you created above in descending order, from the most powerful to the least important.
Every one of the benefits you list will have impact to someone, but do remember to START WITH THE STRONGEST benefit you can offer.
Want to see this in action?
I use this tactic every day to make more sales at many of my sites.
Here’s the example I promised you:
See my sixty second recap page here
I have often used this page as my main sales page. It converts better than my 5500 word long sales letter! I’m always testing but this page is my control page and works well.
THIRD – TEST THE PAGE
Now it’s time to read the page.
Since these are words that you have written, you will read it faster than another person.
I recommend asking a friend to read the page, and timing them.
If you can’t do that, set the timer on your phone or watch and read it at a comfortable speed, making sure you read every word.
Then measure how long it took.
After all, you want to keep your implied “60 second”promise.
If the page is too long, either shorten each bullet point or remove some until the page is short and concise.
FOURTH – INCLUDE A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION
The objective for most who read this is to sell to people who are in a hurry.
If you are not making sales (you might be building a list for example) your goal is the same — to get someone in a hurry to take an action.
The LAST THING you want to do here is to give them your short yet powerful list and then force them back to your main page, where the order link might be hard to see.
So ALWAYS include an order link at the bottom of the list.
You can safely restate your main benefit at the bottom of the list, but resist the temptation to say more.
LAST (AND OPTIONAL) ADD A LINK ON YOUR MAIN SALES LETTER
Some of my clients have flat out abandoned the “long form” sales letter for the 60 second approach. I know I have on some of my sites.
But if that’s not you there are no worries.
If you want to keep your long sales letter (and you should until testing says otherwise) it’s time to modify your original sales letter and let people know you offer a 60 second summary.
When I do that I choose to do it at the very top of the page.
The thinking is that people in a hurry will hit that link fast, and my testing has proven that to be true.
Please understand, in most cases long copy works best. There is no doubt there.
Using long selling copy is smart, because long copy gives the reader enough time to feel comfortable, and you can tell the whole story. That’s smart business.
But appealing to everyone is smarter!
With this technique you simply add a little more marketing to your mix and can appeal to almost everyone.
Until now, you had to choose. But now, by using my 60 second summary, you can have it all!
And having it all is a beautiful thing indeed!
