From the category archives:

Decision Making

Higher Opt In Rates Can Kill Your Business

by admin on March 22, 2010

Today I’d like to talk about how a common (and very understandable) assumption is hurting people’s businesses… maybe even yours.

You see, it’s only natural to assume a higher opt rate should translate into more customers, more profits, and more dollars per web visitor. After all, you’re already paying for the visitors, why wouldn’t you want to get more of them to sign up for your lists so you can engage in a relationship with them and convert them over the long run?

And aren’t I, Glenn Livingston, the king of relationship building with follow up content online? Don’t I want the absolute highest opt in rates for my systems I can get?

No, not necessarily, and here’s why…

Increasing your opt in percentage ALWAYS has the potential to decrease not only your front end sales percentage, but your overall value per visitor on back end products and services.

In fact, there’s a natural tension between opt in and sales rates, because in order to attract more opt ins, you’ve got to convince more ambivalent people to give you their information, right?  I mean, the most motivated prospects will fill out your forms if you just put up a page that says “Great Free Stuff – Email Here”.  So in order to convince MORE people to trust you with their private info, you’ve gotta make bolder and more specific claims.

So when you push the envelope, you’re going after the fence sitters, and here’s the thing… you always run the risk of slanting your system too far in the direction of fence sitters, and away from your most hyper-responsive customers.  So it’s entirely possible, and in fact even likely to increase your opt in rate at the expense of your business overall.

Now, I’m not saying you should keep your opt in rates low.  Higher opt in rates have the potential to attract more hyper-responsive customers too.

What I AM saying is that you need VISIBILITY into two things to make sure a fanatical focus on increased opt ins and list building doesn’t harm your business as a whole:

  1. VISIBILITY INTO THE SALE:  Put simply, you’ve gotta track your lead source all the way to the SALE, and ideally to the lifetime value of your customers.   In AdWords, this means you need to know which adgroups convert to how many dollars at what percent.  I KNOW it’s difficult to track this in some systems, but you’ve gotta get with your techie and figure out how to get it done because I guarantee you, whatever money and time you spend of putting the system in place is a lot less than what you’re losing by not knowing.
  2. KNOWLEDGE OF POINT OF DIFFERENCE BENEFITS:   Point of Difference benefits are the things which distinguish you from competitors in the market place.  They’re the reasons people will open up their wallets for, as compared to “price of entry” benefits which are the things every vendor has to have just to be in the running.   You’ve gotta know what the point of difference benefits are in your market so you can FOCUS on these when working to improve your opt in rate.  Then you’re more likely to get more people into your systems actually wiling to spend money!

If you’d like to learn more, please join the hyper-responsive club today.

Be well,

Dr. G :-)

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Overwhelmed?

by admin on January 6, 2010

Are you already feeling overwhelmed by your projects this year?

Feeling overwhelmed is a by-product of lacking CONFIDENCE in your plans.

Why?   Because when you’ve got 100% confidence your plans are the right ones, you also know with certainty which plans are wrong.  And when you know that, you can just say “NO” to distractions, put your head down, and execute the job you’ve laid out for yourself.

On the other hand, if you’re not SURE your plans are correct, you’re always thinking “Is this the right project for me to be working on?  Maybe there’s something better?  Would this other opportunity over here work out better for me?  Did I make a mistake in choosing this first one?”

Then, if you’re an entrepreneur–and this is the downside of having NO boss breathing down your neck to keep you focused, on time, and on point–lacking confidence in your plans you choose whichever opportunity makes you FEEL best at the time.

Take a second and breathe that in again…

Lacking confidence forces you to make important choices with your EMOTIONS.    Consumers make choices with their emotions… but successful Marketers make choices with their HEAD (their intellect).

How do you GET the confidence you need to conquer your projects with focus and determination, and move yourself to the next level in your business?

One word — spreadsheets.

I’m not talking about ultra-precise, rocket science engineered, high octane spreadsheets accurate to 7 digits after the decimal point.

I’m talking about, for your important decisions (like which projects to work on, what your bullseye keyword target is, whether or not to take a job offer, etc), listing out the important criteria, then listing your choices, and coming up with a way to “score” each option.  (EXAMPLE: A few days ago I posted an ultra simple video and spreadsheet for making decisions)

For example, choosing between major projects to execute in a given year may involve considerations of short term profit, long term profit, likely pitfalls, fun and enjoyment, independence and control, fit with other successful projects, joint venture opportunities, etc.

And of course, in the hyper-responsive club we review in detail how to choose your single most important keyword using a spreadsheet which accounts for volume, relevance to your ideal prospect, and bid price.  (If you’re planning an SEO strategy, you also consider competition)

But the point is, breaking up a decision into it’s component parts, thinking through how those parts fit together (should some be weighted more heavily than others in the scoring formula?), and then systematically applying this scoring system to the choices at hand leaves you not only with a much clearer picture of the relative merits of each choice, but also with a system for quickly re-evaluating when things change.  In short, … CONFIDENCE.

Now, I’ve got my special formulas I’ve worked on over the long haul in Glenn Club, and of course I’d like to sell you on using those.   But I’d also like you to know there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you developing your own formulas and spreadsheets.  You don’t have to wait for anyone to grant you a certificate, give you permission, or promise not to call on you in class tomorrow.

Spreadsheets are just kind of a special way of “thinking on paper” in numerical format, and if you’ve ever used a journal (and you understand basic arithmetic), there’s really nothing stopping you from spreadsheeting your own unique problems and situations.

For what it’s worth,

Dr. G :-)

Glenn Club |   Coaching |  A to Z Product for Newbies |   Advanced Adwords Seminar

PS – My private coaching slots are filling very quickly now when I notify the “priority notification list”, and I apologize for being unable to notify the general list on this last round.   Therefore, if you’ve got any interest in a slot the next time an opening is available (I anticipate late February or early March), please opt in to the priority notification list at the bottom of the coaching letter.

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How to Make Decisions Easier

January 2, 2010

Being an entrepreneur inevitably means having way more projects and opportunities than you can possibly handle.  Around this time of year, we all get busy with our planning systems and spreadsheets, setting goals, and making plans.
The bad news is,  the longer you work as an entrepreneur, the more opportunities you’ll get, and the harder the [...]

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