Direct Response

I’ve said it many times and will say it many more, I love direct response marketing.  Every week I receive hundreds of emails from marketers asking for tips on how to crush their competition.

While it’s not feasible to respond to every email, I read them all.  Time and time again, the landing page links take me to a page that looks something like this: http://PositiveSearchResults.com.  Indeed, a very informative site.  Lot’s and lot’s of information.  And you know what else, lot’s of information.

Hello!  Telling is Not Selling!

People are busy.  Learn to respect their time by making their lives easier.

Take for instance one of my favorite clients, Reputation Changer.   This group came to me a few months ago to help them build out their entire direct response campaign.  Granted, Reputation Changer is probably the only company on the internet that has a legitimate service.  Their clients range from politicians to professional athletes.

With that being said, their initial effort at creating a direct response offer was a complete failure.   Reptutation Changer had it partially right, with a selling not telling landing page.

So what was the problem?  For starters, Reputation Changer’s site looked unprofessional.  For a group that has a service that saves the professional lives of high profile individuals, you would expect a website that creates trust.  Additionally, the copy sucked.

When writing a copy for a page, you need to keep in mind your target competition.  What separates you from the myriad of other reputation managament firms that are floating around out there.  What separated Reputation Changer was that they were the only company that actually offers a 100% money back guarantee on their service.  That’s HUGE!   These guys “forgot” to add that to their original copy.  Doh!

Next, you need to clearly define your target audience.   Then pose questions that your target will answer yes to:

Ok, the prospect answered yes.  Great!  Hit them with your value proposition, or in other words, sell them on what you can do for them if they send you money:

Sold!  Now make life easy for your target.  Give them multiple locations to buy.  The simpler the checkout process, the higher the conversion rate:

A few things to keep in mind:

1.   The landing page must flow naturally.

Close your eyes, rub them, then open them.  What’s the first thing you see.  Scroll down the page.  This is how your customer will like see your page.

2.  Segment each section logically.

Compartmentalize each area of your message.  The sequence needs to stay within the realm of reason.

3.  Look at it from the customers point of view.

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer.  In the case of reputation changer, I imagined myself as a professional athlete that just got caught with cocaine.  My sponsors are going to drop me.  The NFL will levy a serious fine.   I need help right now.  Money is not a concern.  Does Reputation Changer deliver that message?

Your darn tooting it does.  Conversion rates went from a bleak 1%ish to over 22% on this project.

Do you have direct response in mind on your offer?  Shoot me over a link to your page .

It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily doldrums of our lives.  We get slammed busy, taking on one herculean task after another.   From the time we awake to the time we hit the hay, the more successful you are the less time you have to waste.

That’s why it is so important to take down time to reflect on life.  For me, this past holiday season presented the perfect opportunity to scrutinize my business routine.

One area I identified as a major weakness was the constant calls I took during the day.  I would literally take 20 calls in an hour, many from overly needy, low profit clients.

My productivity was getting killed by the constant barrage of calls and emails.

My New Year’s resolution this year was to create a not-to-do list.  Part of that list was to stop taking calls during the day – I make them, just won’t receive them.

Talking on the phone non-stop was as much a part of my life as eating and sleeping.  Truthfully, I was hesitant to take the leap to no incoming calls whatsoever during the day.  After all, it’s in our human nature to avoid change.  We’re creatures of habit!

Keeping true to my nature, I took myself out of the comfort zone, as my good friend Hersh Sandhoo calls it.  I hired an answering service and forwarded all of my numbers to it.

The actual shift happened right before I went to lunch on 1/10/11.  On my walk from the office to the sushi joint, something felt different.  What was it?  All of a sudden shops started popping up that I’d never noticed.  Things in town I’d never paid heed to became ever so apparent.

What happened was that my undivided attention to call after call was no longer needed.  For the longest time I had been slave to my cell phone, getting completely absorbed in conversations at others wanton desire.   Do you know the feeling?

And results of this lifestyle change?  How about the fact that  I’ve had the 2  most productive weeks of my professional career.  Projects that I’ve had in queue for months are knocked out.   I’m getting more done in 1 workday than I was in an entire week before.  The calls I’m taking now are the ones I’m making.

If you’re looking to dramatically improve your productivity, forward all of your calls to an answering service.  Stop being slave to your cell phone.  Regain your peace of mind

A few years ago a client of mine received approval from the FDA to market a hair regrowth drug called Caproxen.  Direct Response built his landing page and backend.

Based on the limited budget for the campaign, we decided to introduce his offer via affiliate networks.  At that time, I had never worked with a network directly, instead we had developed internal affiliate programs.   After a little research we decided to go live on Azoogle (now known as Epic Direct Network). 

Within hours of going live, hundreds of affiliates started promoting Caproxen.  I was astounded!  This had to be a great sign.  Atleast 1 of these affiliates would send us sales.

As every hour passed, we anxiously sweated the stats.   Tons of clicks were coming in, but without a single sale.  Then finally we hit 30 sales in an hour.  Everyone started celebrating!  Woohoo, we finally did it!   From there on out, we started hitting consistent volume.

Bottle after bottle of Caproxen shipped out, and the sales continued to roll in.  Ostensibly the Caproxen hair regrowth business was off the ground.

About 10 days after our initial sale, my client received a call from the bank.  The bank was freezing his Visa/Mastercard merchant account due to an inordinate amount of fraudulant activity.  Say what?  We were advised by the bank that someone had passed through hundreds of stolen credit cards through his account.  

The bank provided us with timestamps of every transaction that was suspect.  Sure enough, the time stamps matched the exact dates that Azoogle had sent us sales.

Armed with clear and conspicuous proof of fraud, we contacted Azoogle.  We expected to receive immediate assistance.  Instead we were advised that we have “3 days from the time of sale to return it” and that “the publisher has already been paid on the account, therefore the latest we can charge back is 3 days.”   Azoogle reverted back to these terms:

5. Cost Per Acquisition Programs.(a) For all “cost per acquisition” (“CPA”) Campaigns, it is the Advertiser’s responsibility to confirm that the information collected through acquisition corresponds to the information and/or data fields enumerated in the applicable IO. Advertiser must report any discrepancies, i.e., differences between the data requested in the IO and the data collected, within three (3) days of the data collection. “Duplicate acquisitions” shall be considered data field discrepancies for purposes of this section. Advertiser expressly waives all rights to dispute payment for acquisitions based upon any data field discrepancy not reported within this time frame.

Wooh, wait a second.   Were these guys really telling us that we had no recourse whatsoever to the fraud that was sent to us?  Apparently yes, as we lost a few hundred thousands dollars to their “affiliates” who sent us stolen credit card sales. 

Fast forward 2 years.  Affiliate marketing has proven to be a very lucrative source of traffic for my advertisers today.  Many of them doing millions of dollars in revenue a month from top publishers.

In life it is always better to learn from the lessons of those who have failed before you, versus learning from your own failures.   Here is a list of 5 caveats to consider when you advertise via an affiliate network:

1.  Do Not Work With Big Networks

Big networks like ClickBooth, CX Digital, Epic Direct, Copeac, and NeverBlue have a ton of overhead.  Therefore they need to charge advertisers a higher CPA to cover their costs. 

Additionally, these networks have thousands and thousands of active affiliates.  There’s absolutely no way to monitor these affiliates, therefore the chance of affiliate fraud (as our Caproxen advertiser experienced)  is enormous. 

2.  Set Your Offer To Private and Only Allow A Few High Volume Publishers Run Your Offer

When you go live with a network, have them set your offer to private so their run-of-the-mill affiliates can’t see it.  Then get in touch with an affiliate manager on the network and have them hand pick 1 or 2 trusted publishers that can hit high volumes.

DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT EVER ALLOW A NETWORK TO BROKER YOUR OFFER.

In affiliate marketing, there’s about 150 affiliates out of the hundreds of thousands that make networks all of their money.  Without these affiliates, networks wouldn’t exist.  Have the network hand pick those affiliates to run your offer.  They will bring in as many sales as you need.  If you want introductions to those publishers directly, let me know and I’ll introduce you.

3.  Do Not Work With Unknown Networks

Unless you’ve been personally referred from a trusted party or have deep insight on a network, do not work with an unknown network.  Chances are these it’s a scam and you’ll receive a ton of fraudulant traffic.

4.  Remember Networks Need You, You Don’t Need Them

Always keep in mind that it is the advertiser that brings the dollars to the table.  If you have a really good offer, you have the power to negotiate the CPA with the networks.  Most CPA Networks will try the car salesman tactic on you by asking for a high dollar amount.  Prepare to walk away and let them know you have better rates out there, even if you don’t.  Identify their top competitor and get them in a bidding war.  Then sit back and watch the CPA price drop, haha.

5.  Include A Clause That Will Allow You To Chargeback Fraud For Up To 30 Days 

If you’re working with a legitimate network that takes pride in sending high quality traffic, demand a clause in the IO that allows you to chargeback leads for up to 30 days.  In there, for the sake of fairness, give them the rights to view your CRM and contact the bank to verify any fraudulant lead claims.

If a network won’t agree to this clause then don’t give them your business, period.  Remember, they need you, you don’t need them.

“Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” – Colin Powell

This past Christmas one of my favorite cousins was back in town from college.  We had talked several times about meeting up for the holidays.  It was something that I looked forward to.

I picked up the phone and dialed him.  He seemed “busy” and was short.  No worries.  I’m like that often as my phone typically rings off the hook during the week.

At any rate, I texted my cousin that night and asked “hey, when is a good time to meet up?”   A few hours later I received a curt text back “what do you want?”  I did a double at the text to make sure I wasn’t texting the wrong person.  No, it was my cousin.  “What do you want?”  WTF kindof response is that???

I texted him back and asked what his deal was?  Nothing back.  Christmas and New Years passed.  Still nothing.

Moments like this call for introspection.  Did I say something wrong to offend him?  Or did I miss a birthday?  What was it?  After much thought and consideration, I realized that my cousin was upset that I didn’t buy him a car.

Yes, I had thought about it long and hard.  Even made a commitment to help him find a car, perhaps even finance it.  At the end of the day I decided against it.  It was more of a personal decision than a financial decision - there were several ventures that I wanted to invest more money into.  Additionally, it was not my place to buy my cousin a car.  That’s his place.

The “cousin” situation caused me pause.

In life, it is absolutely critical to surround yourself with positive people.  As you succeed, positive people are genuinely happy for you and want to be a part of your success.  Make them a part of your success.  Pass some of your success back their way.  But be cautious as to who you share your success stories with – family especially.

Justin Singletary once said “you’ve gotta bait the hook to suit the fish.”  Haters come in many different forms.  Here is a list of how to deal with haters in the following groups:

Family

This is an important one.  When you start crushing it, long lost family members will start popping up.  They’ll ask you for loans, or for help financially.  If you’re in the position to give, keep a few things in consideration.

- It’s your right to say no.  If your family member is putting pressure on you and giving you ultimatums, do not issue the loan.
- When you loan the money out, just assume that it’ll never get repaid.  Don’t let the loan destroy your relationship if it’s not repaid.
- Set boundaries and stick by them.  If it’s a 1 time loan then stand by that.

In the case of my cousin, I’ve chosen to remove myself from any type of future relationship.  When we see each other next, I’ll be amicable, but I sure as hell won’t go out of my way for him.

(UPDATE:  My cousin and I eventually got together and worked things out.  I believe in second chances in life, and have extended my full support to my cousin again.  Blood runs thicker than water.)

Friends

Make sure to never make your friends feel inadequate.  That’s why I think it’s important to live a humble lifestyle.  If all of a sudden you start driving new hummers (been there) or sports cars, some of your friends will start to look at you differently.  Jealousy is a part of human nature.

Just remember that most of your friends won’t succeed to the level you have.  If you build your direct response campaign properly, you’ll hit their year’s salary in a week.  That doesn’t make you better than them, so don’t let it get to your head.   Moreover, don’t ever let them know how much money your making.

Colleagues

As you excel in your career there’s a good possibility that a lot of people you’ve worked with will get left in the dust.  i.e. A few weeks ago I was in a Mercedes dealership looking to pick up a new ride.  Low and behold this really tall man walked up to me and said “RICH GORMAN!!!”  It startled me.  I didn’t recognize the dealer.  At second look I realized it was a buddy of mine from high school.

We got talking and he asked how things were.  Good I said.  Just working an average career and dreaming of a new vehicle, yada yada.

His life’s road is already paved, and the cap that he’ll make is pretty low as a car salesman.  There’s no need for me to boast about the success of my consulting agency or the new ventures (or adventures if you will) that I’m enjoying.  All that would do is create a hater out of my old buddy.

Competition

Only a fool makes an enemy out of his competition.  Sure, our goal at Direct Response is to crush our competitors.  We want 1st place and will accept nothing less.

Competiton will suffer losses from your success.  Don’t gloat about it in front of their face.  Stay humble.  When they congratulate you congratulate them back, and be genuine.

Don’t succumb to pity though.  We live in a laissez faire capitalist society, where the best man wins.  It’s not a matter of being black, white, or green, it’s a matter of performance.  If a competitor comes to you begging for mercy, politely tell them to fuck off.

Your Customers

Keep in mind that the greatest companies in the world have had their asses sued hundreds of times.  From Microsoft to McDonalds, the larger you become the larger the target on your back becomes.

Run a clean business and accept the fact that you’re going to screw up.  We all do.  It’s all a matter of how you handle yourself when you do.

If you’re in the wrong, make things right.  If you’re in the right, stand steadfast in your resolve.

I’ve been known to risk my life, even my freedom, if I believe in something.  Someday when I’m long gone I hope that people remember me as a man that stayed steadfast in his resolve, even amongst adversity.

There’s always going to be haters.  For many hating is the way to making themselves feel better about their pathetic lives.  A lot easier to find fault in others versus looking in the mirror, right?

Surround yourself with positive people.  Listen to those who have legitimate constructive criticism.  Identify the haters in your life – then summarily evict them from renting space in your mind.

The direct response industry suffered last year due to the ever expanding visa/mastercard regulations.  The hardball tactics historically utilized by the more aggressive direct response marketers were outlawed.  The credit card associations went on a witch hunt to freeze any MID (merchant account) that was suspect. 

The “free trial offer” may be the best offer ever devised in direct response marketing.  People can try your product for free and without obligation for 10 days, 14 days, 25 days, or more.   The time frame should fit the product.   Free trial offers remove risk from customers and eliminate procrastination.

For the first 3 quarters of 2010, trial offers were dead.  Why?  Because overly aggressive direct response marketers devised trial offers that were deceptive.   These advertisers were killing it on sales and getting killed on chargebacks.  The credit card associations threw down the iron fist with a myriad of regulations, imposing fines on not only advertisers but also the banks that allowed the advertisers to process deceptive trials.  This effectively created a barrier to entry to trial offers that was prohibitive for small/medium sized companies.

The visa/mastercard witch hunt reminded me of the storm Forest Gump weathered.  Remember when Gump spent months out a sea shrimp fishing?  He worked hard, constantly battling the goliaths for his share in the sea.  Week after week, Gump came up short.   Most people would have given up, however Gump was tenacious.  His steadfast resovle earned him triumph over his competition.   After a massive hurricane literally destroyed all of his competitors shrimp boats, Gump was the last man standing.

In life, the weak are killed and the injured are eaten.   Only the serious players are promoting free trial offers today, and they’re doing so within regulation.  Sure, every now and then an offer will popup that violates regulations, and those offers quickly go down. 

The Direct Response Team has a strategic partnership with several banks that provide trial solutions.  If you need unlimited processing for a trial offer, let us know and we’ll get you approved – guaranteed.   Best of all, it’s free

Over the past decade I’ve personally witnessed direct response marketers like Steven Warshak crush it.  Starting off in his basement in 2001, Steve built Enzyte, a natural male enhancement supplement that brought in over $400 million dollars in revenue for Warshak, most of which was profit.  You remember the ads, right? 

You may have noticed that these ads are no longer running on CNN, Fox News, and other top notch media sites.  Why?  As you guessed, Warshak was a really good direct response marketer, but a really bad businessman.  Often times the 2 are not synonymous. 

Had Warshak considered regulations when building his brand, his offers would still be around.  Instead, Warshak is spending the next 24 years (already served 1) in a Federal Prison.  His assets?  The government took them all.  And for good reason.

Here’s why:

1.  Hiding Disclosures

Free trial products such as Warshak’s Enzyte sell like hotcakes.  Customer’s sign up for a trial and get billed 14 days or more later.  There’s nothing illegal or unethical about trial offers, so long as your prominently disclose the terms.  The FTC requires a negative option, meaning that consumer’s must check a box stating that they agree to the terms and conditions of the offer.  The FTC also requires that the terms are clearly and conspicuosly stated.  Here’s an example of a page that follows guideline rules: Nitro Shock. 

Warshak hid the terms from consumers, effectively duping them into a program they did not want to pay for.

2.   Making It Difficult To Cancel

When a customer wants to cancel let them.  Warshak forced his customers to send letters to his company from their doctors stating that Enzyte wasn’t working – humiliating for men with ED.  Without the letter he wouldn’t let them cancel. 

I set most of my clients up on custom trial accounts where the banks handle the cancellations 24/7.  That way my clients can process millions of dollars and not have to worry about the liability of  having a customer lie about not being able to cancel.

3.  False Testimonials

The testimonials you use on your site need to be true and accurate.  If you sell a weight loss supplement, do not make claims that it will make you use 30lbs in a month.  Even if you have 1 or 2 clients that have had extraordinary success, unless the average consumer should expect the same results, do not include their pictures on your page.

4.  Delayed Shipments

On trial orders, FTC guidelines state that you must have the product delivered within 4 days.  If there’s a delay in shipment, you need to extend the trial.  If you cannot extend the trial, cancel the order and refund the customer. 

Before you take your offer live, retain a good attorney.  We are represented by Venable, and our go to contact is Tom Cohn, the former regional director of the FTC. 

Don’t take unneccessary chances.  Any fool can make a million dollars in direct response marketing, although it takes a wise man to keep it.

A landing page is a place you send traffic when you really want some action. And no, this has nothing to do with Craig’s List personals.

It can be a sales page, an email opt-in page, a video landing page, or even a content landing page designed to rank well in search engines. As you might have guessed, there are a lot of ways to screw these up.

Here are five of the most common mistakes people make with their landing pages. More importantly, I’ll tell you how to avoid making them yourself.

1. Blowing the headline

Landing pages live or die by the quality of the headline. It’s your two-second chance to overcome the swift and brutal attention filters we’ve developed due to information overload and poorly-matched promises.

Often, a better headline alone will boost the effectiveness of your landing page, and even overcome some of the other mistakes below. Split-testing different headlines is relatively painless, and can bring you much higher conversions compared with multiple other tweaks.

2. Using your regular site design

Most of us who use content marketing as an attraction strategy use a content management system, such as WordPress. That means we’re using design themes for the visual presentation of our sites.

While your typical sidebar and header approach to a blog post is fine, when it comes down to traffic hitting a landing page with a singular focus on specific action, all of that extraneous stuff causes confusion, distraction, and reduced conversions. Lose the clutter and create the cleanest page possible when you want some action.

3. Asking for more than one thing

The idea that more choices make people happier has been proven to be a psychological fallacy time and again. This “paradox of choice” reveals that when given multiple options, the decision ends up being not to choose at all.

An effective landing page asks for one specific action, and that’s it. And don’t forget to actually clearly ask for that one specific thing, which is an even bigger conversion killer if you don’t.

4. Ignoring basic aesthetics

Why is it when some people decide to ask for some action, they lose their minds on the appearance of the page? Bad fonts, garish colors, cheap highlighting, and silly clip art do not make for better conversions in most cases. What they do is crush your credibility.

While using your standard blog theme is distracting and confusing in the landing page context, there’s no need to become the typographical equivalent of a carnival barker, either. Great landing pages use fonts, colors, and visuals that are tailored specifically to the audience and action you desire, thereby enhancing the experience and boosting conversions.

5. Being lazy

Did you know that web users spend 80% of their time above the fold? Does that mean people won’t scroll down the page? No, it just means you can’t take it for granted that they will (instead of leaving).

Don’t be lazy about grabbing and holding attention. Don’t assume everyone instantly “gets” the benefit of your offer the way you do. Don’t overestimate your credibility. In short, don’t drink your own Kool-Aid. Think about it from their perspective, and you’ll realize you might not be all that (until you unequivocally prove you are with compelling copy).

Want more landing page tips?

Get in contact with the direct response team and we’ll put you in touch with the best landing page designers in industry.

About the Author Of This Article: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media.

There’s a common misperception amongst affiliate marketers regarding  the difficulty of building an offer.  It seems that this group thinks there’s a lot of money and time that needs to go into building a new campaign.  The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth.

Sure, for the green advertiser, it may take years and years to find the right sources.  I recently worked with a gentleman that had spent a few hundred thousand dollars setting up a campaign that cost us $1,500 to build.  I know exactly where he’s coming from.  It took me close to a decade of cutting fat on campaigns to get to where we are today:

1.  Fulfillment is automated.

2.  Traffic is constant / high quality.

3.  Landing pages that convert.

4.  Unlimited merchant processing.

5.  No overhead.

6.  24/7 online and offline customer care.

7.  everything is automated

I setup campaigns so that if my clients want to take a trip to the Bahamas for 2 weeks they can – without having to answer a business call/email.  That’s what online direct response marketing is all about.

Let me know how I can help.  If you’re looking for a resource, I’ll put you in touch with the right guys – for free.  If you need me to help you build a campaign, hit me up so we can discuss the next step: work with us.

For the past 6 years I’ve religiously followed a to-do list.   As I completed each task, I would mark it off and move on to the next task.

This year my New Year’s resolution was to create a not-to-do list.  By cutting back on things that are wasting time, adding extra work, and are overall unproductive, my productivity has gone up exponentially.  The not-to-do list is just as important if not more important than the to-do list.

Here’s what I’ve put together:

1.  Do not spend too much time with low-profit, high demanding clients.

Last year I took on a capital intensive doctor as a client.  The ole doctor owned medical facilities, gyms, and other businesses.   From the beginning I should have known better to work with him, since he had no clue about direct response marketing and had unrealistic expectations.

Over the course of his campaign, I must have answered thousands of questions – going above/beyond to promote his campaign.  At the end of the day this idiot spent thousands of dollars on luxury meals, shows, and parties, yet complained when he lost money at the beginning of a media buy.  No matter how hard I tried to explain the business to him, he just didn’t get it.  Which would have worked however he insisted on micromanaging every aspect of the process and asking questions.  Whew – what a waste!

Because of this experience, I started charging for every hour I work on campaigns.  You should do the same.  I got this idea from my lawyers – who enjoy calling me up at random to chat for 15 minutes and then turn around and bill me $700 – lol!

2.  Have concise conversations – get down to brass tacts.

Skip niceties and get down to business.  Time is very limited.  If you’re working with someone that likes to engage in small talk, pull them aside and politely explain that you would prefer to avoid small talk due to its wastefulness.

I like to get to my office, work hard, then go home and enjoy the family.  Small talk in the work environment is wasteful.

3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time

Schedule your day.  Unless it’s your business partners calling in, set times for calls and stick to them.  If your business partners start interrupting you with wastefulness, start scheduling them in too.

4.  Do not check email constantly.

This is a big one.  Emailing is a non-productive exercise.  Sure, it’s important to handle your emails, but doing it all day is a major distraction from getting your core work completed.

I’ve started answering my emails 2x a day.  Once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  Other than that, I stay focused on getting work done.

5.   Do not answer phone calls all day.

Another big one.  Same thing as above.  I’ve actually started using a call service to screen ALL OF MY CALLS.   There are only 3 calls that can get through to me during the day – business partners, daughter, and girlfriend.

6.  Do not allow work to interfere with family time.

When you’re finished working, turn the switch off.  DO NOT bring it home with you.  Remove your home computer if you have to.

When I walk out of the office, the work stays there.  Forward your mobile-work phone to a call center or just simply turn your phone off.

For those of you working at home, try to move your office space to a section of your house that’s off the beaten path.  When you finish work, unplug your computer and shut it down.  In the morning you can boot it back up.

Create a not-to-do list and place it next to your to-do list.  Your productivity will skyrocket!

At the end of the day you’ve gotta look yourself in the mirror and ask one question, “is this campaign worth waking up to?”  Get involved in campaigns with no caps that are worth your time.

It’s Wednesday morning here in good ole Las Vegas and I’m about to hop on a flight back to Philly.   When I woke up the first thing that hit my mind was how so much  the affiliate marketing industry has changed in just 1 year.   For those of you that attended the Affiliate Summit conference last year, you know exactly what I’m talking about. 

Let’s go back in time.  Last year we arrived to the Rio and picked up a conference bag packed to the brim with freebies.  The big networks like Hydra, Azoogle, and CX Digital, hosted plush parties such as  “Party Like A Billionaire” or “Party At The Hangover Suite.”  Top advertisers threw decadent revelries – one spent over $900,000 on Dom Perigon at Club Excess.   Free trial offers were abundant – with minimum payouts of $50.   These were good times for the giants.

Fast forward to 2011.  This year we arrived to the Wynn, arguably the nicest venue in Las Vegas to hold a conference at.   After picking up our tradeshow bag, we noticed it was practically empty.   Hydra went out of business, Azoogle and CX Digital not only cut 3/4 of their staff, they also have $50 million dollars  in accounts receivable.  Wow, talk about poor accounting systems!   And then there’s Clickbooth, haha, don’t even get me started.

So what in the hell happened?   “Change” is what happened.  Big changes.  And they can all be traced to 3 things:

1.  Disruptive Technology:

The barrier to entry for new affiliate networks went from $15,000 all the way down to $200.  HasOffers hit the scene and took no prisoners.  This software platform allows anyone to start a network – not always a good thing considering some of the people in this space.  Nevertheless, the top affiliates in the space got wise to the game.  Who needs a network like Clickbooth afterall?  Without affiliates, ClickBooth and other networks are out of business.  

2.  The Rise Of The Mini Network:

The top affiliates started leaving the big networks and started their own “mini-networks.”  These mini-networks are comprised of the top affiliate marketers in the world.  Instead of staffing hundreds, they’re very lean.  From an advertiser’s perspective, you can cut the middleman (big Network) out of the equation and save money on CPA fees.  Plus there’s no fraud because these mini-networks have direct relationships with their publishers.  BTW, on the traffic sources page, I list the top mini-networks.

3.  Diversify or Die: 

Do you know what the tell tale sign of a dying affiliate network is?  Walk up to a booth and ask: “so what do you guys do here that makes you different?”  If they answer: “We’re a CPA Affiliate Network and Have The Highest Payout” then there’s just one thing to do: run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.

Neverblue, Copeac, Clickbooth, CX Digital, Epic Direct, Max Bounty, etc., they’re all the same, and they’re all laying off staff big time.  The mini networks such as Health Converter, Ads Direct, and Pirannah Media focus on a niche.  The value they create for other’s is what’s making them rich and the giants poor.

Next year I don’t expect to see a lot of the former giants exhibiting at ASW.  Instead I think we’ll see more company’s exhibiting that offer value added services.  What do you think?

I make a note to spend atleast 2 hours reading every day.  With the advent of the internet and on demand tv, media is ever so abundant.  Last year I decided to cancel my cable service and spend my time reading important books instead of watching the tube.  It was a good decision.

Here is a list of books that I highly recommend you read:

Direct Response Copy and Marketing Tips

1.  Cashvertising, by Drew Eric Whitman.  Cashvertising shows you how to use more than 100 secrets of ad-agency psychology to make big money selling anything to anyone.  This is my personal favorite direct response marketing book.

2.  Dan Kennedy, Ultimate Sales Letter.  A powerful sales letter is the ultimate marketing tool for all types of business owners, sales reps, and advertising professionals. However, most sales letters end up getting tossed in the junk mail pile. The Ultimate Sales Letter, 3rd Edition shows you how to write letters that get read, generate leads, and make money.Coverage includes:

Ultimate Marketing Plan, by Dan Kennedy.  Find Your Most Promotable Competitive Edge, Turn It into a Powerful Marketing Message, and Deliver It to the Right Prospects

Outrageous Advertising, by Bill Glazer.  Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get.

 Magic Words That Bring You Riches, by Ted Nicholas.

The Boron Letters, by Gary Halbert (free). 

Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel, by John Carlton.  John Carlton is “The most ripped-off and respected copywriter alive.” 

Making the most of your time and energy

The first and most important thing to do is to get focused and productive. If you aren’t making good use of your own time, how will you make good use of somebody else’s?

1. StrengthsFinder 2.0, by Tom Rath. The recipe to real success begins with the words “know thyself”, and that’s exactly where this book starts you off by preaching that you can get more out of focusing on your strengths than you can by trying to compensate for your weaknesses. The book is small, and you don’t have to read most of it; the real value is in the online strengths assessment, to identify your top five strengths.

(For a shortcut, see the Copyblogger post on Discover Your Strengths and Supercharge Your Business.)

2. The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt. This is a particularly fun read for a business book, written as a novel about plant manager Alex Rogo, who has 90 days to turn around a problematic production environment. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s a fun-to-read novel, this book has become the bible of operations management, and is required reading in most MBA programs. The key takeaway is an understanding of bottlenecks, which matter even more to a blogger than they do on the factory floor.

3. Brain Rules, by John Medina. A lot of our normal, day-to-day practices just aren’t conducive to getting the best possible results (from the book: if you get a team of the best cognitive psychologists in a room and ask them to use everything we know about the brain to design the worst possible work and learning environment, they’d design a cubicle and a classroom). In this book, Medina reveals – in plain English – 12 ways that our brain works, and how we can harness it to get the most out of our days.

4. Getting Things Done, by David Allen. Now that you’re primed to work productively, you need a system for actually getting things done – that’s where David Allen’s book comes in. You will learn to group your next actions (what normal people call your to-do list) and manage your time for maximum results, which is exactly what you need to build your blogging business.

5. The 8th Habit, by Stephen Covey. Most lists recommend Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but I think this book is a lot better. It starts with a quick overview of the first seven habits, and then spends most of the book talking about how to really bring things to the next level, from effectiveness to greatness.

6. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Outliers surveys the (sometimes surprising) research on what it takes to achieve real excellence, and makes it interesting in the way that only Gladwell can. This book is less of a “how-to” or even “what-to-do” book than most of the books that I recommend, and more of a “what to think about” addition to the list.

(Spoiler: the secret to excellence is working your tail off.)

7. Personal Development for Smart People, by Steve Pavlina. This book is by Steve Pavlina, author of the biggest personal development blog on the internet. It aggregates his thoughts, ideas, research and experiments into a thought-provoking book about how you can make your life more interesting and productive tomorrow than it is today.

Thinking like an entrepreneur

Being effective isn’t enough — you have to be effective at something. So let’s turn our attention to entrepreneurship — figuring out what we really want to be doing, testing the idea to make sure it’s profitable, and then turning that idea into a functioning and productive business.

8. The Monk and the Riddle, by Randy Komisar. I was originally introduced to this book by Austin Hill, a celebrity entrepreneur in Montreal, where I’m from. This book bearing the subtitle “The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living” is a novel about a Silicon Valley entrepreneur seeking funding for his idea. The book strikes a great balance between offering valuable insight into the founding and funding of a new business, and making sure that what you’re investing in is really something that matters to you. This book is a “must read” for any serious entrepreneur.

9. Business Model Generation, by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. This fun and fascinating book was co-created by 470 practitioners from 45 different countries. It shows you a visual structure for examining the different elements of a business model, and then shows you the different “patterns” that business models can follow, so that you can map your own business onto them, and change as needed.

10. Getting to Plan B, by John Mullins and Randy Komisar. This books takes a much more rigorous approach to business modeling, by teaching you a system of identifying “analogs”, “antilogs”, and “leaps of faith” for each of the five key components of a business model: revenue model, gross margin model, operating model, working capital model, and investment model. Don’t worry about the technical jargon, the book is very accessible, and illustrates everything with great case studies.

11. Four Steps to the Epiphany, by Steven Gary Blank. The author of this book founded 8 startups which “resulted in five IPO’s, and three very deep craters”. Through it all, he developed a process of “customer development”, which is vital to identifying and effectively serving your customers with a new business.

(If you want a “cheat sheet” version, get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development, by Brant Cooper & Patrick Vlaskovits.)

12. The Art of the Start, by Guy Kawasaki. Reading this book will make sure you’ve got all of your bases covered — from the early planning stage, to raising money for a business (if you need it), straight through to building the business, creating relationships with happy customers, and building revenue.

Playing nice with others

You can only go so far working alone, no matter how productive you become. The next step is to find partners, and in order to find partners, you need to be able to work well as a team.

13. Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni. This fun to read classic (I read it in one night, because I couldn’t put it down) tells a story of dysfunctional teams to illustrate what they all have in common, and how these “dysfunctions” can be overcome. The end of the book has the actual “model” in it, so that you can then easily apply what you learn in the story to your own teams and work groups.

14. How Difficult Can This Be? by Rick Lavoie. This isn’t a book, but rather a DVD of learning disabilities simulations. This might seem like an unlikely addition to a business books reading list, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how eye-opening this will be about working with people in all contexts. The DVD is just over an hour long, fun to watch, but intense at the same time. Highly recommended!

15. Mindset, by Carol Dweck. Are our abilities fixed, or can we get better? Many people have opinions, but this book makes a strong, research-based case that we in fact can get better – and not just us, but all the people around us, too. Useful and inspiring, this book is also practical, and gives you tools that you can use to cultivate your own abilities, and the abilities of those around you.

(Editor’s note: Sonia Simone considers this absolutely essential reading for pretty much everyone.)

16. Switch, by Chip & Dan Heath. In this book about changing behaviors (our own or someone else’s), the Heath brothers use the metaphor of a rider (the conscious mind) riding an elephant (the unconscious mind) down a path (the external environment), and teach you how you can direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path to make the changes that you want actually happen. The book is fun to read, and full of great examples.

17. The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton. This aptly named book is all about why it is so important to be nice to people at work, and surround yourself with others who do the same. You will learn how to calculate a business’ TCA (total cost of assholes), and you will learn how to deal with the assholes that you might be stuck with today. This book is as entertaining as it is crucial!

Making the most of other people

It’s not enough to play nice with your partners — whether you’re working with a VA (virtual assistant), or you’re outsourcing your coding or design work, these people need to be managed.

18. First, Break All the Rules, by Marcus Buckingham. This is the book that popularized Gallup’s research on what makes a great manager (12 things, it turns out). It is eye-opening, engaging, and is absolutely crucial reading for anyone who will be in a position to manage anyone else.

19. Death by Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni. Those of you who either were or still are in the corporate world can probably testify to the enormous frustration and time loss caused by meetings. In this great book by the author of Five Dysfunctions of a Team, you will learn how to manage meetings so as to make them interesting, effective, and short — a valuable skill learned from an enjoyable book to read!

20. Difficult Conversations, by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen. Managing people isn’t hard when everything is going well. It gets hard when things aren’t going so well, and difficult conversations need to be had. This book, by expert negotiators and authors of the classic Getting to Yes, will teach you how to do exactly that — have difficult conversations without offending people, while still getting the outcome that you want.

21. Drive, by Dan Pink. What really motivates people to do a good job? Is it money? According to Dan Pink (and the research that he cites), the answer is no. People are motivated by interesting work, exciting work, and a sense of fulfillment. This book is a great read for managers and leaders.

(If you want a free preview, check out the RSA Animate video on YouTube.)

22. Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense, by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton. I like research based practices, so all it took was the title to sell me on reading this book by the author of The No Asshole Rule. It completely lived up to my expectations – the book is fascinating and insightful, and sheds important light on some of the management practices that don’t work, even though we all “know” that this is what managers are supposed to do!

Understanding the dollars and cents

This is the part where most bloggers cringe. Relax, it’s easy. You have to know some numbers, but it doesn’t have to be a chore. I’ve found the best resources available to make the subjects of accounting, finance, and economics painless, and even interesting.

23. The Accounting Game, by Judith Orloff and Darrel Mullis. Accounting intimidates almost everyone, but this book makes it clear and easy. Through the easy-to-relate-to example of setting up a lemonade stand, you will learn the basics of accounting, and how they matter to any business.

24. I Will Teach You to Be Rich, by Ramit Sethi. This book by the well-known blogger and entrepreneur is the best introduction to personal finance that I’ve read. It is conversational, easy to read and clear. It will give you an understanding of key concepts in finance, like discounting and compounding (not to mention how to be rich!).

25. The Teaching Company on Economics. Okay, I admit that this is a bit of a cop-out, but I just couldn’t find an interesting book on basic economics. Instead, I refer you to the Teaching Company, which seeks out the best professors in the world (as rated by their students), and films them delivering their courses. The courses are interesting, and are broken into short lessons that you can watch or listen to at your convenience. They offer huge discounts on their courses on a rotating basis, so if you click through and it is listed at full price, you might want to wait until next month to look again.

26. Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. This book applies the analytical principles of economics to everything that you thought has nothing to do with economics. This is another one of those books that will really get the wheels in your head spinning about broader ideas – fun and valuable! For extra credit, you can also check out their second book, Superfreakonomics.

27. The ValueReporting Revolution, by Eccles, Herz, Keegan and Phillips. This book about cost accounting will help you figure out what your projects and activities are really costing you, and how to make more profitable decisions about how to allocate your time. You probably thought that there couldn’t be an interesting book about cost accounting, but I found one!

Thinking like a marketer

The connection between blogging and marketing is pretty obvious, so this is where most bloggers heave a sigh of relief.

28. The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell. This is the book that skyrocketed Gladwell to fame, with a discussion of what causes some ideas to spread, and some not to. He talks about the three types of people that are crucial to the spreading of ideas: Connectors, Mavens, and Salespeople. Like all of Gladwell’s work, you will find this book insightful and fascinating (just for fun, you should read Blink, too)!

29. Made to Stick, by Chip & Dan Heath. Following in the vein of The Tipping Point, this book by the Heath brothers explores why some ideas stick and spread, and others don’t. In addition to a good time, reading this book will give you a six-part formula for creating messages that stick and spread.

30. Influence, by Robert Cialdini. This book, which has become a classic in sales and marketing circles, explores the seven principles of influence that Dr. Robert Cialdini identified over the course of his research. These are the principles that get us to do things day in and day out – it’s only fair that you should understand them, and be able to use them too!

31. Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore. You may not know what it’s called, but you’ve probably seen depictions of Rogers’ model for diffusion of innovation. With innovators on the left, followed by early adopters, the early majority and late majority, and finally the laggards, all the way on the right. Well, the one thing that he missed is a giant chasm between the early adopters and the early majority — and a lot of businesses die in that chasm. Moore’s book is a fascinating roadmap to understanding and crossing that chasm, to the profitable lands on the other side.

32. Six Thinking Hats, by Edward De Bono. This classic book by creativity expert Edward De Bono teaches the “Six Thinking Hats” process for generating creative ideas. The process involves assigning six different roles (each role gets a different colored hat) to people within a brainstorming meeting, and each role has specific responsibilities to take on and make sure that good ideas are brought up and survive.

33. Firepole Marketing, by Peter Vogopoulos and Danny Iny (hey, that’s me!). This is 26-week long training program will take you by the hand and make all of your marketing clear and easy. It’s not technically part of the reading list, but you can still check it out for extra credit.

Thinking like a CEO

If you’ve read everything on this list, and implemented everything that you’ve learned, then your blog will begin to grow rapidly. That means it’s time to start thinking about things like vision, legacy, and strategy.

34. Built to Last, by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. This is a classic book about building a truly great company that stands the test of time. This book is the source of business metaphors that have become commonplace, like BHAGs (big, hairy audacious goals), and the importance of cult-like cultures. If you’re building a blog, then you’re building a business. Why not make it a great one?

(Also take a look at the Copyblogger take on Jim Collins’s ideas, Three Steps to Take Yourself from Good to Great.)

35. Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Why stay in the red ocean (a market that is saturated with competitors), when you can go to a blue ocean (where you’re the only game in town)? This book explores the concept of the blue ocean, and shows how companies like Starbucks and Cirque du Soleil made fortunes by creating a blue ocean.

36. It’s Not Luck, by Eliyahu Goldratt. This book by the author of The Goal continues the story of Alex Rogo, who is now Executive VP for a major conglomerate. Through the novel, Goldratt teaches you how to use his Thinking Processes to analyze business and life situations and make the best decisions.

37. The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman. This is another one of those books that will really get the wheels in your head turning. After reading this book, you will understand just how small our world has become, and just how many incredible opportunities are available to you as a burgeoning business owner.

38. The First 90 Days, by Michael Watkins. This book is about the very practical side of management and leadership. When you take on a new project or a new company, you have a very limited amount of time to make a real difference. According to Watkins, the exact amount is 90 days, and in this book you will find a blueprint of everything you need to do during that time to make the most of the opportunities before you.

Final Note

This is an important one.  Discover whether you’re a visual or auditory learner. 

As a visual learner, it’s important to read with a dictionary in hand.  Have you read a page in a book only to realize that you have no clue what you just read?  Ninety-nine percent of the time this is caused by coming across a word that you didn’t understand.   When you come across that word, pause, look it up in your dictionary, then move forward.  If you need to reread the entire page do so, just make sure you understand the meaning of the words you read.

A direct response marketer’s job often includes changing people’s attitudes and behavior.  Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

People buy from people they like.   On your landing pages, make sure the images and text portray the following:

1. Become genuinely interested in other people. Your page needs to offer 24/7 support with an 800 number, live chat, and email addresses that are responded to promptly.
   
2. Make sure your lead characters smile on your page.
   
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Talk to your client and appeal to their interest.  Once they call you, use their name frequently on the phone.  People love hearing their name.
   
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.  When calls come in, pay close attention to what the potential customers say.  If you use SalesForce, take notes for future reference.  Create an impression that you care - and DO NOT ACT HURRIED OR DISCTRACTED.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests and become their yes man.  What can your offer do to help them?  What's their favorite ice cream?  Blueberry?  Funny, that's your favorite ice cream too.  What's their faborite football, soccer, basketball team?  You're are the same. One caveat to consider: do not appear to agree with everything, as this can set off a red flag  and they'll know you're gaming them.  Just agree with certain things and on other's feign ignorance.
   
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

One of the most influential books I’ve ever read was Dale Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends and Influence People.”   People like to buy from people they like, it’s that simple.  In this short read, there’s 3 timeless principles that have made our clients hundreds of millions of dollars:

1.  Don’t criticize, condemn or complain

When selling to people online, don’t criticize them.  Your product is a solution and it’s ok that they’re stupid, fat, or slow, you’re there to sell them not condemn them.

2.  Give honest and sincere appreciation.

Let your clients know that their order means everything to you.  Send them free gifts, letters of appreciation, and sincerely recognize that if it weren’t for them, you would be homeless.  After all, your clients put the food on the table.

3.  Arouse in the other person an eager want.

We all have our needs and wants. You may be feeling hungry or thirsty and want something to eat or drink. Another person may be feeling sleepy and want to take a nap. You may want to improve your direct response marketing skills, which is why you are reading this article right now!!!

The point is, we as individual are interested in what we want, but unfortunately, no one else is. In order to win over other people, why talk about what we want? The individual who is able to put the needs of others above his or her own will be able to win the hearts of others.

Identify what your target wants then offer it to them – only do so in such a way that your offer is more  enticing than the rest!

On media buys it’s critical that your ad receives a lot of clicks.   On a CPM basis, the higher the click the higher the probability of a conversion.   Here’s 3 tricks we use to get people clicking:

1.   Keep It Simple – Stupid!

When consumers land on a website that you’re running an ad on, remember that they’re not there to see your ad.  Therefore you need to offer the consumer something of value and Keep It Simple!

Here is an example of an ad that is killing it:

1 trick eh?  Seems really simple, and consumers are clicking it knowing that their time isn’t getting wasted.

2.  Don’t Use Flash

A lot of browsers don’t support Flash.  With the advent of the iPad, Flash has become obsolete overnight.  IKEA is actually in the process of redesigning their entire site due to this problem. 

3.  If Possible, Add Loud Noises To Your Ad:

4.  Flashing Graphics

Take some cues from other direct response marketers that use flashing banners – like the one’s use on this blog.  They garnish attention from readers.

5.  Utilize Opposing Colors

My friend Josh Todd noted that one way to catch the eye is to use opposing colors.  Using this color wheel you can easily pick colors on the opposite end of the spectrum, which makes pages much more eye-catching.  You probably don’t want to do anything too abrasive, like use one color for the background and then another for the text, that would just be annoying.  What you can do is use them for different buttons, arrows, or calls to action on the page.  Or when you make your animated .gif files you can use opposite colors and flash between them for maximum effect.

By utilizing these 5 tricks your CTR will go through the roof!

In an experiment conducted by scientist Stanley Milgram and colleagues, an assistant of the researchers stopped on a busy New York City sidewalk and gazed skyward for sixty seconds.  Most passersby simply walked around the man without even glancing to see what he was looking at.  However, when the researchers added four other men to that group of sky gazers, the number of passerby who joined them more than quadrupled.

Colleen Szot is one of the most successful direct response copywriters on the planet.  And for good reason: In addition to penning several well-known “infomercials” for the famed and fast-selling NordicTrac exercise machine, she authored a program that shattered a nearly twenty-year sales record for a homeshopping channel.  Although her programs retain many of the elements common to most informercials, including flashy catchphrases, an unrealistically enthusiastic audience, and celebrity endorsements, Szot changed 3 words to a standard infomercial line that caused a huge increase in the number of people who purchased her product. 

Szot changed the all-too-familiar call-to-action line, “Operators are waiting, please call now,” to, “If operators are busy, please call again.”  

 By doing this she not only created a sense of urgency in consumers, she instantly social-proofed her product.  When people are uncertain about a course of action, they tend to look outside themselves and to other people around them to guide their decisions and actions.   When consumers watching her ad heard “if operators are busy, please call again,” they imagined operators going from phone call to phone call without a break.  Home viewers followed their perceptions of others’ actions, even though those others were completely anonymous.  After all, “if the phone lines are busy, then other people like me who are also watching thsi infomercial are calling, too.”

The 5 Types Of Social Proofing are:

• Lots of people like this / us.
• Someone important likes this / us.
• People like you like this / us.
• Your friends like this / us.
• You like this / us.

Lot’s of people like this /us.

Showing off blog or email subscribers, Twitter followers, Facebook fans or other sign of “social cred” helps any website’s reputation. Youtube recently ran this banner, claiming 1 billion subscribers:

Remind you of something?

The ecommerce equivalent to the big McD’s sign is the Facebook “Like” button. For example, PC Tools incorporates both Facebook Like and industry mag reviews on its product page:

The pro is it’s easy to add one to any web page. The con? No one’s impressed unless the number is relatively high.  Use this service to rampup facebook likes. 

Someone important likes this / us.

There’s nothing like an endorsement from a celebrity or industry expert. For example, Michael Jordan shows off the Nike Jordan shoe:

 People like you like this / us.

Product recommendations labeled “Customers who viewed X also viewed Y” or “Customers who viewed X ultimately bought Y” are fairly common. Because they’re “crowd sourced” rather than picked by a merchandising team, they may be trusted more or pique more interest. (However, this doesn’t mean they are better suggestions).

Your friends like this / us.

If any of your Facebook friends “Like” Direct Response, you’ll see their mugs in our Facebook widget:

Here’s an example from an affiliate blog:

These widgets enable “passive word-of-mouth.” People no longer have to actually speak to their friends to evangelize products and brands. The widgets will do that for them, and at the very right time!

Likes appearing in a Facebook feed or Tweets in a Twitter stream also lend some social cred. Even Google incorporates tweets from friends (and even friends of friends) in search results. Making it easy for visitors to Like and Tweet with one click boosts your visibility.

Don’t forget email sharing. SWYN (share with your network) and FTAF (forward to a friend) buttons are quite common practice. According to Responsys, 56% of retailers now include at least one of the above in their email campaigns, with FTAF more common – though SWYN has greater potential reach.

You like this / us.

Some ecommerce sites recognize returning visitors and display items viewed in previous sessions on the home page:

Other ways to remind customers they “like” (or atleast showed an interest in) products on your site are wishlists, carts with saved contents, personalized merchandising zones (think Amazon’s “You Might Like” sections) and “email me when item back in stock” or “email me before this item sells out” reminders:

The scientific study of persuasion has been going on for over half a century now.  Yet, the research on persuasion is somewhat of a secret science, often lying dormant in the pages of academic journals.  Considering the large body of research that’s been produced on the subject, it might be useful to take a moment to think about why this research is so often overlooked.  It’s no surprise that people who are faced with choices about how to influence others, including important program or policy choices, will often base their decisions on thinking that’s grounded in the established theories and practices of fields such as economics, finance, and public policy.  However, what’s puzzling is how frequently decision-makers fail to use established psychological theories and practices to guide them in their choices.

One potential explanation for this tendency is that, unlike the field of economics, finance, and public policy, which tend to require learning from outsiders to achieve a minimal level of competence, people believe they already possess an intuitive understanding of psychological principles simply by virtue of living life and interacting with others.  As a consequence, they’re less likely to learn and to consult the psychological research when making decisions, creating direct response campaigns, or generating solutions to problems.  This overconfidence inevitably leads people to miss golden opportunities for psychologically informed social influence – or worse still, to misuse psychological principles to the detriment of themselves or others. 

Besides being overly reliant on their personal experiences with others, people also rely too much on introspection.

Persuasion has often been referred to as an art, but in a sense, this is a misclassification.  Although talented artists can certainly be taught skills to harness their natural abilities, the truly remarkable artist seems to possess a certain level of talent and creativity that no instructor is capable of instilling in another person.  Fortunately, this isn’t the case with persuasion.  Even direct response marketers who consider themselves persuasion lightweights – people that feel they couldn’t convince a child to play with toys –  can learn to become persuasion heavyweights by understanding the psychology of persuasion and by using the specific persuasion strategies that have been scientifically proven to be effective. 

Over the next few weeks I will post a series on the science of persuasion, documenting 12 scientifically proven strategies to persuasiveness.  Assisting me is Robert Cialdini, the Bestselling Author of Influence.