Information Marketing Refunds
March 2, 2010
Whenever I get someone who asks for a refund I get angry. REALLY angry! Why? Because I know that my products are good and that people don’t have the “right” to ask for a refund. Looking at the matter objectively, I’m right! No one who does a great job creating and selling info products wants to have anyone ask for a refund.
The problem is that my thinking is based on the concept of a RATIONAL WORLD. The world, nor are people rational. They aren’t. Anytime you get a refund there will be a certain number of people who really deserve getting their money back. Many others do not.
My solution is this. I have turned over the process of processing refunds to someone else. I don’t even see the requests anymore. For the 10% of people who truly deserve a refund, in my humble opinion, I would feel OK about seeing their emails and putting through the necessary paperwork.
My problem is that the large majority of people do NOT deserve refunds for my products. Since the vast majority of them are digital, people don’t feel like their stealing and it’s far to easy for them to get a refund.
In the “old days” it was much more difficult. They received a PHYSICAL package and they had to wrap it up, find packaging, and send it back. Refund rates, across the board, were lower. It was a huge hassle to people who wanted their money back.
This is not to say that ALL refunds for my products are unjustified. Some are, but frankly I don’t even want to hear about them. It just makes me nauseous. I guess that their is a psychological issue at play here. I don’t ever want to feel personally rejected and no matter how certain I am about the quality of my work, refund requests BOTHER ME.
Here is what I suggest for you.
Don’t take it personally. In most cases refunds are not about you. If your refund rates get above 5%, look into your products themselves. There MAY be a problem.
Also, if you’re like me and have thin skin, then let someone else be in charge of issuing any refunds for any products.
Good luck!
Information Products Bulletin
February 22, 2010
Here is an information products bulletin. There is only one way to make it BIG in the selling of info products. That is to give people what they want. I don’t care how good a product you have or claim to have, unless your customers are in the “mood” to buy, nothing will be sold and no money will be made.
How do you make sure that you are producing info products that people will buy? You need to ASK THEM! This seems so painfully simple, but asking people what they want, producing it and then selling them to the people you asked seems like such a simple formula.
Do you need to be asking people in a FORMAL survey situation? Not at all. You can be asking people in a variety of ways. Some of them formal, but many of them informal.
Whenever I get a customer or potential customer who sends me an email, I always answer them and ask them a question. It may appear that I’m just a nice and caring guy (which I am) but I’m also very interested in finding out through this informal means, what I should be producing next.
Every time I’m a speaker at a seminar or event, I always sit with some of the attendees, NOT the other speakers. Why? Because I want to find out what people are interested in buying. This is the best FOCUS GROUP you can have. A group of highly motivated people who have paid money to attend an event who will give you a very solid idea of what you should produce and sell to them.
If you are really motivated, it’s also a good idea to pick up the phone and make some outbound calls to both prospects and customers to find out what they need. Then see if you can produce a product or service that will give them the ANSWERS that they need.
So the information products bulletin is this: LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS! Don’t think that you know what people will buy. Ask them and then produce what they tell you they want and need. This will give you the highest probability of success.
Nothing is better than producing information products knowing in advance that they will be sold. That’s the absolute best way to do business.
Follow these guidelines and your sales of info products will go way up. I look forward to seeing you at the next event or seminar I do to hear YOUR feedback!
Information Products Suppliers
February 21, 2010
There are a lot of people, like me, who create info products for others to sell. This being the case, you can legitimately call me and the others who do this SUPPLIERS. I have no problem with someone using this term for me. I’m sure that many of my information marketing colleagues wouldn’t care either.
As someone who creates a lot of info products, I try and make my products great. I also try and make them easy for others to sell. How? By making sure that the products I create are simple and easy to follow for those who buy them. Also, I try to price them so that they are attractive to those who would consider selling them.
In my case, I do quite a bit of licensing. There are two sides to those of us who supply information products to others. One is the product itself and the other is the pricing of those same products. I like to offer those who buy my products three different types of licensing options.
All of them are valid options. I’ll talk about licensing in another post. For now, let’s talk about the product itself and pricing in general terms. People who don’t produce products themselves are always excited to find great products to sell to their own lists. These are products that give the users a very specific blueprint on how to do something.
People who buy info products from people like me are very interested in what the key metrics are. The first and most critical metric is your closing ratio and average visitor value. For illustration, let’s say the product we are talking about is a digital product that costs $100. If for every 100 visitors you average 4 sales, your closing ratio is 4% and your average visitor value is $4/visitor.
Anyone who is selling products want to find products that produce the highest visitor value. This number dependent on a few factors. The first factor is how good the copy on the site is. The better the copy, the higher the average visitor value. If you have an inexpensive product, you need to close a lot higher percentage to get a higher visitor value.
The MOST critical element in this whole equation has to do with how well the product MATCHES the list that you have. The better the match, the more you’ll sell.
Keep these various items in mind as you consider the info products that you buy from others to sell to your list.
Information Marketing and John Edwards
February 12, 2010
This blog title may sound like an unlikely pairing. You may be asking: What the Heck does John Edwards have to do with info products and information marketing. Good question! Let me explain.
John Edwards would be in much LESS trouble had he actually come forward and told the truth about what happened to/with him. Yes, it would have made a presidential bid impossible. Yes, he still would have lost his marriage, BUT, it would have gained him a few ounces of credibility.
The problem with information marketing folks is that when people get caught telling a lie, they tend to obfuscate. They dance around the problem and never “fess up” and come clean. We live in a very forgiving country. The best way to handle mistakes that you make in this field is the same way you should handle it in every field: TRUTHFULLY!
We ALL make mistakes. Some big, some small, but none of us are perfect.. I would submit to you that people will actually trust you more when you screw up and then admit it.
I have a personal example. A trusted friend told me about a PILL that you put in your gas tank a number of years back. He SWORE to me that he was getting an additional 8-10 miles per gallon using this “magic” pill. I bought it. Hook, line and sinker.
Then someone on my list ILLUMINATED me with the facts. Facts are a terrible thing for the wrong person. In my case, I read the information he sent and decided I had been duped. I went to my large list of ezine subscribers and apologized for being an idiot.
Many people sent me emails thanking me for coming clean and admitting my blunder. People will always forgive if you explain what happened and it makes sense. Information marketers AND Tiger Woods need to learn a lesson from this.
Info Products Systems
February 11, 2010
When you decide to put together an info product in ANY field, the first thing you have to do is decide on what system you’ll use. I have my system that I teach to others that I suggest that YOU use when you do it. I start from the point where you have already decided to go ahead with the creation of your information product.
Step 1: Create a very detailed out line of the product you have in mind. There are two primary ways to do this. First, is to do this all on the computer using a standard outline. Many do this and it can work very well. The other option is to put every idea you come up with on an index card. Then when you’ve exhausted every topic you can think of, group the cards together based on topic, then put all of the (now) stacks of index cards into order.
Step 2: Decide on What TYPE of Info Product to create. This means deciding on whether or not you’ll use audio, video, a book or ebook or something else. You decision should be entirely based on what makes the most sense to the person who will “consume” your product. If you are dealing with a concept that needs visual representation, then audio would not be an option.
Step 3: Create TWO Websites. You’ll need to have a sales site AND and authority site to sell your product. Sales sites are no longer favored by Google and are virtually impossible to get ranked. Yes, you’ll need to put a sales letter page together, but don’t rely on it to get traffic. You’ll need to have an “authority” site to gain you credibility and GOOGLE JUICE.
Step 4: Tweak both of your sites. After you get the sites up, use someone like Sabrina Brick to make sure that WHEN people do visit your site that you have the highest closing ratios. Without that, traffic is useless.
Step 5: Consistently write blog posts, (like this one) and put up videos to support both your authority site and your sales site. The key here is to do the blogging and YouTube videos frequently. This is what will get people coming to you.
Step 6: Have a method of upselling people AFTER they buy your initial product. A one time sale is NOT what you’re after. You’re trying to get people to buy from you forever.
Do the above 6 steps and you’ll be well on your way to success as an information marketer.
Information Marketing Webinars
February 3, 2010
I just finished hosting my third of fourth (not quite sure) webinar for my info products proteges. It went extremely well and it was the first time that we opened it up to spectators and NON proteges. Those who were proteges were allowed to ask questions and actively participate while all others were there strictly as spectators.
Everyone was asked to send their questions, if they had any to infoproductman@gmail.com This is Dave Fadorsen’s email address. He is one of my proteges who is handling products related to info product marketing. Dave has also been “charged” with setting up the webinars. And, he’s doing a great job.
What makes this work so well is that people get a chance to listen in on a very lively discussion about a whole slew of topics related to information marketing. On tonight’s call we talked specifically about a number of things.
They included, keyword research, niche selection, blogging and backlinking. We also discussed how important SEO is to your success. BUT, as important as search engine optimization may be, unless you can get people to buy something when they go to your site, it doesn’t matter!!
At the end of the call, I asked all the proteges to RATE the call as to it’s quality and effectiveness. Avish Parashar, who has a pretty strong techie background moved up from a 2 last week to a 5 tonight. Others rated it either a 7, 8, or 9. Good numbers and a very productive call.
Those who were spectating I asked a favor. If they liked the call, I asked them to spread the word to their friends. The problem with most calls and webinars in the info products sales area is that they are completely geared towards selling something. This call was not. It was all about GIVING information to those who were present.
In my next blog post, I’ll give out the specific info for people to sign up to be on the webinars.
3 Steps to Info Marketing Success
January 15, 2010
I always talk about the 7 steps to info marketing success.
And that’s the FULL story. But, if you really boil it down to
the ABSOLUTE essentials, it’s just THREE STEPS!
- Create an amazing product
- Drive Traffic to Your Site
- Convert visitors to buyers or opt-iners
If you don’t have a great product, packed with USEABLE
content, you can never win this game.
If you have a great product and know one can find you,
you’re hosed.
If you drive a lot of people to your site and you can’t get
those folks to buy or opt in to your list, the traffic is 100%
USELESS.
Simplify everything. Break it down. Make it simple and
easy to understand. Then do those simple steps and
keep moving. Don’t stop.
Information Product Marketing
August 1, 2008
Just because you have or have created an information product doesn’t mean it’s going to sell. Once it’s done you have to concentrate on how to market your information products. Without marketing, you won’t make any money.
The BIG question is HOW?
The answer is it DEPENDS on what you’re selling AND your own skill sets. Different types of information products will require different types of marketing.
You’ll also NOT want to concentrate on those methods of marketing that are uncomfortable or don’t come easy to you.
There are basically two types of ways to market information products: PAID and UNPAID.
Paid marketing techniques include using Google Adwords and other forms of pay per click advertising.
Unpaid marketing for your information products include writing articles, blogging and giving speeches and seminars.
If you’re not the type to enjoy public speaking then the last two mentioned above probably won’t work for you.
As you accumulate all the possible methods of marketing for your information products, you’ll want to concentrate your efforts where there is a fit between what will work and what works for YOU.
Information Marketing Business
July 15, 2008
An information marketing business is VERY different than an information marketing hobby. In one instance you are doing something just for fun. In the other you are trying to generate a profit.
Creating a sustainable information marketing business requires that you establish and keep systems.
There are a number of systems you will need to have. When I first got started marketing information products online, I ended up with a mish mash of different kinds of software.
Luckily there is now a place where you can get it all together in one place. The place to find it is at www.WebMarketingMagic.com. This one piece of software will handle any and every need of a new or established information product marketer.
You’ll find:
An online shopping cart
An autoresponder system
A digital delivery system
A built in affiliate module
A digital delivery module
All of these elements are essential to running your information products business. AND, it’s a whole lot easier to get them in one package as opposed to trying to get all the necessary components from different providers.
Additionally, you’ll want to have a place to reserve your domain names. I highly recommend that you use: www.UltraCheapDomains.com. You’ll get the best prices and you’ll be very happy with their service.
To get your information marketing business off the ground, these are some of the basic items you will need.
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