Page conversion rates have ALWAYS been a problem. The simple fact is most people don’t convert even on the most optimized pages. 

What’s why traditional retargeting on ad networks has been so dang powerful. While retargeted leads come cheap, they still aren’t free. Worse, you’re back competing against your competition in the ol’ ad auction system. 

For the last 6 years, I’ve been using a tactic called Inbox Retargeting to identify who lands on my key pages and directly reach out to them in their inbox. 

No more ads. No more auctions. Just a targeted contact that showed they were interested, but didn’t quite take the leap yet. 

Before I dive into the “What’s” and “How’s”, this tactic can only be used in the good ol’ US of A. If you aren’t in the states or don’t have clients in the states, you’re out of luck. Sorry! 

How It Works

Inbox retargeting doesn’t take a lot of heavy lifting. I’ll share the strategy next but I wanted to start with some of the logistics. 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer or coder, so keep that in mind if technical or legal questions pop up. 

If you have a website, you have tracking scripts, e.g.,  GA4, the Facebook Pixel, Heatmap software, etc…

To get started with Inbox retargeting, you just need to be able to copy and paste two scripts on your site: 

• A collection script: This fires and tries to identify the visitor

A suppression script: You’d fire this on your conversion confirmation pages, you don’t want people who converted to land in your Inbox Retargeting campaigns.

The tech works off of a database of contacts in the United States that are eligible for emails, so it’s completely above board with your ESP. However, you’ll want to do a few things before you start treating them like a regular member of your email list. 

We initially tested this on one of our paid media campaigns. We already had a really strong campaign that we wanted to squeeze more leads out of…and boy did we. 

We were driving traffic from Meta (Facebook for the OGs) to this landing page:

This page converts at 58%. Yeah, that’s a humble brag…deal with it. 

Even with a 58% conversion rate, we’re still missing out on 42% of the traffic we’ve already paid for. That’s kind of a bummer. 

After we added the collection script to the page, they were able to capture a lot more leads. The conversion rate jumped from 58% to a very sweet 87% – that’s a 50% increase! 

That was the impact on a single page, that’s when we knew it was time to go bigger. 

The Strategy

Most of the tools out there, whether it’s Retention.com or Customers.ai, are going to charge based on the number of contacts. So it can get pretty easy to burn through contact credits if you run the script on every page you manage, your site and your clients’ sites included. 

That’s why you’ll want to make sure to select pages that capture intent versus targeting all of your traffic. 

ID Key Pages

Here are some of the pages you should consider adding the collection script: 

1. Campaign Landing Pages – If you’re paying to send someone to a page, the referring source piqued their interest. If they didn’t convert, you’d definitely want to follow up. 
2. Product Pages – If someone is viewing this page they’re evaluating a particular product they were interested in. 
3. High Intent/Value Content Pages – This could be your pillar content on your blog pages, podcast pages, or your top level service pages. 
4. Registration Pages – This is a subset of a landing page, but if someone got all the way to a registration or sigh up page, they’re a prime candidate for outreach.
5. Cart Pages – People abandon carts all the time. If you weren’t able to catch their details during checkout, this is an ideal opportunity. 

Effectively it’s any page where you’re pushing a specific action. While the above pages are the pages to choose from, a homepage is acceptable but will require a little more finesse when you follow up. 

Map to Email Campaigns 

Now that you’ve identified where you’re going to identify leads, you’ll need to map it to your automation tool. 

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Most tools have a direct integration with your email service provider, but worst case scenario you may have to pass the data through a no code integration tool like Zapier. 

Once you’ve worked out the digital plumbing, you’ll want to follow up based on the page the contact was collected on. Here’s how you should approach follow up: 

1. For Campaign Landing Pages – Give them the specific asset. They were interested in it, you’ve got their contact information, just hand over the goods. This builds good will at the start of the relationship. 
2. Product Pages – Send over the details of the product or product category they were viewing. This could be as simple as a reminder or you could build goodwill with a special offer or coupon. 
3. High Intent/Value Content Pages – Send over some of your best content or freebies that move people to the next phase of the Customer Value Journey. 
4. Registration Pages – Treat these like an “abandoned cart” type of email and get them to take that next step. 
5. Cart Pages – Same as “Registration Pages” but it’s, you know, an actual abandoned cart reminder. Similar to the product pages you could entice them to come back with a deal or coupon. 
6. Homepages – If you do run these on the homepage, you’ll need to do more of a reintroduction then transition to showcasing your best stuff. 

Email Structure

The initial message you send needs to have a very specific flow. There are four critical things that need to happen when they open up your Inbox Retargeting message. 

First, remind them about who you are and how they know you. This can be as simple as a, “Hey, thanks for stopping by…” message. Have some fun with it. 

Next, you need to provide highly specific value based on their browsing intent. If you get this wrong, they’re just going to file your message under SPAM. 

After that, you’ve got to set expectations with what they’re getting and now you’ll be communicating with them moving forward. 

And Finally, you need to give them an EASY OUT. These campaigns have our highest unsubscribe rate, but that’s because we outright ask people to unsubscribe if they don’t want any additional contact. 

Once you’e gone through this, you treat them like one of your regular subscribers with all your fancy ascension automations, content emails, and promotional emails. 

Here are the email stats from one of our PPC Campaigns:

With an average open rate of 53.87%, we know there’s a base line interest in the deliverable. The click rate is DANG good for messaging visitors who didn’t convert.

Sure the unsubscribe rate is a little high for this campaign, but that is intentional. We push them to opt-out in the first email so we don’t get dinged later with complaints. 

The Payoff: An Additional 109k Last Year

I mean, who doesn’t want another cool 100 grand for adding a script to your website and writing a couple of emails? Here’s how the numbers work out: 

Last year, we identified 3,714 leads using this method. IMPORTANT: When I was pulling these numbers, I realized we installed the code wrong on some pages and missed out on about another 2k leads…oops!

Our average lead cost was ~$7, so the leads themself were a $26,000 additional value. This alone would be a reason to use the tech. 

BUT JUSTIN, did they convert?! 

Yes!

We closed $36,000 in IPPC business from this lead source. For what we spent on those leads we’re looking at a 750% ROAS. Not too shabby. 

The rest of the money we made was by selling this service to our clients. Since we run paid ads for clients, this method is a complete no brainer. We ran a pilot program and only offered this to a handful of clients last year, we averaged about 4k/month in sales.

We sold clients the leads at ~$2/lead for some of the niches we work in, that’s a steal. 

If you decide to sell this you need to make sure the client knows these are lower intent leads and will require longer term nurtures. If you follow the email strategy I shared above, you’ll be good to go! 

Protip: Charge for building the follow up sequence! 

So that’s it! If you’re running your own business or are an agency owner, you’ve got to consider Inbox Retargeting. Though, I do have some bad news…

Not to be “Chicken Little” but this is starting to get way more attention, there are services popping out of the woodwork so this will become a table stakes method. So get ahead of this today.

The post Unlocking Hidden Revenue: The Inbox Retargeting Methodology appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

A solitary abandoned cart might seem inconsequential in the bustling digital bazaar that is the eCommerce of today. Yet, when looked at collectively, these unclaimed carts represent a staggering amount of potential revenue slipping away. 

What causes a customer, eager to purchase, to suddenly change course? The list of reasons might be endless, but the most common are:

• High shipping costs or long delivery times: rapid and affordable deliveries are the expectation, not the luxury.
• Complex checkout process: a labyrinthine checkout can deter even the most enthusiastic buyer.
• Security concerns: with the world rife with cyber threats, customers need to be assured of their data’s safety.
• Limited payment options: a restricted choice can mean a lost sale, as customers have varied payment preferences.
• Website errors or slow load times: a seamless online experience is paramount; glitches can quickly divert potential sales elsewhere.

The real question, though, is how can businesses address these issues and win back these customers?

The path to resolution is multifaceted, yet incredibly rewarding for those willing to invest the effort. As we dive in, we will explore proven techniques and considerations that not only tackle the root causes of cart abandonment but also provide strategies to reclaim potential revenue. 

Proven Techniques for Cart Recovery

The task of addressing cart abandonment is akin to a surgeon wielding a scalpel: precise, calculated, and aiming for effective results. While recognizing the root of the problem is paramount, the real magic unfolds when businesses deploy actionable solutions. 

These tried-and-true techniques are not merely strategies but powerful tools that can significantly transform the landscape of eCommerce. They don’t only help retrieve lost opportunities but also fortify their brand’s digital presence. 

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These proactive solutions are some tried-and-true techniques:

Personalized Email Campaigns

In the vast sea of the digital realm, personalized emails act as lighthouses, guiding customers back to their intended purchases. Generic emails easily drown in the cacophony, but those tailored to an individual’s preferences stand out, signaling care and attention. Here’s a short how-to:

• Craft tailored content — beyond just mentioning the product left behind, consider integrating aspects of their browsing behavior. Perhaps they looked at a specific category multiple times? Highlighting products from this category can remind them of their initial interest. If they’ve been a repeat visitor or customer, reference their loyalty, maybe even offering them an exclusive deal as a token of appreciation.
• Behavior-triggered reminders — timing is crucial. Sending an email too soon can feel pushy, while waiting too long might mean they’ve lost interest or found an alternative. Optimal timing, often within a few hours to a day, can be the sweet spot. Moreover, making these reminders interactive, perhaps with engaging visuals of the product or an enticing call to action, can further the chances of re-engagement.
• Segmentation mastery — beyond just past purchases, consider segmenting based on how they’ve interacted with your site. Did they read blog posts? Watch videos? Use this information to craft messages that speak directly to their engagement style and preferences.

Time-Sensitive Incentives

The ticking clock of time-sensitive incentives can often be the gentle push customers need to complete a purchase. However, the intricacy of implementing them demands a nuanced approach. The basics include:

• Varied incentives — a diverse range of customers means a variety of preferences. Some are motivated by direct price reductions, while others find value in added benefits. For instance, a discount might appeal to bargain hunters, but a complementary product could entice those looking for added value. Offering loyalty points can be especially effective for repeat customers, making them feel their loyalty is being rewarded. Regularly rotating these incentives and monitoring which ones drive the most conversions can help fine-tune your strategy.
• Strategic timing — beyond just the time of day, consider the customer’s journey. For instance, if they’ve visited the product page multiple times over a week, this might be an indication of high interest but some reservation. A timely incentive, presented during their next visit, could be the catalyst for conversion. Seasonal offers, during holidays or special occasions, can also drive up sales, tapping into the festive purchasing mindset.
• Balancing urgency and pressure — the language of urgency is delicate. While “Only a few left!” can motivate, overuse can lead to skepticism. Authenticity is key. If you’re offering a limited-time discount, maybe provide a brief reason, such as clearing out end-of-season stock, giving customers a rationale they can appreciate.

Engaging Retargeting Ads

The digital space is filled with distractions, and retargeting ads serve as persistent reminders, guiding potential buyers back to their initial interests. Here’s the 101 for retargeting:

• Platform-specific content — dive deeper into the analytics of each platform. For example, Instagram, being visually dominant, might benefit from high-quality images or short videos of the product in use. LinkedIn, with its professional audience, might resonate more with B2B products or services, emphasizing efficiency and value-addition.
• Narrative — building on the idea of storytelling, consider creating a series of retargeting ads that narrate a journey. Begin with reintroducing the product, followed by showcasing its benefits, and culminate in presenting a compelling offer. Customer testimonials, expert endorsements, or even showcasing the product’s origin story can add layers of depth and trustworthiness.
• Budget allocation and ROI — diversify your retargeting budget. While it’s tempting to heavily invest in platforms where most of your audience resides, don’t overlook emerging platforms or ones where competition might be lower. Regularly reviewing metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and overall ROI ensures you’re getting the best bang for your buck. Adjusting your strategy based on these insights can result in more effective campaigns.

Optimizing the Checkout Process

The final frontier in the buying journey, the checkout process, demands meticulous attention. Any friction here can swiftly turn a potential sale into a missed opportunity. What you don’t want to miss out on is:

• Intuitive design — elevate the user experience. Incorporate visually pleasing elements like icons that denote each step, or even progress bars to give users a sense of how close they are to completion. Real-time validation, where form errors are highlighted immediately rather than after submission, can prevent user frustration and streamline the process.
• Reducing drop-off points — implement feedback loops. If a user does abandon their cart, consider prompt surveys or pop-ups asking why they chose not to proceed. This direct feedback can be invaluable in identifying and rectifying friction points. Also, offer multiple payment gateways. Some users might prefer direct card payments, while others might lean towards digital wallets or even cash on delivery, depending on your region.
• Mobile-first design — the rise of m-commerce (mobile commerce) demands an impeccable mobile experience. Beyond the basics, incorporate features like digital wallet integration for faster checkouts, image zoom functionalities for better product viewing, and quick customer support access, such as chatbots or live chat, ensuring any last-minute queries or concerns are promptly addressed.

Additional Considerations: User Trust, Delivery Concerns

Beyond the primary strategies lie nuanced layers of consideration that, while subtle, can significantly influence a customer’s buying journey. These are often the finer details that a business might overlook in the broader eCommerce strategy. 

However, when addressed with care, they can provide the extra push needed to convert a tentative cart into a confirmed purchase. Here are the most common ones:

• Exit-intent pop-ups: These are last-minute saviors. Just as a user is about to leave the site, an attention-grabbing pop-up can present an offer or remind them of their abandoned cart. For maximum impact, the content should be compelling, the design eye-catching, and the offer genuinely valuable.
• Cart recovery emails: More than just a reminder, these emails serve as a bridge. They can offer insights into what the user might be missing out on, present additional incentives, or provide assurance regarding any concerns the user might have had. Crucially, the timing and frequency of these emails should be optimized — too soon might seem pushy, too late and they might’ve lost interest.
• Social proof: Trust is a currency in the digital marketplace. Showcasing genuine customer reviews, testimonials, or ratings can instill confidence in potential buyers. Additionally, displaying trust badges or security certifications assures customers that their data and transactions are safe.
• Highlighting seamless delivery options: For many, the uncertainty of delivery times and options can be a deterrent. Clearly presenting diverse delivery choices, estimated times, and any associated costs can alleviate these concerns, making customers more comfortable with completing their purchase.
• Advantages of partnering with 3pl companies: Efficient and reliable order fulfillment can make or break the post-purchase experience. Do your homework and find out what is a 3PL — third-party logistics companies can offer better delivery timelines, track packages more accurately, and boost overall customer confidence in the brand.

The beauty of these additional techniques lies in their ability to address the more intricate concerns of customers. While the core strategies tackle broader issues that lead to cart abandonment, these supplementary methods cater to the finer points of the shopping experience. 

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They speak to the subtleties of trust-building, reassurance, and personalized engagement. Together, these refined touches, combined with the foundational techniques, create a holistic approach to counteracting cart abandonment and maximizing e-commerce potential.

Takeaways

Navigating the challenges of cart abandonment is akin to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. Each solution is a vital piece that, when placed correctly, completes the picture of a successful eCommerce venture.

Addressing cart abandonment is not just about reclaiming lost sales; it’s about understanding and catering to the evolving needs and concerns of the modern shopper. It’s also essential to remember that the digital landscape is ever-evolving — as technology advances and consumer behaviors shift, businesses must remain agile. 

Continual testing, adaptation, and learning are crucial. Every interaction, feedback, and metric can offer insights that, when acted upon, can refine and enhance the shopping experience.

The journey to countering cart abandonment may be intricate and demanding, but the rewards — in terms of both revenue and customer loyalty — are well worth the effort. Businesses equipped with knowledge, determination, and a proactive mindset are poised to turn challenges into opportunities and abandoned carts into flourishing sales.

The post Winning Back Abandoned Carts: Effective Techniques for Cart Recovery appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

For example, instead of buying shoe cleaner for my white sneakers, I could clean them with an old toothbrush and toothpaste (seriously try it, it works).

Not only did this practice save us money, but it helped teach me about the worth of things. It can be so easy to fall into the disposable cycle of our modern world. But most things have a much longer and versatile life than we give them credit for.

And the same type of thinking can be applied to marketing too.

Reusing Your Email List

Marketing strategies, materials, and products shouldn’t be viewed with the one-and-done mindset, and there are so many ways you can use one aspect of your marketing to help several different strategies.

For example, instead of spending a ton of money testing out a new target audience on a Facebook Ad campaign, try using your existing email list to retarget your ads to. This utilizes your existing prospect or customer base. That way you will build authority, refresh interest with your product or service, and create opportunities for those who already love what you do to share your business.

You can help make sure your email subscribers aren’t missing your message by retargeting them on Facebook.

And doing this is easy. All you have to do is use the Facebook Business Manager to upload your current email list and create Custom Audiences that you can then show your ads to exclusively. This creates an extremely warm, targeted audience for your campaigns which can be a total goldmine for paid advertising ROI.

Here are the steps to do this:

In Facebook Business Manager, just select create a custom audience, and then select Customer File as the source.

Then you want to use a file that includes the customer lifetime value (LTV). From there you will add your file of email subscribers.

For the customer value column, you will want to select email address as the LTV, and then select all other fields as well for LTV under Preview and Map Your Data.

And then you are all set!

The way it works in a nutshell is, when you upload the email list, Facebook will search for all of the user profiles that match the emails in your list. And if you’re wondering what percentage of your list will match Facebook profiles, well that can differ from list to list depending on certain factors: where you got the list, if they’re personal or business emails, etc.

But to give you a ballpark range, my email lists typically come back with 80% or more matches—and this is a pretty standard number.

Why Retarget Email Subscribers on Facebook?

Now, you may be asking yourself: “Why in the world would I want to spend money to target people I’m already reaching with my emails?” Here’s a few reasons why this is a huge advantage to standing out in your industry:

#1. Connect with people in a more relaxed setting

Most of us get emails while we’re at work, and there are so many that we don’t have time to read them all. Those who open your emails may scan it and star or save with the intention of going back later to click through to your site. But people are people. We forget things sometimes.

People will sometimes avoid their inbox to avoid looking at work emails.

And since email is mostly work-related, it’s not really designed for massive engagement. Facebook, however, is perfect for that. People typically browse their feed in the mornings, at lunch and in the evening while in front of the TV. It is a go-to for scrolling while they’re waiting for something to happen (think parents at soccer practice or waiting for the train) and when they have some free time.

Since your audience saw your email earlier in the day or week, they’ll be more likely to remember you when they see your Facebook ad pop up in their feed. It might even remind them to go back and open up that email to take action on your offer.

TIP: Make sure that your message in the ad is the same, or very similar, to the message in your email marketing campaigns. This makes sure your customers know who you are and is already primed to follow through.

#2 Always be in front of those you want to connect with

On average, marketing messages need to be seen by prospective buyers multiple times before they’ll decide to take action—this is known as the “rule of 7,” a term coined by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Since the average tech related shopper uses more than 14 sources of information to arrive at their decision to buy, you want to be seen on multiple platforms.

Make sure you keep your messaging consistent—this ad and email have 3 different sale amounts.

Using email AND Facebook advertising helps increase the frequency that they see you; so not only will they notice you, but they will (hopefully) remember you when they are making a purchase decision. That’s where the sweet spot is!

#3 Your company will seem large and your reach broad

There’s a funny thing that happens when people see your business marketing in multiple social channels: it looks like your business is everywhere. Although you might not get a lot of traffic to your business’s Facebook page, people these days expect that you have one, and that you are active on the platform.

Additionally, with good retargeting paid ads popping up all over the place, many people will assume you must be spending a lot of marketing dollars to reach them. This makes it look like your business is large and/or very successful, since you have the time, manpower, and money for so many ads. They might also assume that everyone, not just themselves, is seeing these ads, since Facebook is such a big advertising space.

All of these assumptions help to build your authority.

But guess what… you don’t have to spend tons of money to get this kind of reach online. For just a few dollars a day, you can reach your entire email list daily on Facebook. Not bad right?

(RELATED: Learn more about email marketing HERE!)

When your business looks larger, you’ll also build trust with your customers (potential AND current), since you are there ready to give them the information they want and are showing them products they already like (assuming they are already familiar with your products).

#4 Look-alike audiences are amazing for reach

But the benefits don’t end with just engaging your current audience. Part of the beauty of this strategy is that you can connect to thousands of people who have similar interests, demographics, purchasing habits, and online activity as your current customers.

After uploading your email list to Facebook and creating that first Custom Audience to target, you can also create a “look-alike audience.” A look-alike audience is comprised of other Facebook users that have similar interests and needs to your current audience.

This is one of the most powerful tools in digital marketing today. This is one of the easiest ways to reach new people, particularly if you have a strong, engaged customer base in your email list.

It’s obviously great to retarget your current followers but having the ability to expand your audience based on that specific demographic could be the difference between doubling or tripling your ROI.

Now that you have all the information, and reasoning, on retargeting your email list, it’s time to take action. Upload your list and launch a Facebook campaign that mirrors your next email. If you can get even 20% more ROI from the email marketing campaign as a result, then that’s a big win. But don’t be surprised if it’s much higher. And if it is, you can buy me a beer as a thanks. I’m a cheap date.

The post 4 Reasons Why You Should Be Retargeting Your Email Subscribers on Facebook appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Let me ask you a question:

Are you trying to make money on all your marketing campaigns?

If so, I have bad news.

You’re holding your business back.

Yep, you heard me right. Always striving for a positive return on advertising dollars can actually be a BAD thing—that is, if it means that your business never takes any risks.

Let me explain…

ROI vs Growth in Your Business

If you’ve been following DigitalMarketer or Ryan Deiss for any length of time, you may have heard this little gem of a saying:

This probably feels counterintuitive to anyone who’s ever poured over a budget sheet. That’s because trying to spend goes against many of our natural instincts, which usually focus on minimizing customer acquisition costs.

But the truth is that if you want your business to grow, to SCALE, then you have to be willing to spend more money to acquire new customers. To take on more risk. To lose money in the short term so you can set yourself up for more revenue potential in the long run.

To drive that point home, let’s talk really quickly about the difference between growth and ROI:

ROI, or “return on investment,” is a measure of how effectively you have recaptured the money you’ve spent to create, distribute, and promote your product. In other words, ROI helps you track whether every dollar you’ve spent has been recovered or not.

Growth is all about the generation of new customers. It’s a function of scale and volume—instead of acquiring 100 new customers every month, growth means acquiring 200 new customers, then 300, and so on and so forth. More customers mean more market penetration, more opportunities to cross-sell and more word of mouth—all things that can make your business more impactful in the world.

Now, here’s the thing about growth and ROI.

ROI is great. We all want to make money, after all—right?

But if you focus too much on ROI, it can really limit your ability to scale. You’ll be stunting your business’s long-term growth in favor of a quick return.

A while back, we took a look at what was going on under the hood at DigitalMarketer. And we realized that’s exactly what was happening in our own business.

Our ROI was good—we knew we could put a dollar in our campaigns and get $1.50 back. But we had capped out on the number of people we could reach and bring into the fold. We realized that a high ROI does not necessarily mean a growing business.

Unfortunately, the problem with playing it safe like that meant that our business wasn’t growing quickly enough to meet our long-term goal of doubling the size of 10,000 businesses over the next five years.

And we realized that if we were going to hit our goals, we would have to create new selling systems that carried more risk—but along with that risk, the potential for greater growth.

In Business, Risk = Opportunity

Anytime you attempt to scale your business, to grow beyond your current size, you’re going to have to take on some risk.

But don’t worry. We’re not talking about buying lottery tickets here.

These are calculated risks that you make leveraging formulaic selling systems designed to scale your business.

In this post, you’re going to learn how to create a variety of these selling systems that will work together to grow your business. You’ll also learn how to evaluate the opportunity of a selling system and take smart risks that are necessary to scale.

And you’re going to learn through an in-depth analysis of five selling systems that worked for us at DigitalMarketer.

But first, let’s define exactly what a selling system is (and is not). We do that by answering these three questions.

The 3 Critical Questions for Every Selling System

I should explain that when I say “selling system,” I could be referring to any kind of online marketing funnel or campaign that converts visitors into leads, customers, and fans.

They can span any number of websites or traffic sources and look different depending on the market they serve.

(RELATED: How To Architect The Perfect Conversion Funnel For Your Business)

But for your marketing funnel to be considered a selling system, you need to be able to answer these three questions…

Selling System Question 1: What is the Goal of this System?

Every time you create a new selling system, that system should have a goal. One overarching objective. Something your business needs.

It’s important to remember that not every selling system will have the same goal. And certainly, not every system will have the goal of “making money”—some systems exist only to set up future opportunities to make sales and create customers.

For cold traffic, your goal might be to generate awareness.

(RELATED: Traffic Temperature: How To Build Real Relationships With Automated Campaigns)

For early-funnel prospects, your goal might be to nurture visitors and convert them into leads.

Finally, for mid- to late-funnel visitors, your goal will probably be to generate sales and revenue.

The goals you choose for your selling systems will vary depending on how mature your business is. If you’re starting a new business and in need of cash, your goals will almost exclusively be to generate revenue.

If you’re a more established business looking to expand your reach, your goal might be to generate more leads or get more inbound phone calls that you can push through to your sales team.

But to call your marketing funnel a selling system, it’s critical that you have a defined goal because working towards that goal will drive your future decision-making.

Selling System Question 2: How Do You Define Success?

Now that your selling system has a goal, you have to decide how to measure the success of that goal.

You can’t know what success looks like until you know how to measure it.

To define success, you’ll need to choose a key metric or KPI that you can use to gauge the performance of your selling system.

Your method of measurement can pretty easily be deduced from your goal—if you want to grow your email list, your success metric will be the number of new leads you add to that list.

Here are a few other possible metrics:

• Revenue
• Orders
• Site visitors
• Leads
• Phone calls
• Posts read

The most important thing is that this metric must give you an accurate way to quantify your goal and measure the success of your campaign.

Selling System Question 3: How Much Risk Are You Willing to Take?

Finally, you have to figure out what is an acceptable level of risk for this selling system.

The most important thing to keep in mind here is that risk correlates with opportunity.

The greater the long-term revenue potential, the more risk you can afford to take on.

So, with higher-value offers like a high-ticket item or a subscription business that provides long-lasting continuity revenue, you can afford to take on more risk.

Alternatively, if you’re selling an inexpensive item with a low-profit-margin, then your risk threshold should be much lower.

So, how should you define risk? What exactly IS it?

Risk here refers to how long you can wait to recoup your investment and get to break-even. In other words, how long does it take you to earn back all the money you spent on that selling system?

Your initial investment may include expenses like the cost of your goods, payroll, or the cost of running traffic. And once you break even on those costs, any additional revenue generated by a customer can be reinvested into the business.

For a low-risk selling system, your goal might be to reach break-even after just a couple days.

But for a high-risk selling system, you might be willing to stomach a negative ROI (spending more than you made back) for several months before earning back your investment.

And you know you can afford to do that because the eventual payoff is worth it—you are investing in the relationship based on the promise of future returns.

So now that you know the three critical questions you have to ask every time you build a selling system, here are the five selling systems your business needs to scale. We used these same systems to take DigitalMarketer to the next level.

Selling System to Scale Your Business #1: Bulk Lead Acquisition

Our first example is a classic selling system that we have used many, many times in the past with great success.

It’s called a bulk lead acquisition funnel, and it’s all about driving as many leads as possible.

Having a large list of prospects that you can email anytime you want—when you release a new product, for example, or put out a new piece of content that needs a little traction—is important for any business.

And that’s why this type of selling system has been so critical for us in growing DigitalMarketer.

Goal

Our goal with this selling system is to generate a high volume of new subscribers to our email list.

Success KPI

Our KPI for this selling system was positive growth in our email list. In other words, we wanted the number of new email subscribers to outpace the number of unsubscribes caused by normal email list attrition.

So, if we were losing 5,000 subscribers each week to attrition, we needed to be gaining at least 5,001 new subscribers. (And preferably many more than that.)

Risk

This was the selling systems where we could afford the least risk.

That’s because the offers we promoted with this selling system weren’t very expensive, and we cast a wide, wide net (meaning some people weren’t qualified off the bat).

Because the opportunity here is relatively low, we don’t want to take on too much risk.

In this case, we were willing to stay in the negative for 30 days. That let us include the revenue from those who took the Lab membership and decided to stick around past their first month

Example

One of our most successful examples of this type of selling system is our “Facebook Ad Template Library” funnel. It started with this Facebook ad:

The ad took visitors to this landing page, where they could opt-in to get a free resource that would help them create better Facebook ads.

After the visitor opted in to our email list, they were offered a Tripwire (a low-dollar offer designed to convert leads into customers).

And finally, we followed up by selling them our monthly subscription product, DM Lab.

This selling system did generate some sales and new customers—and it made enough money after 30 days to cover the costs of the paid traffic sending visitors there!

But more importantly, it achieved its primary goal, which was growing our email list—allowing us to reach more people and helping to scale our business.

Selling System to Scale Your Business #2: Low Entry Barrier Subscriptions

So our first selling system succeeded in growing our email list. Bringing in new leads.

But as I mentioned, it doesn’t necessarily do a great job of converting those leads into customers.

Only about 4% of people who saw the ad for our “Facebook Ad Template Library” ever even saw the DM Lab offer.

And that was a huge barrier to adoption.

The challenge was: how do we get them to join in the first place?

We solved that problem by creating a low-entry barrier subscription selling system.

We removed the risk by offering people a $1 trial to DM Lab. If they stuck around after 30 days, they would become a paying subscriber (which, at the time, was $38.60/month).

Goal

The goal of this selling system is to encourage massive subscription growth in DM Lab.

We believed that if we could limit the perceived risk by offering a 30-day trial for just $1, we could convince a large number of people to give Lab a try…

…and we knew from experience that once they did, more than half (about 58%) would stick around and become full-paying customers.

Success KPI

Remember our goal here wasn’t to generate leads. It was to generate actual paying subscribers.

With that in mind, our success KPI wasn’t trial sign-ups. It was the number of people who stuck around after the trial was over and converted into paying members of DM Lab.

Risk

Our risk tolerance for this selling system was higher than it was for the bulk leads acquisition funnel, but it was still fairly low—because we were only guaranteed a dollar off the bat from conversions—the real payoff wouldn’t come till later.

For that reason, we required this selling system to break-even after 40 days (just after the first rebill period).

Example

To create a similar system of your own, you need two things: some kind of a subscription product and a “warm” audience of people who know who you are.

For DigitalMarketer, that audience included site visitors and email subscribers.

We drove those people to a sales page like this one, where we offered them a $1 trial membership in DM Lab.

This is a really common strategy that you’ll notice all over the place when you start looking. Subscription companies like Audible, Spotify, and Pandora offer similar trial offers designed to generate new subscribers and build recurring revenue.

Selling System to Scale Your Business #3: Value-Centric Lead Acquisition

The first two selling systems were all about volume—driving massive numbers of leads and subscribers.

But this one is different. In this selling system, we’re optimizing to deliver value and a great experience.

Everything else—leads, subscribers, revenue—all that goes on the back-burner.

This can be a scary prospect for a company that is in need of quick financial returns because it involves more risk and delayed monetization. With a selling system like this, it can take several months to earn back your investment.

But when you can use a system like this to promote a fairly high-ticket item, it will prove well worth it in the end.

Goal

With this selling system, our goal was to educate and excite people. We wanted to prioritize providing a great experience and ensure customers learn a lot from us in order to qualify people for a more expensive, higher-touch offer on the back.

Success KPI

That brings up a tricky question…how do you measure education and excitement? There’s no straightforward metric for that.

So, what we did was use percent of course consumed as our KPI.

And by doing that, we were able to optimize for that metric…getting more people to actually watch more of the training videos. We used emails and even Facebook ads to encourage students that didn’t complete all the lessons to go back and finish the course.

It’s important to note that we still promoted products to these customers and made sales. We just optimized our system around consumption, rather than sales.

Risk

The training product this selling system promoted is relatively expensive ($1,997), so as a result, we could take a little more risk here. We set our break-even goal at 60 days, which was enough to cover the six-week course plus the follow-up emails to promote the product, “The Machine.”

It was definitely a risk to spend all this money with no expectation of making it back for two months. But the results were incredible, and we blew all our goals out of the water.

Example

Ryan taught a free six-week class in conjunction with InfusionSoft called “Double Your Sales.” And in that class, he delivered a ton of great information how people could double their leads, double their sales, double their reactivation purchases, and so on.

It was an awesome course that proved to be a great introduction to digital marketing for people who needed an automation tool like Infusionsoft but didn’t realize that this was a missing piece in their business.

During this six-week course, we weren’t focused on making money at all. Instead, we put 100% of our focus on delivering value and making sure the people in this class had a great experience and learned a lot.

At the very end of this course, we did promote our product called “The Machine” to people who had finished the class. We didn’t push it very hard; we basically said, “You’ve learned a lot, and now that you’re using InfusionSoft, here’s a course that will help you to get the most out of your email marketing.”

And what we realized was that over time, even after three to five months, we were generating an insane number of sales from people who had taken this class!

3 Keys to Success with this Selling System

To succeed with a selling system like this, you need three things.

First of all, you must have great content.

People who consume your content have to learn a lot and come to trust you as an authority in your niche.

Second, that content has to lead naturally to the product you’re promoting.

In this example, we taught a course in combination with InfusionSoft (which is a marketing automation platform with a big email marketing component). Then we promoted an email marketing training system on the backend.

A big part of the reason why this worked so well was because of the congruency between the free class and the product on the backend.

And finally, the product you’re promoting has to sell for a fairly high dollar amount. Otherwise, it’s hard to justify all the time and expense of delivering that content for free.

Remember, risk is always correlated with opportunity.

Selling System to Scale Your Business #4: Monetization & Retargeting

Of all the selling systems in this post, this is the one that everyone should get started with.

This is where you promote your best stuff to your customers and previous buyers—in other words, your smallest but highest-quality audience.

It’s low-hanging fruit with great potential for immediate revenue and high ROI.

Goal

The goal here is simple: to monetize your leads and customers. You want to turn one-time buyers into multi-buyers while promoting higher-ticket items.

Success KPI

For the KPI, we’re also going to keep things simple and straightforward: we’re looking for maximum positive ROI.

Risk

With this selling system, because you’re promoting your hottest products to your hottest audience, there should be almost no risk. Typically we look to break-even after 0-3 days (only use more than 0 days if you have cart abandonment retargeting to recapture potential buyers).

Example

At DigitalMarketer, we run a number of live events each year (Content & Commerce, Traffic & Conversion, and Digital Agency Growth Summit).

If you’ve never been, then take it from me: they’re an AMAZING experience for everyone involved. Because we have in-person access to people for several days, we can provide massive, massive value during these events. They’re some of the best training we can offer.

But guess what?

We aren’t promoting these events to cold traffic. Because someone who has never heard of us is not likely to buy a plane ticket and fly several hours to spend a couple days with us.

Instead, we’re promoting these events to CUSTOMERS—people who have already taken the time to know us and invested in some of our other trainings. Those are the people who are most likely to go to these live events.

Selling System to Scale Your Business #5: Sales Lead Acquisition

When we implemented this fifth and final selling system, it was a big turning-point for DigitalMarketer.

Why?

Because this one helped us change not just our strategy, but our audience. It marked the point where we expanded beyond B2C marketing (which targeted entrepreneurs and employees) and started talking to larger businesses about how we could help them grow with better marketing training.

The thing about B2B marketing is that some big-ticket items will never be sold via an online sales funnel. That’s because they require a conversation to make sure that the product or service is a good fit for what that business needs or to customize the offer to suit the business’ specific needs.

This requires a strong sales team to close your leads.

It also requires a different kind of selling system to be effective. We call it the sales lead acquisition selling system.

Goal

The goal of this selling system is not to generate new customers…but to generate conversations with prospects.

The reason we focused on conversations was because the product we were promoting typically requires some customization and approval from a chain of command rather than just one individual.

Our salespeople have to take the time to understand each customer’s unique situation and make sure they are really getting a version of the product that fits everyone’s needs.

Success KPI

In this case, our success KPI was a customer-initiated conversation where the customer came to us with a question or request for more information.

Primarily we looked at…

• Lead forms completed
• Email replies
• And phone calls initiated

Risk

Because this is a high-reward sales funnel leading to an expensive product with a recurring element, our goal was to break-even after 60 days.

And in many cases, you can push that out even further, depending on the revenue potential of your product or service (and your average sales cycle).

Example

We used this selling system to extend an invitation to DigitalMarketer HQ, our flagship training program designed to train an entire marketing department.

It’s a more complex offer than DM Lab. It requires more decisions on the part of the customer.

So rather than trying to sell the product directly online, we just wanted to get the customer on the phone—and give our salespeople a chance to help customize the offer based on the needs of each individual business.

If you take a look at the form page for DM HQ, you’ll notice that we require more information than simply an email address.

For instance, we ask for a phone number because when someone fills out this form, our ultimate goal is to get them on the phone.

The Importance of Multiple Selling Systems for Business Growth

One thing I hope you take away from this blog post is the realization that a successful business requires more than one good funnel or traffic campaign.

In order to set your business up for growth, you’ll need a variety of selling systems that bring you a diversity of leads using a healthy mix of low, medium, and high risk selling systems.

Don’t forget—risk is an inevitable and essential part of business. You need some risk!

You should, of course, avoid taking on too much risk. Don’t go out and empty your company’s entire bank account on Facebook ads after reading this (that’s just not smart).

Instead, you need to find a happy medium. And that happy medium typically involves leveraging a few higher-risk selling systems supported by many lower-risk selling systems to scale your business.

So, take the five selling systems you learned in this blog post, try them out in your company, and test new variations on each one to reach new heights in your business.

The post The 5 Selling Systems Your Business Needs to Scale appeared first on DigitalMarketer.