How to Increase Online Customer Loyalty By 82%

         You know the facts. Increasing customer loyalty…

• yields big profits over the long haul

• creates raving fans that promote your products for free

• is cheaper than finding new customers

But the question remains. How can you increase customer loyalty online?

How Artificial Advancement Increases Customer Loyalty

Not long ago, in a major metropolitan area, two consumer researchers named Joseph Nunes and Xavier Drèz conducted a customer loyalty experiment at a local car wash.
On two consecutive Saturdays, they gave out a total of 300 customer loyalty cards. Half of those required 8 purchases to earn a free car wash. The other half required 10, but instead of requiring the full 10, the car wash gave 2 car wash head-start as a free bonus.
This means, in both scenarios, customers still needed to make 8 additional purchases before they could redeem a free car wash. The only difference was varying degrees of completeness. On one hand, customers were 0% complete, and on the other, they were 20% complete.
Now the question is, would this “artificial” progress increase customer loyalty?
During the next 9 months, 28 out of 150 people without a head-start earned a free car wash, but 51 out of 150 people with the head-start earned a free car wash. That’s an increase of 82%!
Artificial progress worked. This is big news for customer loyalty. If you give your customers a head-start on completing a loyalty program, they’re much more likely to continue to use your products and services.

Can Endowed Progress Increase Customer Loyalty Online?

Yes, but before we get into details, how do you define customer loyalty?
If you’re a blogger, customer loyalty is represented by how many people buy more than one of your information products. For example, if someone buys 4 of 4 of your products, I would consider that 100% customer loyalty.
However, if you’re a consultant or designer, customer loyalty is represented by how many people continuously use your services for their needs. For example, if I always use the same designer every time I need a blog design, that’s 100% loyalty.
Now let’s get down to business. How can endowed progress help increase customer loyalty online? Follow these three steps and you should have it working for your business in no time.

Step 1: Create A Goal

To take advantage of endowed progress, you need a goal for people to work towards. It could be a free hour of consulting, free ebook download, or a free ebook design. It doesn’t matter. You just need a valuable carrot at the end of the stick.

Step 2: Decide What Your Customers Must Do

What behavior do you want to reward? You could reward customers for each purchase they make. Or, maybe you could reward them for sending you referrals? Since you saw how you can reward purchases, here’s an example of how you can reward referrals:

Imagine you’re running a membership website. You recently released your affiliate program and you want your members to  promote it. You come up with a contest to increase membership. Every person who refers 10 customers gets a free pass to a conference.
This is your chance to use endowed progress. Instead of asking them to refer 10 people, you can ask them to refer 12 people, but you’ll give them a 2 person head-start because it’s a brand-new promotion.

Step 3: Pitch the Head-Start as a Bonus

You can’t skip this step. Giving people a head-start without telling them why they got it will adversely affect the results. So how can you present it?
Personally, I think the best way is by offering it as a limited-time bonus. I like this route because you can use it when you just launch a new product or service. It will create hype and get people moving now instead of later.

Who Uses Endowed Progress to Increase Customer Loyalty?

Less than everyone. And that’s a problem.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Dan Pink’s Ted Speech. He said, “there’s a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.”
Well, endowed progress is one of those mismatches. Science proved that it increases customer loyalty, yet most businesses fail to use it.
How do you think you could implement endowed progress in your business? Leave a comment. Or, do you know of someone who uses it online? Share that too!
         

Customer Satisfaction: How to Increase Customer Satisfaction in 3 Steps

        you should develop a content strategy for customers who already bought one of your products. To summarize, she recommends that you:

• Confirm they made the right choice
• Tell them what they just bought
• Give them something to share
• Get there early

I’m sharing this with you because this is a crucial phase in the customer life cycle. If you execute it right, you can minimize returns, prevent buyer’s remorse, and increase customer satisfaction.
What else can you do? How can you create a satisfied customer who will continue to buy more stuff from you?

1. Justify the Sale with Social Proof

When most sales are made, chances are that the buyer will have to justify the purchase to another person – a boss, spouse, or anyone that may pass judgment.
To make this go smoothly, you should arm each one of your customers with testimonials from other people and companies. Or, if you have a low return rate, you might emphasize how few people returned it.
You likely recognize this as social proof. The problem is, many people use it in the selling process, but forget about it in the post purchase phase. It works, so don’t make that mistake.

2. Surprise Customers with a Bonus

When people spend money on a product, the last thing you want them to think is “was this worth it?” To combat this, you should surprise each one of your customers with a little bonus. To elaborate, let me share the fascinating experiment that helped waiters – service professionals – increase their tips by 23%.
Picture a restaurant that offers mints on the way out. Do you think customers will leave a bigger tip if the waiter left a mint with the check? How about 2 mints? Or, what if the waiter left 1 mint, walked away, and then out of no where, went back to the table to leave an additional mint?
As you may have guessed, leaving a mint increased the tip size. However, in each scenario, the increase was different. For 1 mint, the tip was 3% higher. For 2 mints, it was 14% higher. And for the third scenario it was an amazing 23% higher. The surprise triggered the largest tip because customers didn’t expect it.
So think about this. If tips are represenative of customer satisfaction, which I believe they are, you should surprise your customers with a free, valuable bonus. They won’t expect it and it will help them answer “was it worth it?” with an enthuasiastic, head-nodding, “yes!”
Ref: Sweetening the Till: The use of Candy to increase tipping by David Strohmetz.

3. Offer Free Product Training and Support

This is a clear, business-winning decision. Nothing decreases customer satisfaction more than being confused with how to make a product work. And free product training and support will be how you alleviate this customer frustration.
For example, the amazing e-learning software provider, Articulate, provides a free blog, for customers and non-customers, that teaches people how to create more effective e-learning training material. I had the chance to interview Artciulate’s CEO Adam Schwartz and he said this blog helped keep customers happy and bring in new business.
Why does this work? For starters, when people spend money on something, they tend to doubt themselves and their ability to make the product work right. With detailed, free training, you’ll alleviate that self-doubt and win a life-long customer.

The Bottom Line

Just because you made the sale, it doesn’t mean the work is over. Your job is to turn one-time buyers into loyal customers. If you follow these strategies, you should be well on your way. What do you think?
         

How to Sell More, At Higher Prices, and Keep Customers Coming Back

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Got a product or service to sell?
Then you probably already know that blogging is one of the smartest ways to get sales online…
…But what else can you do? How can you increase online sales, sell more at higher prices, and keep customers buying your stuff?
The legendary direct marketer Claude Hopkins once said, “The competent advertising man must understand psychology. The more he knows about it the better.”
Well, he was right. Once you know how the human mind works, generating sales online becomes a cinch.

If you’re loving this article series, share it on Twitter by clicking here

Introducing: The 5-Part Series on Increasing Online Sales

Everything you read in this 5-part blog series is backed up by psychological research and case studies.
…But don’t worry. There won’t be any jargon. The articles use plain and simple language, provide detailed examples, and give you action plans that should help you increase your online sales.

                       

How A New Blog Brought In $2,000 in Revenue—and Attracted 800 Readers—In A Single Day (case study)

      The brutal truth of blogging is this:
It’s hard to get readers.
And it’s even harder when you follow some of the fluff marketing advice you see these “experts” put out.
But the fact remains that you need readers—more readers equals more business.
That’s why I want to show you how one entrepreneur used my drafting technique to flood her business with hundreds of new readers in just one day.

But First, What’s the Drafting?

I filmed a video about it last month, and you can see that here: how to land major press with no connections.
It’s a short video. So, go watch it right now, and I’ll wait .
Now that you’ve watched that, let’s talk about this one blogger who used this method to go from 20 hits a day… to more than 800 hits in a day.
And then, how those 800 hits helped her generate $2,000 in revenue.

Here’s How Katrina Padron Used The Drafting Technique To Score Blog Traffic

Let me break this down:
Drafting is about hopping into your competitor’s slipstream. If they get featured somewhere, you try to get featured there too.
Well, Katrina Padron saw that one of her competitors was featured on a blog, a large blog, that was capable of sending a whole lot of traffic.
Most people would have wondered “aww, I wish I could get featured there too…”
And then they would have left the site never to return.
Fail. People who are serious about increasing their blog traffic would NEVER do that.
So what did Katrina do?
She used what I call the Drafting technique, took her success into her own hands, and BAM!
She got featured, and her new blog went from getting 20 hits in a day… to over 800 hits. Here’s the proof:

Not bad
But what’s amazing is this:
That burst in traffic attracted 171 subscribers, and $2,000 in revenue from two new client acquisitions.
And thats’ not all!

It Gets Better…

…Instead of resting on her laurels, she then leveraged her success to land a major interview on a HUGE blog.
How?
She saw one of her competitors get featured for explaining how they saw a massive traffic increase with a unique strategy.
Well, since she did just that… saw a massive traffic spike from my technique… she decided to leverage that success to land an interview.
And she got it! She pitched herself as a potential interviewee, and bam! Now she’s got that too.

Now How Can You Land Media Coverage Too?

By now you know why I share this advice with you.
When I release my premium training course, you won’t wonder “does it work?” Instead, you’ll think “is this right for me?”
(If you run a blog, then it is right for you ).
But that aside, this technique has worked for years, and I’ve personally used to build my email list and my business.
(And I still use it today!)
But if you’re stuck…
…Even after watching the video, then here are step-by-step directions on how to use the drafting technique to land major press coverage.
One note: I can’t guarantee that you’ll see the same results. That would be irresponsible of me. So, just remember, your results are entirely dependent on how you execute this simple 3-step formula.

Step 1: Discover the Perfect People and Businesses to Draft

Before you begin drafting, you’ve got to take inventory on who you’d like to draft. There are two types of people (or businesses) that I’d target:
1. Direct competitors – Find people who offer competing products, services, or yes, even content.
These people are perfect to draft because you offer almost the same thing. If they’re getting coverage, you can too.
2. Indirect competitors – These are companies or people who are in the same vertical as you, but offer something slightly different. For example, they might offer invoicing software for designers whereas you offer invoicing software for freelancer writers.
These people are GREAT to draft because you’ve got a unique angle to approach reporters with, right off the bat.
To be safe, I’d build a list of 10-20 people.
Once you have that, keep an eye on where they’re getting featured. With Google’s new tools for searching by date (within 1 week), it should be easy to check up on each of them.
Then, when you see an opportunity, here’s what you do next:

Step 2: What Incentive Can You Provide Reporters With to Cover Your Company?

When you’re looking to get featured on a website, you’ve got to realize one thing:
It’s not about you or your company. It’s about providing the reporter with an incentive to cover your company.
Because remember, reporters are people, and as Levitt and Dubner wrote in Super Freakonomics, “People are people, and they respond to incentives. They can nearly always be manipulated—for good or ill—if only you find the right lever.”
Now I’m not telling you to bribe people. That doesn’t work. But there are other incentives that fire a reporter up. Let’s go through that.
First, what does a reporter do?
They write stories, and their stories cover unique ideas, controversy, and/or new developments to an existing story.
Now if you can make their job easier… and provide them with a story… you’re golden. You made the reporter’s work life easier, and who doesn’t want that?
Yes, I may have over simplified it, but you get the idea.
Keeping that in mind, when you want to draft behind one of your competitors (both direct and indirect), you’ve got to position your company in a way that creates a story for the reporter.
To do that, analyze the story about your competitor. Was there any holes? Concerns? Or was there room for additional commentary?
If so, you’ll want to pitch the story idea, and position your article, product, or service as the focal point of that story. Or you can focus on crafting contagious content.
Now what happens when you have your story idea? Proceed…

Step 3: How to Pitch Your Story to Reporters and Bloggers

This is the final step, but as a fair warning, if you skimped on the prep work and story creation in Step 2, this step is pointless.
That aside, let’s do this.
Most people pitch reporters and bloggers ALL WRONG.
I know you know what I’m talking about too…
If you run a blog, chances are you’ve seen a PR rep send you an email that talks about some new press release and asks you to link them because “they think you’ll be interested.”
Are you ever interested?
Nope .
So what’s the right way to pitch a reporter or blogger?
The trick is to NEVER send a long email with a long pitch. People are busy, and they ignore long emails from people they don’t know.
Instead, you want to write an email that people can’t resist. YOu want to write an email that BECKONS a response.
What’s an email like that look like?
Here:

Hey Name,
I saw you wrote about [insert topic]. Well, I’ve got some [insert unique story angle] that answers the concerns you raised in your original article. Here’s the article:
[insert link to article here].
You’re busy but you’ll find this as the perfect answer to [insert the concern they raised].
- Derek

And that’s it.
That template works great for a three reasons:

1. You’re drafting behind one of their topics, as shown with the first sentence.
2. It also works because you’re promisnig a unique angle, which all reporters and bloggers want.
3. This email works because it opens an information gap.

Note: I don’t recommend you copy this email word for word. Also note how I don’t ask for a link. That’s key. Asking for a link alerts the BS meters .

Getting Press Coverage Is That Easy, But…

…You have to take action on this advice.
When I first shared this tactic a month ago, you had the opportunity to implement it.
Did you?
Katrina did, and she reaped the rewards.
(My content contains no fluff. Just concrete marketing advice)
But how about you?
What’s holding you back?
Remember this:
In the end, building a blog that generates business is possible… even in an overcrowded marketplace.
But you’ve got to take action.
Now leave a comment and tell me how you plan on leveraging the drafting technique
                         

How to Get 2,281 Subscribers—and Increase Traffic by 69%—in 27 Days

Today I’m going to show you how I slapped a jetpack on my blog’s growth.
And more importantly, I’m going to tell you exactly what I did so you can model it.
What’s better is this:
Even though I used this simple strategy to increase my blog traffic, you can use this framework to grow anything, from raw traffic numbers to loyal customers.
You ready?
Let’s do this.

First, A Little Backstory

Back in early November 2011, I was hanging with Pat Flynn in Los Angeles, and between beers, I heard Pat say “~20% of my readers said they first found me on iTunes.”
I didn’t spit on myself, thank god, but I did have the foresight to DRILL him on that number.
You see, I never ran a podcast before, but with results like that, I knew I had to create one.
But I wasn’t going to rush it…
Instead, I was going to follow what I call the “launch anything” formula.
And here’s what happened:

My Podcast Came Out In Early January…

…and here’s what happened:
It’s January 27th, and Social Triggers has already grown over December’s full month of traffic by 43%—and there’s still 5 days left before month-end!
If this rate continues, Social Triggers will experience 69% growth over December 2011, my previous “best month” for blog traffic.
But let’s not just talk about traffic…
…let’s talk about RSS subscribers.
On January 1st, 2011, Social Triggers had 14,309 subscribers, and on January 27th, 2011, Social Triggers has 16,590 subscribers, meaning my RSS list grew by 16% too!
(I don’t publicly reveal my email list size or my revenue on purpose, so don’t ask ).
Why was the podcast a huge success?
It’s because I used the “launch anything” formula I told you about.
But now you’re likely wondering “how can I pull off the same thing?”
And more importantly, “how can this same strategy work for anything… not just a podcast?”
Keep reading.

The 3-Step Formula to Launching Anything (I Just Happened to Launch a Podcast)

Let’s get one thing straight:
Yes, I used this 3-step formula to launch a podcast, but it can be used to launch anything.
Releasing a new ebook? A product? A training program? A new service? New real estate listings?
It doesn’t matter. This formula works.
Why am I giving it away for free?
That’s simple.
You see, when I give away sure-fire formulas that get you results, that means you know my material works.
That way, when I release my premium training product, you won’t wonder “does it work?” Instead, you’ll think “is this right for me?”
That’s the psychology behind why it’s smart to give away some of your best material.
Makes sense?
Good.
Now let me walk you through this 3-step formula.

Step 1: Discover Your Unique Selling Proposition

Here’s the most important step, and if you plan on skipping it, you might as well stop reading right now.
Whenever you launch something new (a blog, a podcast, anything), you’ve got to fill a need in the market with a solution that doesn’t exist.
I know that sounds complicated, but it’s not.
All you’ve got to do is this:
First, Take a look at your main competitors (look at the biggest and best only) and figure out their core topics and target market.
Second, Write those topics on a piece of paper, and then begin to write other topics that might be related.
Finally, Begin combining 2, 3, or 4 topics together with your personality, and you’re set. You may not have unique ingredients, but you’ve got a unique recipe.
And that unique recipe is all that matters.
I’ll say that one more time…

For a successful launch, you don’t need unique ingredients. You need a unique recipe. – Tweet This

Nothing works better than a real-life example, so here’s mine:
When I decided I want to release a podcast, I knew I had to do something different from Pat Flynn, and the other podcasters out there.
You see, I write about internet marketing, which is one of the most crowded niches. So what did I plan on doing to stand out?
Instead of bringing on the usual suspects, the top social media influencers, I decided to go outside social media to introduce new people into our community.
I began featuring world-class researchers, professors from top universities, New York Times best-selling authors, and anyone else who could talk about the psychology of monetization.
And BAM. I was done.
But having a unique selling proposition wasn’t enough…
Yes, when you’re using the “launch anything” formula, the unique selling proposition is vital, but you also need something more.
And that’s where this next section comes into play.

Step 2: How to Build Anticipation The Right Way

Here’s the deal:
When most people release something new, they often announce it AND release it on the same day…
…And that’s a huge mistake.
No matter what you release… whether it’s a podcast… a new product… a new type of content on your site… you MUST build anticipation.
Why?
1. That anticipation gets people talking about you and your upcoming release.
2. That anticipation gets people to comment on your blog and say “I can’t wait for it.”
(Note: When people commit to something, they like to remain consistent with their publicly declared actions, as originally pointed out by Robert Cialdini’s consistency principle).
3.That anticipation opens what’s known as an information gap, and people can’t wait to fill it.
(When there is a gap between what people know and don’t know, they seek to fill it. This was first discovered by George Loewenstein, and it’s called “information gap theory.“)
How Do You Build That Anticipation?
That’s easy.
You tell people what’s coming, but you’re not too specific about it. You give details, but hold back the real meat.
For example, when I launched Social Triggers Insider, I filmed a short video that said “Introducing Social Triggers Insider.”
In that video, I told people what my podcast was about, but I never told them who I planned to feature. That was going to be a surprise.
And what happened?
That video announcement post attracted well over 300 blog comments… 300 tweets… and thousands of hits.
Just announcing the release of my upcoming podcast generated a huge amount of buzz, but there was an added benefit…
People KNEW I was releasing something new!
The reality is this: Most of your readers don’t read every email or blog post you write.
So, when you break it down into two separate articles (or emails), you get two chances to grab attention instead of one.
To really illustrate this, when I finally released my first Social Triggers Insider master class, that email update had a 75.3% open rate.
Yes, 75.3% open rate… The industry average is often less than 20%, especially when dealing with email lists as large as mine.
Anticipation works .

Step 3: How to Deliver On Your Promises

Here’s where things get sticky…
When you build anticipation, you’ve got to deliver.
I know that sounds simple, but I’ve found that when people just do what they say they’re going to do, they’re light years ahead of everyone else.
Cynical, yes, but still true.
Now if you really want to woo your readers… and ensure that people KNOW you brought the goods… you should over deliver.
Here’s how:
1. Add an unannounced bonus – For example, when I released my podcast, I said it was an audio master class. However, I delivered a transcript, an audio file, and a video.
2. Deliver beautiful packaging – Your design is essential for building trust. So, if you deliver a nicely designed finished product, people will thank you for it. (I’m lucky that I like minimalism )
3.DELIVER RESULTS – You can’t get around this. No matter what you release, you’ve got to make sure you’re delivering results to your readers and customers.
And that’s it.
You’re set.

Now Here’s What I Want You To Do

If you found this article helpful, share it with your friends.
I hope to help as many people as possible with my free content, and I need you to help spread the word. So, thank you.
But now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty:
First, you’ll need to come up with what you’d like to launch. Remember, it can be anything.
But here are some things to consider:

1. You can introduce a brand-new type of content. If you often write articles, maybe now you can create a video series.
2. You can release a brand-new, or updated service package. And I suspect that’s self explanatory.
3. You can release a brand-new series of content. Instead of simply writing a one and done blog post, announce the launch of a blog post series.

And you’re done.
Once you know what you plan to release, just go back through this article and follow the 3-step formula.
Then, when it’s time to get traffic, use what I call “The Drafting Technique.”
Now let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Increasing CTR

Making real money using Google’s AdSense program is easy. The key is to increase the AdSense click through rate (CTR) on a site. This means converting traffic to your site into traffic to your advertisers' sites.

Theoretically this is very easy. Making it work in practice, however, requires a some time and effort. But, if you are able to increase the CTR, the results can be quite surprising. In fact, many people who have mastered this to their favor have done wonders for their lives.

Let’s look at some of the ways to achieve this.

• Search Engine Optimization. This requires you to increase the concentration of highly used search engine keywords on the website. This works on the principle that if enough people visit your site, some of them will actually click through to the ads. The website content should also be rich in keywords while still offering good information.
• Make ads blend in. Another way is to make the adverts look similar to the website content in color schemes, fonts etc.
• Reduce outgoing links. By limiting the visitor's option of where to go next, the CTR can be increased very easily.
• Try different ad sizes. This is basically a trial-and-error method of experimenting with the size and color schemes of the ads to find out which works best for your site.

The process of increasing the CTR will be slow and hence time consuming, but the effort is well worth the results. The idea is to make a site relevant and enticing enough that visitors will want to click through on the ads to learn more about potential products and services related to the content.

Beware: Repeatedly reloading your page to jack up page impressions can get you banned. Click-through-rate (CTR) is ratio of clicks per impressions. It can range from 0.1% to 30%, but most commonly around 1% to 10%.

Online Money making - Myths and remedies

I have seen many a posts on the internet where people are complaining that they have not made any serious money although they have been religiously posting on their blogs and using site monetizing techniques. People need to understand that earning moneythrough full time blogging is a very difficult and tedious process and not everybody is made for it. I present below some of the associated myths and remedies thereof...

• Just setting up a website and thinking that now the money will start falling through the roof is downright stupid - it will never happen.
• Similarly, just adding Google Adsense code into your website will not ensure ringing cash register, a lot needs to be done and believe me, its very hard work.
• Do not believe in people saying that they are making six-figure incomes just by adding adsense into their website and working two hours a day - Its a white LIE.
• Your website needs real content for it to make some money. Small 1-5 page websites can never make the kind of money those emails promised.
• Plagiarism is a strict no-no, it will never even be listed on popular search engines.
• I have seen many ads delivered to my email, selling 1-2 step websites. Never fall for them, they are lying and you will never make any money buying them... stay away from them.
• You need to have passion for the medium if you are serious about setting up an online business. The activity of creating websites that millions go to needs dedication and a lot of tecnical skills.
• Before monetizing your website/Blog make it popular. Only about 10% of people click on ads (If you are very lucky). That means if only 100 people are visiting your website every day, then you might get at maximum about 10 clicks - which translates into $1 (again, if you are lucky).
• Go for niche interests for which not much information is available online. This ensures more traffic and hence more income.
• You must have a working knowledge of HTML, so that you are not dependent on your developers for making small changes in the website.
• Post regularly - This is very important. You must post new content on the website/ blog for people to visit it again and again. This builds traffic as also it results in improving your site position on the search results. Ideally you should post everyday, but posting quality content once a week is also very good.
• And last but foremost is that you must have a flair for writing. Bad writing skills will not take you far in this field. Grammatical and spelling mistakes are very bad for a budding writing career in the blogosphere.

If you like the above post please do post your comments here so that I can improve on my future posts