Everybody has an opinion on what’s “THE” key to getting people to buy from you.
You’ll hear talk of “persuasion”. You’ll hear talk of “warming up” your list or “training them to buy”. You’ll even hear talk of “tricks” such as illegitimate limits and deadlines to spike the customer’s urgency, “leaked” copies, hyped up promotions, etc.
Why make it that complicated?
There’s a much easier way to get orders: just ask your list what they want and offer it to them.
Why try to “warm them up” to an offer when you can much more easily just offer them something they are already “warm” (even “hot!”) towards?
Why try to “persuade” them to buy something when they are already actively looking to buy something?
Why try to “trick” them with schemes and scams when you can just say “here’s what you told me you wanted?”
If I see a tourist who just finished the Mt. Longonot panting and sweating with parched lips, do I really need to try to convince them they need to buy a cup of hot chocolate from me? Wouldn’t it be much easier to offer them some cold water, since that’s what they really want?
Feed them What They “Really” Want
Your subscribers are hungry for certain products and services. And when you advertise those products and services in a certain way, it’s like flipping a money switch that gives you almost unbelievable conversion rates – and commissions.
In short:
The easiest way to boost your affiliate income is to place yourself squarely in front of the money.
Once you’ve figured out types of products, services and offers appeal to your subscribers, you can feed them similar offers, content and triggers.
See, here’s the thing: Some affiliate marketers try to give their subscribers what they need. But if your subscribers don’t also WANT the product or service, they won’t buy it. Period.
So don’t even bother giving them what they need or what you think they need (as these might be two entirely different things!)
Instead, give them what they want.
Give Them More and More of What They Want
And once you discover which products and services they want with a rabid passion, deliver more of the same.
Tip: Testing and tracking is the only way to know for sure which offers and products your subscribers respond to best.For example, you can split your list in half and send the exact same email to both lists – with the only difference being that you’re sending the groups to different (but similar) products.
Aside from directly testing offers, the other ways to find out what your subscribers want includes eavesdropping on niche forums, reading product reviews, finding out what the bestsellers are on Amazon.com and elsewhere, etc. You can also come right out and ask your readers what they want (i.e., survey them).
Here are five questions to ask your subscribers and prospects
1. What frustrates you the most about [niche problem]?
Example: What frustrates you the most about housetraining your dog?
2. What [niche topic] questions would you most like to see answered?
Example: What French cooking questions would you most like to see answered?
3. What would your ideal [type of product] do/look like?
Example: What would your ideal membership script do – what functions would it include?
4. What [type/niche] products have you purchased in the past three months?
Note: Here you may provide a list of hot products in your niche, along with an option to write in the ones they’ve purchased that you didn’t list.
Ideally, you’ll also want to include follow up questions asking them what they thought about these products. You can then promote the products that your subscribers like, while finding other products to promote that are improvements over those products your subscribers didn’t like.
5. Which products have you recently considered purchasing?
Example: What organic gardening books have you recently considered purchasing?
Note: As a follow-up question you may ask them why they haven’t purchased the product (even though they’ve thought about it). Knowing why they didn’t purchase will help you improve your promotions.
The important thing is to know your subscribers, customers and site visitors.
If they hate ice cream, it’s pointless to keep promoting ice cream. But, if you find that they love chocolate cake you can keep offering them chocolate cake over and over again with confidence that they’ll continue buying.
Obviously, I’m speaking illustratively.
But the point is the same: you increase affiliate commissions by promoting things your network WANTS.
Stop offering them hot chocolate when they are begging for cold water!
Patrick Mahinge is a prolific digital marketer and "serial webpreneur". He runs multiple profitable niche websites and blogs monetized through affiliate marketing and advertising. Patrick generously shares his expertise in affiliate marketing, blogging, and online business through his Facebook group of over 5,000 aspiring entrepreneurs.
