Would like to hear from U.K. marketers...

[DavidO]

Frank Donovan posted an excellent sales page example in another thread that's supposedly selling like hotcakes in the U.K.:

Entrepreneurs Bootcamp 2009

I'm a Yank in the U.K. and I'd love to increase my market share here. One very good reason is the terrible shape of the dollar and it's not getting better any time soon.

The sales page example above tells me I may have misread the U.K. market. I've always considered it more reserved and less susceptible to hypey tactics, yet this page is one of the "loudest" I've seen recently.

Maybe I should have known better considering the British fondness for trashy tabloids like The Sun (only worth looking at for Page 3, imho!).

I'd like to hear some more feedback on this sales page from U.K. marketers as well as specific advice for this market.

[SouthamptonAngel]

Hi there,

I have to say that the page that you're linking to looks trashy to me - I took one look at it and closed it. To me, it screams "scam" and I think it would do to most UK internet users.

[Hugh Thyer]

One of Australia's top copywriters told me to study this guy's letters and write them out free hand.

This guy is seriously good. If you want to make serious $$$ as a copywriter and make your clients rich then you need to study people like Andrew Reynolds.

[Mark McClure]

David,

Isn't Andrew one of Norn Iron's finest exports? God's wee country etc ;-)

Seriously, he aims straight for the Biz Op MMO newbies.. and with the UK economy sloshing around on a sea of money printing (QE2?) uncertainty, there'll be loads of people desperately looking to make extra cash in 2010...

...you know, the easy way, with no effort required, no talking to pesky customers, no delivering products (heavens above, no!), no providing customer service (ugh! whatever next? Refunds?) and definitely no boring and business tedium. Just login and count the cash! Yippee.

Just put in the DVDs, sip a glass or two of wine, and start building those exciting castles in the air. Let someone else worry about secure foundations.

The copy, while no doubt appearing to be a 'scam' to some in the UK (and elsewhere too, I'll wager), will hit that market right between the eyes.

From a copywriter's perspective, I found it interesting to see how he added sick children and 'make-a-wish' activities into the letter and wonder what were the results of split-testing those?

[stevedirect]

Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

It's hardly a scam, far from it.

I don't think Southampton Angel is saying it IS a scam. I think she's just saying the sales letter gives the IMPRESSION of it being a scam.

I can see that point of view. I think a lot of people, both in the UK or elsewhere, would be turned off by the letter. But it might work for some, and if it makes money, the sales letter has done the job.

Cheers

Steve

[stevedirect]

Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

Understood, thanks Steve.

Welcome to the Warrior Forum btw.

Good to see you here posting in this
copywriting section.

Warmest regards.


Mark Andrews...

Thanks Mark

There are some good discussions
going on in here.

By the way, is that a rugged coastline
behind you in the pic? Scotland? Cornwall? ...
Just guessing.

Cheers

Steve

[Ashley Wright]

I do understand where you are coming from but you have to remember that letter itself was mainly aimed at people who actually know Andrew Reynolds etc, from not knowing the guy yes you would have doubts, but then on the other hand if you understand how successful the guy is then you would think twice and want to read on. Also it is not much of a sales "pitch" as he is giving away freebies! So you can't really complain

[Ashley Wright]

I do appologise infact! That sales now links to a new product! The original sales copy led onto a form to fill in for the Bootcamp which was held last month which was free but required a donation for a charity, which I attended myself. Now as I just scanned through it Andrew is selling a product their and using the same sales letter!

[Paul Hancox]

As Mark said, the target market is the "Make Money (Without Living Too Many Fingers Too Often)" crowd, and what these people want is BIG EASY INCOME, PROOF, BELIEF.

BIG INCOME: The sales letter constantly alludes to that... look at the numbers flashed around... "£38,000 PER WEEK PROFIT"... "OVER £2 MILLION POUNDS A YEAR"... " £5 MILLION POUNDS from the system"... and that's just on the first few pages.

EASY: "Cash-On-Demand"... "You NEVER Have To Talk to a Customer or Handle A Single Product"... etc.

PROOF: There's the big fat £702,158.00 cheque picture, and the many pictures of the various products, and of the dream lifestyle - and the testimonials and mini case studies.

BELIEF: The one thing that comes through overwhelmingly is Andrew's enthusiasm for his system.

I think the sales letter does a great job. Yes, it's hyped up... but let's face it, anyone who wants to make Big Money quickly kind of wants and needs the hype, because they need to believe... and also, part of most people's success formula IS enthusiasm.

We have to bear in mind this is a £697 + VAT (£105) + £99 p/month product. People don't spend that kind of money unless they are whipped up with desire. That is precisely what the sales letter does.

[Rezbi]

There's all sorts of people all over the world. To pigeon hole people in certainly categories based on where they come from would be a huge mistake.

I've bought tons of material, mainly from the U.S., and I'm British/Asian.

Believe me when I say Asians are generally some of the toughest people to sell to. But I'm not like the general Asian groups.

Like I said, don't pigoen hole people.

In fact, that sales page looks mighty attractive to me. I'm glad I got rid of my CC or I might be wipping it out right now.

[stevedirect]

Anyone know what the return rates are on these products?

Also, I didn't look too hard, but I couldn't find a mention
of a guarantee or any sort of return policy.

[Intrepreneur]

Hey that guy Simon, mentioned on the page, is hosting lots of seminars in the UK that only talk about his huge income and successes so it doesn't surprise me the salescopy is the same.

You should see the seminars that are converting never mind the copy. These seminars are ugly, I've seen a whole recording of one. The seminar goes something like copy..

I was a bum..

I had no money..

I discovered Internet Marketing..

I built websites (the ones in the manual are ugly looking ebay affiliate sites)

I made a million...

$5 k to join if you don't mind.. but we'll give you it free. (name and email thank you... what a snazzy list building system.. eh?)

My thoughts are on this topic. "People respond to whatever makes them tick. Money makes lots of people tick".

[Intrepreneur]

Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

Do you have any idea just how much
it costs to run a training event held at
the O2 Arena, formerly The Millennium
Dome, London - for thousands of
people?
.

Have you seen the seminars (ones run by Simon who is metnioned on the page). Reference my post above.

They really are ridiculous but they work so maybe he's not to blame for hosting rediciulous seminars but they seem nothing more than an elaborate squeeze page.

[markpocock]

Andrew Reynold's copywriter is a top secret. Apparently
he refuses to divulge the person's name. Even to his
own students.

As Mr Reynolds has earned £30 Million you'd have to
say this type of sales letter works. Even to us
conservative Brits!!

And using the charity donation bit is great use of
adding more emotion to the sales letter.

cheers

Mark

[JMSD]

Hi

I doubt that Andrew Reynolds needs any defence from any of us - he's £60m+ (not £30m) rich enough to hire his own defence but a scamter he is not.

He is an extremely clever marketer who has learned from the industry's best - Bill Myers was his mentor - an American who is, in my opinion, modesty personafied and for whom I have the deepest respect.

Andrew made the bulk of his millions offline using direct marketing. It's relatively recently that he's put up a website to which he directs his prospects/customers by invitation.

His products are first rate and he gives value for money. I happen to have bought a number of his products the most recent ones of which provide licences to quality products and video tutorials produced by household name online marketers of today. I am finding it difficult to balance the learning and the doing because there is so much great stuff to go through.

I don't, personally, like his sales letters and I have never bought a single item from him because of all the extraneous material on them such as his life-style or what he owns.

The fact that he's gone on to dig himself out of financial debt to making more than good with his system that I can now follow, is good enough for me. I skim over all the hype and make my decision based on the substance that I extract from such sales letters.

I would gladly part with £10K to be on his "Fast Track" program and hope to be able to do so very soon. Those who have been fortunate enough to get one-to-one coaching from him have, themselves, gone on to become millionaires. One of those was a car park attendant and the other is Tim Lowe to name but two.

He has given away a cheque in the sum of over £350,000 (GBP not dollars) to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital (Wembly Bootcamp), a similar large sum to "Make A Wish Foundation" Bootcamp 2008 and also in Bootcamp 2009 at the 02 (I was present at the last two) and has helped disadvantaged communities by donating large sums to them. In addition to being part of The Prince's Trust, he was invited by Prince Charles to a dinner at Buck House to which Andrew invited Armand Morin.

The guy is genuine, a clever marketer and one who deserves all the luck and rewards he's created for himself and he's now paying it forward by making a number of his otherwise high ticket products affordable to more people.

Unlike most marketers who have support ticket system and customer support staff to deal with customer queries, I have always had a personal response to my emails to his private email address. I wish other marketers would emulate his style and attention to customer relations.

James

PS - not all UK residents read the Sun or have a taste for hype but if your product's as good as Andrew's then we have the ability to discern what is hype and what is substance.

Furthermore, the products are much too costly (average product price is £997 GBP) to be of interest to "newbies" given that he buys targeted lists of prospects who have spent several thousand pounds on similar products in the recent past.

In short, Andrew does what any good marketer should do. Research the market, find the hot niches, buy exclusive licences to such products (he now has a product creation team of his own) and then sell it to a rabid market. He learned this from the industry's best.

[madmike133]

Actually I just purchased Andrew Reynolds stuff, was on entre-TV channel, £29 per month for 12 months. The Guys a marvel and worth reading more about.

[Riz]

Andrew Reynolds is a very well respected marketer in the eyes of many in the uk and also a Scammer in the eyes of many.

People judge by the hyped sales letter and assume he is a scammer. But what is he doing? He is marketing to his target audience which is exactly what we all do.

Andrew made the majority of his money in offline direct mail marketing. His business model was something along these lines:

1) License a Money Making product from America
2) Sell it through Direct Mail for a low price
3) Sell the buyers onto a £5k seminar

That is the basics of his business model.

The letter that you see in the link from the OP is usually only seen by personal invitation - you get the invitation through the mail, ie it's people on his list who like and trust him.

In 2006 Andrew promoted the UK World Internet Summit. Probably ended up being one of the WIS's with the highest attendance. I attended that seminar and it is what got me started in IM - so for that i will always thank Andrew for sending me an invitation.

The seminars he now runs are exactly the way WIS is run - approx 1 and a half hour speeches from well known marketers aimed at the newbie with a high priced coaching session sold at the end.

Andrew makes his money by taking a cut from the sales made by the guru presenters.

The ticket price usually goes to Charity and is an emotional trigger in the sales letter.

So although it costs a large anount of upfront costs to run these seminars it is not an issue for guys like Andrew Reynolds - he has the money and at the end of the seminar he makes way more than his upfront costs.

A very very smart marketer in my eyes.

Riz

[JMSD]

Yes, his "Cash on Demand" course is targeted at "newbies" but in essence, it's aptly named because if you follow his lessons and create your list, every time you want to make money, you simply broadcast to your existing list or a list (for direct mail) that you may purchase from list brokers and I'm not talking about email lists.

Andrew used to do this with each and every product and then take a month or more off before sending off another broadcast to his own list or a direct mail to new prospects by buying the names and addresses of people interested in buying similar products.

He now has an impressive list of his own and hires out this list through list brokers. Follow his example and success is almost guaranteed. Why re-invent the wheel?

James