Question on Sales Letters With Multiple Order Buttons

Joe,

I haven't tested it but it follows the line of reasoning that using more calls to action can increase response rate. That way, as soon as they decide they want to buy then they don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom to do so. Obviously, it needs to be well-thought out because if you ask for the order too soon, then it will probably depress response rates.

I *think* Michel Fortin wrote an article about it once but for the life of me, I can't remember which site of his (free or paid) I saw it.

Hope that helps,

Mike

I frequently check code and/or URLs in forms that have multiple order buttons, and very seldom do they appear to be tracked. That would be useful information to know, especially in long copy, because there just might be something triggering responses in a particular section that might not have been otherwise noticed.

Bob Bly, for example, typically uses multiple order buttons throughout his copy, so maybe he has tested this.

I'd certainly be interested in any detailed information along these lines too, as I haven't found any substantial data so far.

Thanks for the feedback. It came up because I was reading Joe Sugarman talking about informercials being a three-act play that needed the full 30 minutes to tell the product's story.

A friend of his was advertising perfume with moderate results. A survey of the customers showed they wanted to find out how to order much earlier in the program. Joe warned that if he did that, the sales would drop. His friend went ahead and added ordering information early in the program and results were terrible. Joe's point was that they had to hear the full sales story before they were really sold.

So it made me wonder if there was any similar research in online sales letters....

I tested this back in 1999 on long form letters for nutritional supplements. Back then multiple buttons increased conversion significantly. I don't recall the percentage, but it was high enough that I didn't look back.

The last and second to last buttons accounted for something like 90% of sales. The last button was the overwhelming winner except for one letter where the second to last button took the prize.

Buttons early in the page seems to make readers more comfortable with clicking the buttons further down...at least that's my theory.

But that was half a generation ago and there have been a lot of page views under the bridge. Behavior may have changed...it could have been market specific...blah blah blah. Still gotta test.

I mean - it all comes down to testing.

A more urgent niche like yeast infection might need more copy that explains the benefits and solutions.

Compared to a niche like dating where there really isn't as much urgency as yeast infection.

YET - there are people who claim the opposite.

Test it out on your niche. Do half the traffic with multiple call to actions, and half the traffic with 2-3 call to actions.

BUT remember you have to think LONG term because maybe those who didn't read most of the copy and instead just bought, refund the most. Compared to those who were more CLEARED about what they were going to get.


.02


regZ

back in the day when i was working for armand morin, he told me during one conversation that he tested # of order buttons on his sales letters and found the most conversions coming between 2 numbers... (can't remember the exact #'s tho, this was like 8 years ago)

makes sense... look at infomercials.... they have many calls to action.

but i'm not a copywriter... so you might wanna ask the pro's.

I'd test it. :-)

I could imagine writing a long-form sales letter that looks like this (if I had the option to use multiple order buttons).

Story/Hook/Copy/Damaging Admission/Why You Shouldn't Buy/Who Shouldn't Buy/Why This Might Not Work For You
Testimonials
Inflate the Value (benefits)
Guarantees
Inflate the Value (more damn benefits)
But you can only get it for... (*shockingly not so overpriced after all)
Order button
Bonuses
Order button
Would you really want to miss out bla bla
more benefits
bonuses
testimonials
order button
P.S.
order button

I think, and this is just my opinion, products that aren't overly high-priced would benefit from multiple order buttons. Examples of these would be some website plugin, an ebook on traffic, any kind of book, etc.

If you're selling stuff that are damn expensive, I think you should only use 1 order button way down at the end. This is to exhaust every method to educate, entice, and relieve people's hesitation in buying a $1000+ course, product, whatever.

If you're selling a person, I mean their services, I think (again, just my rookie opinion) just one button at the end would do better.

I've found it to work. I believe it's because some people don't read the entire thing, I don't. I read the testimonials, the product description and the call to action area first. If I really like what I see, I'll click the first button I can find.

Anyway, if you do it, you can test the different buttons by creating a product variation for each. This way you get an idea of how soon your customers are reading your copy.

We tested this and interestingly enough it still depends on the pitch, lol.

The top and bottom order buttons do account for 90% of your sales, and you'll get most of your refunds from the top most button.

There is a good segment of any buyer population that qualifies as impulse buyers. Know how many you have and how they relate to your refunds is a great way of improving the ROI of your sales page.

Be sure to test it out, because everybody's numbers will be different, depending on the pitch and the product.

It depends on the price point of the product, and the stage of awareness of the market. If the price point is high and the market is less aware and needs a bit of education, then you want to refrain from asking the question too early.

But for a low-price, high-awareness, fully market-adopted product, something people shop around for or know about already, then you want to give them multiple opportunities to buy.

Maybe. Let's test the theory, right now...

Let me ask you a question:

Do you want to buy my car? I'm selling it for $25,000.

That's it. That's my entire ad. (So it's similar -- in effect -- to placing a buy button at the very top of a sales letter.)

OK, I'm waiting...

Do you want to buy it?

The answer is... you don't know if you want to buy it.

After all, I might be selling a $1 million Enzo Ferrari or a rusted out 1971 Ford Pinto that's sitting up on blocks in my front yard.

You don't know because I didn't:

1) Establish the value of what I'm selling, and...

2) I didn't give you enough info to make a buying decision.

The rule is that you don't ask for the sale until you've done BOTH of those things.

That said, there are a couple EXCEPTIONS:

1) If it's a low-priced product (that is, an impulse purchase), or...

2) If the product has been properly pre-sold by a trusted authority.

For example, if Michel Fortin mailed his list and said, "The XYZ Money-Making System is the BEST Internet marketing product I've EVER seen. If you only buy one IM product in your life -- buy this one! But get it now before they raise the price."

If he did that, he could probably help them sell a lot of product -- even if the sales page said only, "This is the product Michel told you about. Click the buy button below to get yours today for only $27."

The point is that -- if a product is pre-sold AND priced low enough -- the people who visit the page might very well click the first button they see because they were sold BEFORE they arrived.

However, if you're driving cold traffic, in my view, asking them to buy early and often is unlikely to help.

Why?

Well, first, because of the reasons I stated above... and also because there are some things people just know. They know how to turn a doorknob to open a door and they know that the order button (or form) can be found at the end of a sales letter. (It's not as if people will be frantically scrolling up and down to try to figure out how to buy your product!)

One more thing...

The typical IM sales page is NOTHING like an infomercial. It's an apples and oranges comparison. Sales letters NEED to follow AIDA, in most cases. AIDA is a tested persuasive selling sequence. It works.

Infomercials, on the other hand, are typically driven by DEMOS. They demo the product and have a call to action. Then they repeat that process. It's done that way for a number of reasons, but it's a process that works best on TV (or in video).

Anyway, that's my view on it.

John

P.S. If anyone wants to buy my Pinto for $25,000, just let me know. For some reason, my neighbors don't seem to like it very much.