Case Study: $21,226.90 (could've been just $11,993)

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Although I haven't been posting here in quite some time here (until just recently), I still check back here now and then. I've not seen anyone talked about this just yet, and I think this is a discovery you'll find interesting. :-)

All these while, I've been using the One-Time Offer / Downsell approach. You probably are familiar with this sales funnel already. Basically, after a customer buys your Front-End product, he goes on to view your OTO. He buys - good. If he doesn't, he goes to your Downsell page where you offer a 'lite version' of the OTO at a lower price, thus converting some more sales which would otherwise have been completely lost.

But what if it were 3 OTO upsells - strung back-to-back?

I've seen top marketers do that, the first one I saw was back in mid-2008. I was afraid of implementing that - what if my customers get annoyed? So I kept that idea at bay until just late last year. Decided, heck, nothing to lose right? At least I'll find out whether it works or not.

Just as I was taught in science class (test out 3 times to get the average) - well, I tried this out on 3 different sales campaigns and damn, the results were NOT average; they were AWESOME! :-D

(the headline you see in this thread is based on a much recent case study - one of the other campaign did better and pocketed nearly $60,000 in sales, which otherwise I suspect would have just made just slightly above $37,000+, or $48,000+ if it was the OTO/Downsell model)

Anyways I'll stick to the results of the more recent case study.



RESULTS - OTO Upsell Conversions

OTO1: 26.25% ($97 product)
OTO2: 15.08% ($97 product)
OTO3: 6.14% ($497 product)

At one look, you can tell that the overall conversions of the 3 OTOs strung together is 47.47%. Probably doesn't look that impressive if you compare to the traditional single OTO approach (where you can get 50 - 60% conversions possibly)

However note that a customer is given a choice to buy any 1 or all of these OTOs after he buys your Front-End. :-) So you're perpetually making more than if you just gave 1 OTO!

Regardless whether he chooses or passes up any of these OTOs, he will continue to see the next one until it's all done. Of course, to keep him and remind him of the loop, each OTO page is titled "Step 1 of 3" "Step 2 of 3" "Step 3 of 3" at the top of the page.

I've tested various price points at each of these OTOs - normally what I'd do is once I find out which OTO sells better after 24-36 hours, I'd switch and put the better converting one in front as OTO #1, and sales would increase.

So total overall OTO sales? +$9273.90. That's actually a 77.32% boost in sales right after the customers bought my Front-End.

I hope I didn't omit any important details for this to make sense. Hope this gives you some ideas for your product sales funnels!


P.S. Oh forgot to add - haven't got a single complain from my customers about the sales funnel being annoying. The rationale is simple: if the customer enjoys what you have to offer, there's absolutely nothing wrong giving him more choices to shop!

P.P.S. I still treat this as highly experimental because there's always room for improvement. :-) I admit though, it can be effort-consuming coming up with 3 OTOs instead of 1. And oh yeah, me being a technical dum-dum didn't help things either lol if you've got the time and initiative to do up a string of OTOs then you're up for the game! Or if you're a bit low on resource or time, sticking to the traditional way of OTO/Downsell is a quicker buck there.
#$11 #$21 #993 #case #couldve #study
  • Profile picture of the author Tom B
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    Great post Edmund and thanks for sharing your results.

    Have you tested the order of your oto offers? I think it was Deiss that stated his order in one of his courses.

    He hit the customer with a high oto offer right off the bat and said that made the second lower oto convert better since the price difference was pretty big.

    I am wondering what would happen if you threw that large oto in the beginning.


    Cheers.
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    • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
      Great stuff, upsells are really just immediate backend offers - I find that sometimes offering upsells AFTER delivering the initial main product (assuming the product is great) can convert even higher.

      Everyone assumes the conversion will be at the highest when paying for the initial product because the customer is in "buying mode" - this is usually true but when you are dealing with new customers offering the upsells is worth trying out after you've delivered the main product.

      New customers can often gain massive confidence/trust in you once they have received the main product and are more receptive to upsells as the trust factor has increased greatly.

      But either way, upsells are always worth doing whether at the time of purchase or later on - many times doubling or trebling what you would have made without them.
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    • Profile picture of the author EdmundLoh
      Originally Posted by Thomas Belknap View Post

      Great post Edmund and thanks for sharing your results.

      Have you tested the order of your oto offers? I think it was Deiss that stated his order in one of his courses.

      He hit the customer with a high oto offer right off the bat and said that made the second lower oto convert better since the price difference was pretty big.

      I am wondering what would happen if you threw that large oto in the beginning.


      Cheers.
      Hey Thomas,

      Did you mean like this example:

      $497 -> $197 -> $97

      No not yet, I didn't think of it. I've got a feel it won't convert as good as an arrangement like this:

      $197 -> $97 -> $497 (which I tested works better than $97 -> $197 -> $497)

      But then, that's just a feel. It won't hurt to test that kind of OTO arrangement out. :-) Do you have a link to that particular statistic or result by Deiss, if it's available on the web?
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  • Profile picture of the author PerfectedWeb
    Excellent post Edmund.

    I've been planning using the One-Time offer / Downsell approach for my upcoming product, and your detailed analysis will certainly be of help to me.

    That said, you seem to know your stuff. Your success really inspire me to continue the hard work. I've subscribed to your blog and will be following you.

    Cheers,
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaarrrggghhh
    WOW Edmund, really nice to see you come out of hiding and share some significant insights into your experiences, just really kewl.

    "P.S. Oh forgot to add - haven't got a single complain from my customers about the sales funnel being annoying. The rationale is simple: if the customer enjoys what you have to offer, there's absolutely nothing wrong giving him more choices to shop! "

    I will vouch for this as I was one of those caught in your funnel years ago...but really enjoyed it - lol!

    Thanks again for sharing and cheers...
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  • Profile picture of the author rohitsinha
    Thanks for sharing, Edmund.

    Do you use a special script for the string of OTOs? If so, did you get a custom script built, or do you use one available in the market?

    Thanks again,

    Rohit Sinha
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  • Profile picture of the author EdmundLoh
    @Aaarrrggghhh haha what a funny username! What's your real name? ;-P Glad you find this sharing helpful. I've been a member here for quite some time, but yeah last year I was at large inactive here (though I did drop by now and then to snoop around), been outside the WF most of the time.

    @Rohit good ole' JVM1 for me. Not that it strictly supports multiple Upsells, but stringing the pages together is still technically possible. Just no "1 click upsell" which I've been dying to get such technology working for me. If you can do that, that will be SUPER awesome, trust me. I suspect your sales will be ridiculously more than it is now, just reading those stats from other marketers make my mouth water LOL

    As far as custom scripts are concerned, I know Quattro Nitro has one but you gotta buy their entire course I think? The next best alternative is to use a 3rd party payment processor or merchant account, and string them manually (which is what I'm doing at the moment)
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