Biggest Firesale - Conversion Rate Flopped *Why?*

[JasonParker]

I promoted the Biggest Firesale yesterday. It's a great package.

Some of my marketer friends and I thought it should be a no-brainer.

Yet it's not even converting at like .25% for us.

Why do you think this "best deal of all time" is converting so low?

I've taken this approach to a similar offer and thought it would convert high before myself.

I listed product after product. I had rights to these mp3s featuring top internet marketers such as Mike Filsaime, Anik Singal, Willie Crawford, and some others.

Same thing happened.

Rock bottom conversion rate.

...I'll tell you why I personally think this Biggest Firesale is converting so low.

It's obvious for such a great offer that the copy was given almost zero tender love and care.

The products are just slopped onto the page one after the other.

Take a look and you'll see that a very small percentage of winning copywriting elements are used.

It goes to show you that even the greatest offer in the world flops without the power of a good sales pitch that digs deep into the prospect.

[Mary Green]

My opinion. I didnt like not getting any information when I clicked through to your wso page. Some kind of lead in would be good. The sales page itself looks good, but I dont like mp3's that much, so I would not have bought. I like things I can read, search, go back to specific spots in, etc. Other than that you might have too much there for too little, sometimes if the price is too low its unbelievable. But Im not a marketing genius and I was just trying to help.

Mary

[JasonParker]

Originally Posted by Mary Green

My opinion. I didnt like not getting any information when I clicked through to your wso page. Some kind of lead in would be good. The sales page itself looks good, but I dont like mp3's that much, so I would not have bought. I like things I can read, search, go back to specific spots in, etc. Other than that you might have too much there for too little, sometimes if the price is too low its unbelievable. But Im not a marketing genius and I was just trying to help.

Mary

Thanks for the good intentions Mary, but I already sell the crap out of this.

[Sean A McAlister]

Originally Posted by JasonParker

I promoted the Biggest Firesale yesterday. It's a great package.

Some of my marketer friends and I thought it should be a no-brainer.

Yet it's not even converting at like .25% for us.

Why do you think this "best deal of all time" is converting so low?

I've taken this approach to a similar offer and thought it would convert high before myself.

I listed product after product. I had rights to these mp3s featuring top internet marketers such as Mike Filsaime, Anik Singal, Willie Crawford, and some others.

Same thing happened.

Rock bottom conversion rate.

...I'll tell you why I personally think this Biggest Firesale is converting so low.

It's obvious for such a great offer that the copy was given almost zero tender love and care.

The products are just slopped onto the page one after the other.

Take a look and you'll see that a very small percentage of winning copywriting elements are used.

It goes to show you that even the greatest offer in the world flops without the power of a good sales pitch that digs deep into the prospect.

Jason, I would have to agree 100%

Although it was a great product the sales copy could have been better not to say it was bad.
Additionally, I think that there was too much hype involved with this particular product and the launch cycle itself was not controlled enough.

You are better off the wait and be "Bullet Proof" and make sure all avenues are covered rather than go....and rely purely on the list.... and Quite Frankly...I think that there was JUST TOO MUCH GREAT STUFF!

Not sure how many people watched Frank Kerns Video he put out following out his last Membership launch...but it was a good testimate as to what too much information can do for your sales. His people were just overwhelmed!

Furthermore, Although this method work for Willie....i am unsure if he used the same contextual elements, I think a lot of it had to do with the product title as well.

just my 2 cents

Sean

PS. Nothing against Vince...it was a big project and a lot of work!

Not to mention there are a lot of phenomenal products....not just anyone could pull that kind of a launch off!
Great Job Vice! Great Job!

[JasonParker]

Originally Posted by The IM Reporter

Jason, I would have to agree 100%

Although it was a great product the sales copy could have been better.
Additionally, I think that there was too much hype involved with that particular product and the launch cycle itself was not controlled enough.

You are better off the wait and be "Bullet Proof" and make sure all avenues are covered rather that go....and rely purely on the list.... and Quite Frankly...I think that there was JUST TOO MUCH GREAT STUFF!

Not sure how many people watched Frank Kerns Video he put out following out his last Membership launch...but it was a good testimate as to what too much information can do for your sales. His people were just overwhelmed!

Furthermore, Although this method work for Willie....i am unsure if he used the same contextual elements, I think a lot of it had to do with the product title as well.

just my 2 cents

Sean

PS. Nothing against Vince...it was a big project and a lot of work! Not to mention there are a lot of phenomenal products....not just anyone could pull that kind of a launch off!
Great Job Vice! Great Job!

No doubt Sean.

It's an impressive launch.

Vince did a great job of getting it all together.

...I just think the copy should have been tested before everyone promoted it. My numbers plummeted because of it.

[bgmacaw]

One thought...why even have that stupid, annoying, exit popup if you're not offering any discount?

If I was marketing a package like this I would aggressively target the noobie marketer, somebody who's just lost their job or who thinks they might, somebody who's paying for a 12.5% $500K mortgage on house now worth $250K, somebody who's hungry to jump right into IM to make money NOW! I wouldn't have called it Firesale either. I would have gone with something like "Your Recession Bailout Package".

[JasonParker]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

One thought...why even have that stupid, annoying, exit popup if you're not offering any discount?

If I was marketing a package like this I would aggressively target the noobie marketer, somebody who's just lost their job or who thinks they might, somebody who's paying for a 12.5% $500K mortgage on house now worth $250K, somebody who's hungry to jump right into IM to make money NOW! I wouldn't have called it Firesale either. I would have gone with something like "Your Recession Bailout Package".

Hey, I see you're a fellow Atlantaian...

I think you're getting warmer. Some major stirring of emotions is needed in that sales pitch.

[Pete223]

Originally Posted by JasonParker

I promoted the Biggest Firesale yesterday. It's a great package.

Some of my marketer friends and I thought it should be a no-brainer.

Yet it's not even converting at like .25% for us.

Why do you think this "best deal of all time" is converting so low?

I've taken this approach to a similar offer and thought it would convert high before myself.

I listed product after product. I had rights to these mp3s featuring top internet marketers such as Mike Filsaime, Anik Singal, Willie Crawford, and some others.

Same thing happened.

Rock bottom conversion rate.

...I'll tell you why I personally think this Biggest Firesale is converting so low.

It's obvious for such a great offer that the copy was given almost zero tender love and care.

The products are just slopped onto the page one after the other.

Take a look and you'll see that a very small percentage of winning copywriting elements are used.

It goes to show you that even the greatest offer in the world flops without the power of a good sales pitch that digs deep into the prospect.

Hi Jason,

Although I think you are on to something about the sales page copy, I feel maybe the
"workload" of such an offer is also partly to blame...

- One couldn't argue about the value, it's obviously there... heck, some of those products
alone are worth the price tag...
- You couldn't challenge the quality, some of these products are from some of the best
Online entrepreneurs around...

But you can sure imagine the workload involved to put all these products to good use...
and we all know what "work" can do to conversions!

After writing this I think you may be right, good copy could very well help conversions
of such offers...

Makes me wonder what would a "Biggest Firesale" sales page from a guy like Michel Fortin
look like???

Regards, Pete

[JasonParker]

Originally Posted by Pete223

Hi Jason,

Although I think you are on to something about the sales page copy, I feel maybe the
"workload" of such an offer is also partly to blame...

- One couldn't argue about the value, it's obviously there... heck, some of those products
alone are worth the price tag...
- You couldn't challenge the quality, some of these products are from some of the best
Online entrepreneurs around...

But you can sure imagine the workload involved to put all these products to good use...
and we all know what "work" can do to conversions!

After writing this I think you may be right, good copy could very well help conversions
of such offers...

Makes me wonder what would a "Biggest Firesale" sales page from a guy like Michel Fortin
look like???

Regards, Pete

Pete...

I think it says John Hostler worked on the copy for this. If you don't know him, he's Ewen Chia's copywriter and a big name in a lot of circles. Although I don't think he gave this one "the royal treatment." I've seen his work on other websites and he's great.

[Pete223]

Originally Posted by JasonParker

Pete...

I think it says John Hostler worked on the copy for this. If you don't know him, he's Ewen Chia's copywriter and a big name in a lot of circles. Although I don't think he gave this one "the royal treatment." I've seen his work on other websites and he's great.

Yeah... you're right... I remember seeing something on the bottom of the page
thanking sponsors and John was one of them... makes you wonder if a link to individual
product description pages where you could learn more about the products that interest
you the most and more "winning copywriting elements" could change something?

[AaronJones]

For me these types of offers just waste my time and focus.

Getting on a bunch more mailing lists just contributes to that.

To me it seems like people add products that sales are slowing down on, and most likely there is already a similar and better product already or just about on the market.

Trying to learn them all, and apply them, only to get an email showing me a much better or improved way to do the same job days later is what always seems to happen.

IF these types of offers started including products just released and current then it would be a "no brainer".

Wasting time with these firesales, and giveaway type offers just leaves many always behind the curve and wasting time with things that are yesterdays hot methods when they could be using that same time to learn the new methods and play with the new tools/systems while they are fresh.

This offer could be different, but I glanced at the sales page, and it didn't grab my attention at all or do anything to show me it was really a no brainer other than telling me it was one.

The copy wasn't interesting, the pre-sell email was lethargic and assuming a couple names drops and the word no brainer is all that is needed these days for my money and time.

When I did glance all I saw were a couple products I recognized as having been released awhile back and left the page right away.

Aaron

[Aaron Moser]

I saw the offer and was just simply overwhelmed by it all. The copy didn't mean squat to me. All it needed was a headline to work but there was just soo much stuff I knew it would just collect dust on my HD. Maybe other folks thought the same and in today's economy a $100 saved is a $100 earned.

I also agree with Aaron above... Those thoughts went through my head as well.

[Kevin Riley]

My take on Firesales of any kind:

They're not targeted. There's a whole bunch of different products and it's not a targeted product. Very hard to sell.

I don't promote firesales, but I did promote my friend's wedding sale (after massive arm twisting, but never again). Roughly 300 clicks to the sales page and 1 sale.

IMO if you create a sale like a firesale, it would be much more effective if you targeted one small niche and all the products were related.

For example: Video Creation Mega Sale -- and you'd collect a number of good video creation related products (guides, software, submitters, etc).

[RC7000]

Product isn't targeted.
Seems like some sort of jumble sale.
No FOCUS on USP.
I wouldn't download it if it was free.

[flnz400]

I think real copy would have done much better (sales letter excluding the products). Maybe an image here or there,

Who wants to scroll down through product after product? I know I sure as hell didn't and I knew what I was looking at. I can only imagine if I wasn't familiar with half the stuff. Boring me does not make me take out my wallet. And I mean this in a constructive way for positive feedback. No disrespect to whoever put the offer together, copy, or design.

A compelling line or two that struck the benefit of each product might have worked much better. In fact, perhaps throwing in a bit of mystery would have killed it. Disguising it as the "greatest offer in history of IM"...."never before have so many useful tools been given away for such a low price."

Bullet points illustrating what you would be able to do and list a product here and there. "But those aren't all"!

After people purchased, they'd be overwhelmed with how much they received. "Talk about OVER deliver, that guy's the shizzle"!

The part about info overload still applies... dunno what to say about that one. lol

[Karen Newton]

Originally Posted by Aaron Moser

I saw the offer and was just simply overwhelmed by it all. The copy didn't mean squat to me. All it needed was a headline to work but there was just soo much stuff I knew it would just collect dust on my HD. Maybe other folks thought the same and in today's economy a $100 saved is a $100 earned.

I also agree with Aaron above... Those thoughts went through my head as well.

I agree with you there Aaron. I was *this close* to purchasing, even had it narrowed down to two of the best bonus offers.

But in the end I changed my mind. I knew that I didn't really need any of those products - but even if some could help me (which undoubtedly there are excellent products there), when would I ever get time to devote to it?

Now those more likely to jump at this offer, in my opinion, are newer people who might not have a billion gigs of IM material already on their PC. But to attract those people, the price point was a little high. Not saying the price isn't reflecting the value (I'm sure it is a terrific value), but it may be too high for newbies.

All in all, I still really WANT to buy it, but I'm "behaving" and opting out. I'm already busy as all-get-out and definitely do NOT need a hundred products (plus countless bonus products) to distract me further.

[JasonParker]

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

My take on Firesales of any kind:

They're not targeted. There's a whole bunch of different products and it's not a targeted product. Very hard to sell.

I don't promote firesales, but I did promote my friend's wedding sale (after massive arm twisting, but never again). Roughly 300 clicks to the sales page and 1 sale.

IMO if you create a sale like a firesale, it would be much more effective if you targeted one small niche and all the products were related.

For example: Video Creation Mega Sale -- and you'd collect a number of good video creation related products (guides, software, submitters, etc).

True Kevin.

For example, take all the affiliate marketing products and group them together on a sales page. Then target that audience.

[Dean Shainin]

Hi Jason,

Your post actually has made me feel much better that I'm not alone on this one. I'm not blaming anyone but myself for promoting it.

My thinking was that when you have every Tom, Dick and Harry promoting you get saturation but at this point I really don't really think that was the reason.

I'm sure there will be some that chime in and say they had great conversions. It's not over yet but I did not do another mailing after I saw my results. I even spent some time re-writing some of the email kinda Mass Control style. I had good CT's but not conversions.

I was shocked at my results to say the least. I mean come on. Lots of the big guns products are in there. Maybe just too much stuff for my list?

Cheers,
Dean

[JasonParker]

Nah. We're not alone Dean.

I talked to a couple other guys with lists in the thousands. 0 sales.

It's crazy how much value is there though. Just not enough perceived value.

Originally Posted by Dean Shainin

Hi Jason,

Your post actually has made me feel much better that I'm not alone on this one. I'm not blaming anyone but myself for promoting it.

My thinking was that when you have every Tom, Dick and Harry promoting you get saturation but at this point I really don't really think that was the reason.

I'm sure there will be some that chime in and say they had great conversions. It's not over yet but I did not do another mailing after I saw my results. I even spent some time re-writing some of the email kinda Mass Control style. I had good CT's but not conversions.

I was shocked at my results to say the least. I mean come on. Lots of the big guns products are in there. Maybe just too much stuff for my list?

Cheers,
Dean

[Chris Lockwood]

This is interesting news, since I got an email from them claiming a visitor value of several dollars, which would mean a high conversion rate. Not sure why I got that email considering I'm not signed up to promote it.

[Dean Shainin]

Hi Jason,

Perceived value?

I'm wondering how much value someone needs.

I almost purchased it myself but figured how in the world would I be able to download everything. Maybe that's it?

There were a couple marketers packages I was ready to go after but I know I'd try to download everything to get my moneys worth.

Kudos to all those who put it together. I don't want to knock anyone or the sale. I was just simply mystified and figured my link was bad until I logged into my aff panel and did see visits.

Can I write re-write the headline and sub? he he

Cheers,
Dean

[Dean Shainin]

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

This is interesting news, since I got an email from them claiming a visitor value of several dollars, which would mean a high conversion rate. Not sure why I got that email considering I'm not signed up to promote it.

Well, it sounds like someone is selling it. I got that email too.

Probably depends upon the pulse of ones list or lists. I only mailed to 2 of my lists.

Cheers,
Dean

[Josh Anderson]

Some of the products being offered are years old, out of date, and not very compelling.

Many sales are made on return visits and though the "wait you can't leave until you figure what button to click to close this" pops may have effect on the visitor at that moment using such is bound to reduce return visits which is where most sales will come from.

Your list may not be targeted... they may be tired of stuff that really provides no specific purpose rather than to fill a hard drive... they may not be very interested in web 1.0 bargain products from yesteryear piled up high with a light sauce of a few useful goodies mixed in.

Who knows what the reason is.

Personally my impression when reviewing the offer was:

1. Lots of old useless junk with maybe a few useful gems.
2. Lots of stuff that really does not work any more.
3. Too much to read through and nothing really compelling.
4. Ah crud what button do I have to click to close the popup correctly so that I am allowed to leave this site and go where I want to go? I'm never coming back to this site again.

There is nothing wrong with the value of the offer but maybe people are just looking for specialized solutions more these days rather than a hard drive full of ebooks they'll never read and scripts from 2005-06 that they'll never use and by the time they get done wading through the useless stuff anything good in the package just gets lost in blurry eyes.

That's how I felt anyway.

Too much junk, too much info to find the true gems hidden in the offer, far too long a page to read... and that stupid popup that tries to trick me into not leaving the site which does nothing more than make me decide not to go back.

If you are new... or tempted to buy into a lot of IM stuff you generally don't need just to check it out... then this package is a great deal. You will get a ton of value and get a good feel for what IM has to offer you without breaking the bank.

Years ago Russell Brunson and I were one of the first to do this type of cooperative offer and promotion in the IM niche. We called it the "Marketing Deal Time." Events like Marketing Deal Time, 12 days of christmas, and the first "Fire Sales" in IM lead to many other variations used in book, software, information, and service launches. Many events went on to be quite popular annual events and to this day we see people using this strategy effectively.

The benefits we designed in our Marketing Deal Time events went beyond the deal itself. Each contributor agreed to share their products with the other contributors. This was a great way to get to know the other marketers and many new JV and affiliate relationships sprang out of that.

Also only contributors were allowed to recruit 2nd tier affiliates and earn money by bringing in their super affiliate partners. Affiliates were only allowed by invitation. Sure the event was not quite as big as the one's you see today but the quality control was a little better.

We also required that the products must be retail products, not given away previously as a bonus or freebie, with a retail sales price of $97 minimum. Though not perfect it helped us to increase quality control.

During our second Marketing Deal Time we added complimentary services such as months of free hosting, ecommerce services, and even live training and coaching events after the sale to help the clients understand how to get use out of the massive package and put it to work.

I have to give props to anyone putting on a quality event like the one being discussed in this thread. It aint easy... especially if you employ some level of quality control and it does provide a high level of value.

But the appeal is generally to those who are relatively new to IM and have the time to spend wading through the tens of thousands of pages of new instructional material, the dozens of mebership sites, the dozens of software applications and new and out of date scripts and solutions.

If your target market is the new and inexperienced or the compulsive IM purchaser then this is the right type of package.

But if your client base is mostly professionals with existing businesses looking for specific specialized information and training on subjects you usually publish on...

Then the response will not be that great.

I stopped promoting these type of events long ago because my client base has evolved from the "make money on the net" newbie a majority of seasoned experienced professionals outside of the "make money" niche. They do not respond well to these offers at all because they know what they want and need and seek only that.

[tiger325]

I chose not to promote it due to the sales copy

[Easy_Money]

First, I want to say that the package appears to be great! There are a lot of good products in there. A few are only so-so, but most appear to be good products. Additionally, I have to give props for taking the the time to put all of this together. It certainly couldn't have been an easy feat. Congratulations on your success with this!

Although ...

I fully understand what is being said about the sales copy. In many cases tweaking the sales letter or driving more targeted traffic is obviously the answer. I think the copy was written with a little less care than usual because the value for the money is so blatantly obvious, or should be.

Personally, I don't think the sales letter was so much the problem. I believe it was more the prelaunch and timing in terms of economic conditions and holidays.

Personally, I was aggravated by the prelaunch. We were told how all these excellent marketers would be giving away their great products. What products? What marketers? I went to the prelaunch page and saw a half dozen products, and a long list of marketers. I didn't know who most of them were, let alone what their products were. That was aggravating and frustrating.

Did it create curiousity? yes. Was it the right kind? not for me. I was already aggravated. I went to the sales page to see what was being offered, but was already aggravated and put off by the prelaunch tactic used. Is that what stopped me from buying? no. it did create another hurdle for them to overcome though.

Instead, I think perhaps they should have either told us what products were being sold (not the best prelaunch tactic, curiousity wise anyways), or maybe given us some links to the marketers' blogs. They could have opened on a new window. The links could have been given after opting-in. This would have allowed us to learn more about the marketers effortlessly. We then would have been more comfortable with the products when they were listed. Additionally, we could have visited the blogs, learned of all the products, and our curiousity would have be raised by wondering which product from that marketer was going to be included. I believe that would have created more curiousity with a positive approach. "Oh! I hope that's the product that will be included in the firesale! I can't wait to see! If it is, that would be worth the money right there!"

When we got there... "Oh. Not the product I thought, but man! That is still a good product, and I am getting all of these too!"

The difference is that our own hope would have pre-conditioned us to buy better than just hearing, "This is going to be an unbelievable package! Wait until you see this!"

Is this the entire reason that I didn't buy? no. I didn't buy because my stock portfolio is taking a hit, my day job is uncertain, Christmas is around the corner, and Black Friday is a week and half away. $100 saved ... but I can also buy several gifts on Black Friday with that $100. I might be able to get 4-5 people off my list with that money.

These products will be available later, and I can buy only the products that appeal to me. If I wait until after Christmas, I can probably get a rehashed version of the products that I want out of that sale for $7. Now I have the products that I need, likely at even more savings, and I made 4-5 people on my Christmas list happy.

Anyways... that's my long, drawn-out $.02 as a buyer from a slight marketing perspective.

A lot to learn from this launch!

[AverageGuy]

the sales page is just too long. i do not have enough patience to finish it. and there is no focus. each products are given almost equal space in the page, and when I scrol down to the bottom, I can not remeber which one makes me want to buy. so, I just leave the page.



david

[Alan Petersen]

Hey bud,

I agree with the others that the copy was underwhelming and just down-right boring for as long as it was. If it's going to be a long sales letter--they should at least keep it interesting. I didn't make it all the way down--makes it hard to hit the order button when that happens.

I also didn't like the site design look and feel. It's an okay look for a giveaway but not for this type of site. Just looked cheapy.

As Josh wrote, some of the stuff was old, old, old. And as Kevin wrote this stuff was all over the place. To pay $97 for a few of the items is bit much when I'll get stuck with a bunch of stuff I do not want.

The email/tweets for this came quick and fast. He got a lot of people to promote this so I was impressed with that. But I think a lot of people got annoyed with the site. I read a few tweets complaining about it. So I think the launch of this was poorly planned to boot.

The products, design, and site navigation is one of the reasons I did not promote this myself. I didn't think my lists would like it.

[mudmat]

When I first saw the prelaunch which is the guessing value the whole package, it was great. Maybe I can win the package.

But the follow up emails after doesn't seem interesting. I don't know why. I was not tempted to open it.

The only time I open an email regarding the firesale was the email from Alok Jain. He offered some bonuses so I click on the link to see the whole package and the sales letter doesn't seem to do its job.

I scroll down to look at the products available and look at the price and then close the browser.

That is my take on the biggest firesale.

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by Alan Petersen

And as Kevin wrote this stuff was all over the place.

Just to clarify, I didn't single out this firesale. I mean ALL firesales. I haven't seen one yet where I would purchase.

Maybe that's just because I've never been a bargain bin buyer. I'd much rather pay $97 for one tool that does the job I need it for, than $97 for a 100 products that I don't know if I'll ever use.

[Jason Pereira]

Quick question - to anyone that bought this, do you have to opt in to all the lists of the marketers to get their products?

I'm probably going to purchase this, not necessarily because I want to learn how to MMO (although I'm sure there'll be some things which I didn't know), but because a lot of these products were **** hot sellers, even if they are a few months old and I could learn a lot from how they were packaged etc. But if you have to opt in about 50 times, I can't be arsed. Thanks to anyone that answers this

As for why it did poorly... the copy wasn't *that* great, but I think it would have sold better if the product list was dropped to about ten, the features of each listed better. People think information overload, they're not going to buy it and will probably 'waste' their money on ten eBooks at $10 even if the information in them is crap.

[James Schramko]

I did not promote it nor buy it.

The LAST thing marketers need is overwhelm. How many posts on Info overload do you need to read to know the answer to this?

One high value product with one specific purpose without all the crap will out pull it all day long.

I built a blog while all that hoopla was going on and unsubscribed from the last few bandits who have no respect for my time.

[Frank Ayres]

I know this sounds crazy but i think there are too many products.
I started going through the sales page and thought it looked amazing but after i got half way through i gave up and got bored.

[Matt James]

You know, I feel sorry for John if he wrote this, that's a damn hard sales letter to write simply because the offer is just not compelling. Each individual product becomes instantly devalued because it's bundled together with others like some clearance sale.

I mean...who needs all that crap?

If you want to learn copy buy a course on writing copy, if you need an SEO course, go and buy that...but who wants everything and the kitchen sink all at once?

You know you'll never get round to using any of it.

[Matt James]

I know this sounds crazy but i think there are too many products.

That's not crazy at all, that's exactly why it flopped.

[milan]

The discount that lady in the pop up gives is amazing. She’s willing to sell it to you for $97. So, either buy it for $97 retail or get your discount and pay $97. So much about the quality of the copy.

[spudzz]

Surely firesales are dead now:-

- completely unfocussed
- too many old, rehashed products
- you just know that each product's going to need a signup (a real life-draining experience with all the OTO's and other garbage) and your email inbox is going to get bombed to hell for years after
- too many names you have never heard of, ever

In this particular instance there were WAY too many products on the page (the load time was a joke), it was just a 'load o' stuff', the copy was lazy and the last thing I need right now is working my way through a proverbial coal cellar of rehashed ebooks to illuminate the dark winter nights.

Time is short. It always is. This kind of 'thick and deep' marketing does no-one any favours.

[drmani]

The psychology and driving motivation for buyers of a firesale
is DIFFERENT from that of a more focused buyer.

Kevin put it into a nutshell:

I've never been a bargain bin buyer. I'd much rather pay $97 for
one tool that does the job I need it for, than $97 for a 100
products that I don't know if I'll ever use.

The mindset of a firesale buyer is a diametric opposite, and is
one that thinks:

"I'd have to be NUTS to pay $97 for this one product when I can
get HUNDREDS for that price if I simply wait for the right time."

For THAT buyer, THIS is the 'right time'.

And John, being the master copywriter he is, very likely KNOWS this
demographic and psychographic so well that he wrote his copy to
simply 'get out of the way' of that eager, price/discount conscious
buyer.

btw, it's interesting how everyone assumed the firesale is NOT doing
well... have you spoken with Vince about it? I haven't, but am
just curious about how that bit was taken for granted!

All success
Dr.Mani

[JayXtreme]

Just because it didn't convert for every single person's list.. does NOT mean it is not converting well to targeted lists

peace

Jay

[Mike McBride]

Maybe more people have figured out that firesales are usually filled with past-their-prime products or hastily thrown-together "reports" that are just excuses for getting someone's email addresses to sell them more stuff they just don't need.

[Stanley Tang]

Interestingly enough...

I'm currently averaging almost $5 per VISITOR... so roughly a 10% conversion rate.

So yes, it depends on the way YOU promote it. If you simply copy and paste the promo emails, don't add your own personal touch to it, and not include a bonus, then obviously you won't get a high conversion rate. Personalization and bonuses actually DO make a difference.

And no, I am not a guru or any big name. Just a 16 year old So I am just like you guys trying to compete against all the big guns like Joel Comm, Ian del Carmen and Simon Hodgkinson.

[Scott Woodside]

The main problem? Calling the promotion a firesale. It tells me that I'm getting old stuff that people have already paid a lot of money for in the past. The stuff is all piled together in a fire sale because the creators of the programs can no longer command the retail price they at one time received for their creations.

So they lump it all together and try and try and squeeze even more money out of the consumer.

This is no different than what is done in retail marketing with tangible consumer goods.

Milk the pricing as long as you can, and then when every one stops paying for the merchandise, even at low prices....Sell off inventory to a liquidator. A fire sale is what a liquidator uses to get rid of large surpluses of closeout merchandise that was purchased for pennies on the dollar.

So what I'm trying to say is that if I see the word fire sale, I am going to do an about face and run away from this as fast as possible. I don't want to purchase damaged goods.

The items might be great, but the word fire sale tells me that the stuff is being given away because no body will purchase it at a reasonable price.

I was CEO of the third largest writing instrument manufacturer in the world for ten years, and when we had a fire sale it was for only one reason. We couldn't get rid of the product in question in any other way. we had tapped out the sales and milked the product for everything we could.

Just another perspective.

Call it anything but a freaking fire sale.

[DaveLloyd]

I bought it, but I was in two minds as to whether to do so or not.

I agree with Aaron Jones, Aaron Moser, Kevin riley and others. Firesales aren't great!

Dave

[VinceTan]

Hi everyone,

As the organizer, i should address some of the things mentioned here

I do admit that the copy can be improve further. Which we are making
changes every day. But huge changes shortly.

Right now we are doing at this figure.

Average Value Per Visitor = $3.30 (max : $5.30) sorry Stanley please do better
Average Commission Per Visitor = $1.65
Average spent per customer = $160.00
Average commission per customer = $80.00

Upsell is converting at 40% and sub-upsell converting at 100%.

We are doing close to 6 figure shortly.

Appreciate all your valuable input. We are working round the clock to improve it Thanks again Warriors for the constructive feedbacks.

Again the objective is to give great value in this package which like everyone says, truly a no brainer. 1 or 2 item from from this would have justify the cost of the entire package. so everything else is a bonus

[chloe707]

Very interesting to read others' reactions to this launch. My inbox was flooded with this promotion so I was keen to read the general reaction and found this thread. Personally, I found that the copy was very long and too many products were involved in the promotion - gave the impression of "too good to be true" or "a bunch of outdated products".

[Kim Standerline]

Hmm

Interesting thread and I'm please I saw it because I promoted this yesterday when I got back from my vacation and haven't got one single sale yet which for me is unheard of.

I'd even got to the stage where I wondered whether the redirect I was using was working. So it's interesting to see others are having the same problem. The bonus I was offering was a $25 discount on the price. (Seems silly offering more stuff when there is already so much there), so I was a tad gobsmacked no one took me up on it.

Having said that, I can see people have definitely bought simply by the amount of subs I'm getting on my squeeze page for Membership secrets. (Which BTW isn't old and outdated, it was rewritten a couple of months ago)

Kim

[Lance K]

What was the offer???

[Lance K]

Personally, I don't like the offer. And that's putting it nicely.

Information overload.

A confused prospect never buys.

Where does one begin with all that stuff? To me it looks like a $97 ticket to frustration, which in turn will lead to all that stuff sitting on someone's hard drive.

Just because something is a good monetary value doesn't make it a good offer.

Frankly, I was surprised to see some of the names that participated. I get that it's exposure to your brand. But if the package can't convert higher than .25% as a whole, doesn't that imply something about the quality of your product? Maybe not, but the perception could be there? Is there any amount of exposure that is worth that perception?

I don't know if there is a story behind this firesale that I'm missing, but in my opinion the offer totally missed the mark.

I'd wager a guess that the conversion rate would improve by rewriting the copy and restructuring the offer to an "a la carte" type deal where you can pick 5 of the products (or whatever) for $97. Not only would that increase the percieved value, and create a sense of commitment and consistency toward the products that they choose, BUT also leave open the possibility to offer an UPSELL (perhaps 3 more choices for $37 or something).

And I'd also include 2 or 3 real world testimonials for each product in a manner that sticks out and humanizes each product and it's potential for the prospect.

With the current offer I'd also lose all bonuses and make a point of it. Sell the fact that you're not offering bonuses. If they aren't sold on $9670 value for $97, a couple of bonuses are NOT going to push them over the edge. They just add to the clutter in the current offer. However, you could bring some perceived value back to the bonuses if you use the pick 5 type offer mentioned above.

And my biggest reservation about considering your offer...

you haven't given me a REASON WHY you're having the firesale.

[lassitermarketing]

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

My take on Firesales of any kind:

They're not targeted. There's a whole bunch of different products and it's not a targeted product. Very hard to sell.

I don't promote firesales, but I did promote my friend's wedding sale (after massive arm twisting, but never again). Roughly 300 clicks to the sales page and 1 sale.

IMO if you create a sale like a firesale, it would be much more effective if you targeted one small niche and all the products were related.

For example: Video Creation Mega Sale -- and you'd collect a number of good video creation related products (guides, software, submitters, etc).

I think this is a great idea. I bought the product but really wasn't impressed with the "names" that were promoted. Just on a bunch more lists that I'll stay on a while to study. Other than that not a ton of value.

[Sandor Verebi]

Hi Everyone,

First of all I apologise to my fellow Warriors and marketers for what I didn't buy this product, though enough people urged me. I've got 74 emails from 27 people together in phase of prelauch and launch. I got email from MH even today asked for me express my opinion on the product.

Please, don't get me wrong, but because of my engagement, unfortunately I cannot write to everybody separately. No, I am not conceited, I have to manage my time well only. It will be short because the essence was related by my fellow Warriors before me already.

First I congratulate Vince on this product, it invested much work and time certainly his compilation. Praiseworthy zeal and work, Vince deserves thanks for this. And the result would be better than this.

I only used to buy a product if
- the emails don't get excited me at prelaunch and than the copy don't disappointed me at the launch
- the sales copy convinces me about the benefit of the shopping
- the copy and popups are not boring and annoying
- the copy contains description and image about the products interest me
- the product implies enough novelties (I'm online for three years, so I saw one or two things already)
- it is targeted to my objectives
- it isn't distract me far and wide
- it is not at my disposal yet (I've 30 gigabite collecting dust on my HDs)
- I'll apply it in the short time
- it gives specialized solutions to these days

Unfortunately, all these cannot be referred onto this 'Biggest Firesale' product. May be next time, fellows.

This is my 0,2 cents.

- Sandor

[Stanley Tang]

Originally Posted by Stanley Tang

Interestingly enough...

I'm currently averaging almost $5 per VISITOR... so roughly a 10% conversion rate.

So yes, it depends on the way YOU promote it. If you simply copy and paste the promo emails, don't add your own personal touch to it, and not include a bonus, then obviously you won't get a high conversion rate. Personalization and bonuses actually DO make a difference.

And no, I am not a guru or any big name. Just a 16 year old So I am just like you guys trying to compete against all the big guns like Joel Comm, Ian del Carmen and Simon Hodgkinson.

Originally Posted by VinceTan

Hi everyone,

As the organizer, i should address some of the things mentioned here

I do admit that the copy can be improve further. Which we are making
changes every day. But huge changes shortly.

Right now we are doing at this figure.

Average Value Per Visitor = $3.30 (max : $5.30) sorry Stanley please do better
Average Commission Per Visitor = $1.65
Average spent per customer = $160.00
Average commission per customer = $80.00

Upsell is converting at 40% and sub-upsell converting at 100%.

We are doing close to 6 figure shortly.

Appreciate all your valuable input. We are working round the clock to improve it Thanks again Warriors for the constructive feedbacks.

Again the objective is to give great value in this package which like everyone says, truly a no brainer. 1 or 2 item from from this would have justify the cost of the entire package. so everything else is a bonus

Did some tweaking and I'm now doing $12.64 PER VISITOR from promoting your firesale launch

This just goes to show that it really depends on HOW YOU PROMOTE this product... and know how to drive TARGETED traffic to your affiliate links.

So you can't really be complaining about low conversion rates. The salesletter DOES convert; it just depends on whether or not you know how to drive targeted traffic and do affiliate marketing