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Shifting people from 'prospects' list to 'customers' list? Big problem!

by Akkari
11 replies
Hey,

I had recently stumbled upon a very irritating problem. I think I can only explain this through an example so please bare with me.

Let's say I'm an affiliate (take care, affiliate, not owner) of some product and I started promoting it. I set an interval to send my promo emails, let's say 5 emails. It's a fact that the more the prospect is exposed, the higher the chances to take action, right?

So my question is simple, if it happened that the prospect bought the product at email #3, (s)he will keep receiving email #4 and #5 telling him/her how this product is great and how it's really a must to have it. Big problem, I should say. This can get extremely annoying, putting myself in their place, when I act upon their offer and keep receiving email urging me to buy it, definitely 'uncool' and 'unprofessional'. I think it would be much easier to deal with the situation if the product was mine, but in this case, I am an affiliate.

Any feedback would be very appreciated.
#big #customers #list #people #problem #prospects #shifting
  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Akkari, you have a good question, one many affiliates wrestle with (or should). There really isn't a fool-proof way to do what you want, at least not without some serious cooperation from the product owner.

    One partial solution could be to offer some kind of bonus when the person buys through your link, where they have to email you proof of purchase. At that point, you can move them from one list to another. It's not perfect, but it's a start...
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  • Profile picture of the author Harry Behrens
    Possibly you are "selling" too much and not providing enough value in other ways in your emails.

    I have several newsletters from big names whose newsletters continue to pitch products that I have already bought or have already decided I will never buy, but I don't mind because the other stuff that comes with it is useful/educational/entertaining enough for me to read. I also send emails knowing that some portion of the readers will already have the product that I talk about so I make sure to include something interesting for them as well.

    This could actually be a good and quick rule of thumb to see if your email is providing enough value: If somebody who already has the product reads it, will they still be able to "get" something out of the email? If not, work on it some more.

    About the having two separate lists for leads and buyers, I've heard a lot about that kind of thing and have tried it doing it as well as have had it "done" to me, it always seems more trouble than it's worth when I'm on the sending end, and just confusing when I'm on the receiving end. I have yet to see it done well (although I'm sure it's possible).
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    • Profile picture of the author Traffic_Is_King
      Akkari,

      I agree with hmbehrens in that your emails should provide some value if your not doing it already. Maybe a tutorial or a behind the scenes look at what the product can offer. Then send a clear message in your email saying "If you haven't done so already you can purchase the product here. If you already bought it tell me what you think about it.".

      This does 3 things. One, it gives the impression to the subscriber that a real conversation is going on between you and them because of the call to action to respond and interact. Two, you get feedback from the subscriber if they bought the product and what they thought about it. You can use this to tweak your emails that you send out. Three, if they keep getting emails if they purchased earlier on in the campaign ,the value you put in the emails will be viewed as things they may not have known about the product so they may not be annoyed by the pitch.

      Usually the canned messages from the tools they give you when promoting a product can lower your conversions because they can be impersonal or sales pitchy. Tailor and tweak the email messages as if you were in a conversation with a friend. You will build trust this way and find that your click though conversions to be a little higher.

      As far as segmenting your list from prospect to customer. You can use different tools to do this. I think 1 shopping cart has something like this. I would segment If I had my own product so I can give them support. For affiliate products you can always re-direct them to the affiliate site or email for help. Or you can do it if they contact you and you know the product well.

      Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author Realdeals228
    I know that aweber has a way to shift people from list to list or remove them from a list when they make a purchase. If you use aweber than set automation rules to sign them up for your customer list when they join the prospect list and then when they purchase remove them from the prospect list. If you don't use aweber I am sure other services have similar tools.
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    • Profile picture of the author Akkari
      Thanks for all the great feedback guys. John's idea seems pretty interesting to me. Yeah, I also agree with hmbehrens and Traffic_Is_King about having value. The only problem is that email will nevertheless contain a 'call to action' to a product they may have already bought. Well, I thought of doing something like 'If you haven't taken action regarding my offer yesterday yet, I urge you...'. The real problem comes when I am, for example, sending a 6-part e-course about the topic of this particular product, then it's really driving them one way. So there isn't really a chance to insert other offers/promotions/other type of content in a 'focused' e-course. Anyone get what I'm trying to say?

      I mean, in case of an e-course, I'm providing content of value but recommending that certain product as an indepth educational course. I think the best solution in this case is what John recommended. Thanks for all the great feedback guys. Any other feedback would be highly appreciated as well.


      Originally Posted by Realdeals228 View Post

      I know that aweber has a way to shift people from list to list or remove them from a list when they make a purchase. If you use aweber than set automation rules to sign them up for your customer list when they join the prospect list and then when they purchase remove them from the prospect list. If you don't use aweber I am sure other services have similar tools.
      I think you're right, but that goes if the product is mine, right? Does that work when I'm an affiliate as well?

      Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author MaxReferrals
      Originally Posted by Realdeals228 View Post

      I know that aweber has a way to shift people from list to list or remove them from a list when they make a purchase. If you use aweber than set automation rules to sign them up for your customer list when they join the prospect list and then when they purchase remove them from the prospect list. If you don't use aweber I am sure other services have similar tools.
      Agred with RealDeals.

      This is your answer if you use AW.

      Pretty seemless and easy.
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      • Profile picture of the author kf
        Yes - it works beautifully if you are the vendor. The OP states clearly that he's an affiliate of the product so he's looking for a work-around.

        John's suggestion is good - offer a bonus to get them back on your list as a 'buyer'.

        Originally Posted by MaxReferrals View Post

        Agred with RealDeals.

        This is your answer if you use AW.

        Pretty seemless and easy.
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        Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything. ~ Alexander Hamilton
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  • Profile picture of the author jakesellers
    Aweber's automation is not well suited to the OP's scenario. The best way (with Aweber) is to run two lists for the offer, one for prospects, one for conversions, add automation to add subscribers to prospect list to conversion list on subscription, don't set up multiple followups on the conversions list, track conversions by email address (in Aweber the easiest way is to pass the email address as optional info) and unsubscribe converters from the prospect list. Conversions list would be used for broadcast messages only (to converters and prospects) prospect list gets the drip campaign until conversion, in which case the prospect's unsubscribed.
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