We’ll show you how to take your offer from zero to hero in four steps.
Nobody said building an offer was easy. In fact, creating an offer that consistently converts and attracts affiliates is straight up tricky. But, like baking a fancy and tasty cake, there’s tried and true methodology to the process that can help you achieve an epic offer. If you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way.
Step 1: Research and Identify a Primary Pain Point.
We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your English teacher was right. The first step is always research. Conducting preliminary research is “square one” when it comes to identifying the needs and the pain points of your potential customer. The more you know about the niche you plan to enter, the more you can tailor your offer to satisfy buyers, create trust, and build a brand reputation. Here are a few ways to find out more about what you can bring to the table.
- Competitive Research
One way to gather insights and information is to perform competitive research. Identify some key players in the niche you want to enter and find out what they’re doing to achieve their success. Figuring this out in the beginning can help you avoid certain pitfalls and help you get started in the right direction.
Check out how your competitors are incentivizing affiliates. Are their offers compelling? Is their copy engaging? What about their brand? Who is their target demographic? Are they missing anyone they could be reaching?
While this kind of research can be super enlightening, here’s the catch–don’t use what you find out to “rip and repeat” what your competitors are offering. Use your new insights to find and orient yourself in the niche you plan to enter. Not what you like, what you don’t like, and figure out how you can stand out from your competitors.
- Do you have time for a brief survey?
The next way to get the scoop in your niche is to listen to your market. The best way to listen? Conduct a survey.
There are many resources out there for making the survey, but the real trick to surveying is making sure you ask the right questions. For example, ask what factors survey-takers consider when making a purchase. Or, ask how often they tend to buy a certain product. You’ll want your questions to help in identifying the pain points your potential buyers encounter so that you can tailor your offer to soothe them.
On top of questions, make sure you include the boilerplate demographic questions (age, gender, income, education, etc.). These will help with analytics once you’ve collected all of your data. Take your time with building your survey step. The information you get from surveying is invaluable in guiding you on your offer building journey. Fore more information on how to build a survey, check out this resource.
Step 2: Craft a story and build a sales page.
The ability to write an engaging brand story may seem like the easy and fun part of offer building. Fun? Yes. Easy? Absolutely not. Successful stories and sales pages effectively sell a product with a relatable narrative. This is where many sellers fail. A compelling story needs to do three things: identify a problem that the potential customer can relate to, highlight the future and current implications of this problem, and then parade in a solution like a knight in shining armor. Of course, all of this must be done in a way that keeps the customer along for the story time ride. So, how’s it done? Here are a few ways to complete this step successfully:
- Get the Story Right
You must illuminate your story as a solution by showing how it solves the pain point. It’s okay if copywriting just isn’t your thing. But, if that’s the case, you may want to invest the resources necessary to get your story right (i.e. hire a copywriter to do it for you).
Or, if you want to do it yourself, check out some online resources before forging ahead. And, remember, have someone read it before you publish it to check for comprehension, grammar and spelling, and general appeal.
- Build a Sales Page
If you’re wondering what differentiates a sales page from a landing page or a webpage or a bookpage, here’s the difference: a sales page is a specific type of landing page with one very specific goal–to get the visitor to make a purchase. This is where the story that you just crafted will live. It can vary in length, but the visitor will not have to leave this page to make the purchase.
The anatomy of a sales page is pretty consistent throughout the industry. Here are a few key parts you’ll want to include:
- A single page format.
All of the necessary parts of the story, the purchase process, and your brand must live on this page. - Fast page load speed.
This is important especially if you have a video sales letter. Viewers need to see the information as quickly as possible to get them engaged and paying attention. - Plenty of white space.
White space reduces clutter on the page and keeps the viewers attention where it needs to be: on the most important and compelling information. - Keep the “good stuff” above the fold.
Make sure viewers can see what they need to see before they are forced to scroll down the page. - Clear, simple, and persuasive copy.
Again, we can’t stress this enough–make sure your copy is good, like really good. - Functionality over design.
Every element of the page needs to be there for functionality and making conversions. Don’t add too many elements lest you distract the viewer. - Consistent and pressing calls to action.
Keep your CTAs consistent and pressing. - Scarcity.
If your offer is limited, make sure to mention it on the sales page. Scarcity is a motivating factor for many buyers. - Social proof.
Social testimonials are very effective when it comes to getting customers to commit. Utilizing reviews and testimonials on your sales page can be very helpful. Make sure you follow the FTC guidelines for reviews though.
For more information on building a quality sales page, check out this resource.
Step 3: Optimize Your Conversion Rate
The metric that you will want to pay attention to as you start building your epic offer is the conversion rate. The conversion rate is verification that you’ve identified the problem; that you’re telling the right story; and that your sales are performing as they should. When affiliates seek offers to promote, this is the metric they most often pay attention to. If your offer doesn’t convert, affiliates don’t get paid and they will seek out other offers with higher conversion rates. So how do you keep your conversion rate attractive? Here’s our top suggestion:
- Split Test
When it comes to your copy and your sales page, there are a lot of factors that go into making sure it’s successful. You won’t be able to identify what’s working and what’s not without split testing (also known as A/B testing or multivariate testing). Spend the time to rest, re-test, and test some more until your sales page performs at the best level possible. The saying is absolutely true when it comes to copy and sales pages: “It’s the little things.” Small tweaks can make a big difference on conversion rate and testing can provide insights into what you should change.
For more information on how to get started with split testing, check out this resource.
Step 4: Build an “Offer Flow.”
The final step in building an epic offer is to build an offer flow. This step is all about increasing your average order volume (also known as “AOV”). When you increase your average order volume, you increase your margins. Higher margins can give you more f;exibility for affiliate commission payout. More commission payout will make your offer more attractive to affiliates and entice them to promote it. Sounds pretty great, right?
Building an offer flow is all about building the experience your customers have after their initial purchase decision. The offer flow occurs once a customer clicks on the purchase CTA on the sales page. To capitalize on this moment, utilize the following tactics the increase the initial order amount:
- Order Bumps
Order bumps exist on the order form and the option to purchase is made before the final sale. Typically order bumps offer an additional product related to the initial product for an amount that is less than fifty percent the price of the initial product. - Upsells
Once a customer has completed a purchase, you can offer an upsell. An upsell is a product that naturally would be bought with the initial product that enhances the product experience. - Minimum Cart Value
Setting a minimum cart value means that shoppers must reach a certain purchase value to unlock a bonus (like free shipping). - Minimum Cart Discounts
Setting a minimum cart discount means that shoppers must reach a certain purchase value before they get a discount on their entire purchase value. - Time Limit on Offer
Setting a limited time on an offer is a scarcity tactic that encourages shoppers to buy before the offer ends. - Package Deals
Package deals occur before the purchase has been complete. Shoppers are given the option to buy two or more items together as a bundle at a discounted price. - Incentivize Purchase
To incentivize a purchase you can include a rewards program, cash back, or a discount on further products.
Including one or more of these options is a great way to create an offer flow that increases AOV thus attracts affiliates–which is an important factor in elevating your offer to epic status.
Is my offer epic yet?
What if you do all of this and your offer is still less-than-epic? We recommend going back and reworking the steps. Do more research, improve your copy, split test some more, and try out new elements in your offer flow. Offers respond to the level of attention and work you put into them, so with a little more time and energy, your offer is sure to achieve epic status.
This blog was adapted from the ClickBank guide: “How to Take Your Business to the Next Level with an Affiliate Program. To read the full guide, CLICK HERE.