[Updated: July 17, 2018]
Direct response marketing, is designed to evoke an immediate
response and encourage potential customers to take a specific action, such as
opting in to your email list, being directed to a landing page, calling for
more information, or making a purchase.
This type of marketing is highly trackable, uses compelling
headlines and copy, targets a specific audience, makes a specific offer, and
asks for a response.
The key to using this type of marketing is to not get hung
up on the initial interaction. It’s important to continue to follow up at every
opportunity.
You get more engagement and further the relationship with
every interaction. When you do that, you’ll expand your reach and impact and
get more
sales at the same time.
So without further ado, here are seven direct response
strategies you can use to increase engagement and sales that you might be
missing out on…
#1 Encourage an
Action on EVERY Page of your Website
We mean every page.
From your Homepage to your About Us, every page is an
opportunity for engagement.
This doesn’t mean that every page has a call to action (CTA)
to purchase or fill out a form. A CTA you might use on a page could be to
direct them to a specific page to find out more information, or it could be to
download a helpful resource on that topic.
Frank Kern utilizes his About page to ask, very directly,
for his audience to read some of his articles and sign up for free trainings if
they like them. He lays out a path for them to take right there.
#2 Utilize the
Sidebar or Breaks on Your Pages to Make Offers
This strategy you might already be familiar with if you’ve
been on our blog before.
That’s because SMT utilizes our sidebar to make offers.
You don’t always need to relate the offer to the particular
post or page content, although you certainly could.
The point is to use that prominent space on the page to draw
attention to your offer. The visitors who click to download or sign up for a
mailing list from this type of offer and go through a funnel would have
otherwise just read the article and left without engaging.
#3 Make an Offer with
EVERY Interaction
This strategy is very similar to encouraging an action on
every page of your website.
Without making it very clear what next step you’d like your
audience to make, they’re more likely to take none.
An example for making an offer with every interaction is by
including relevant product offers within your confirmation emails or on the
Thank You page after purchase.
Amazon does this with their confirmation emails. By
suggesting upsells, you have the opportunity to sell more and increase that
customer’s total worth.
#4 Provide Multiple
Ways to Connect
In direct response marketing, you provide multiple response
mechanisms.
Often you’ll provide your:
This doesn’t mean you should start confusing visitors by
having multiple different offers on a page. It just means that they should have
multiple ways to take you up on your offer.
If they’re not quite ready to make a purchase, having a live
chat option or giving them a phone number to reach you with any questions could
turn leads into buyers.
#5 Gather Contact
Info on Your First Interaction
Marketing expert, Dr. Jeffery Lant’s Rule of Seven tells us
that “You must contact your buyers a
minimum of seven times in an 18-month period for them to remember you.”
However, you can’t connect with potential buyers those seven
times if you never gather any information from them. But what if they don’t
immediately give up that information?
If visitors fail to fill out a form to capture their
information, you can still reach them by utilizing Facebook retargeting pixels.
These pixels cookie your traffic and allows you to show remarketing ads to them
on Facebook.
Drive that traffic back to your lead magnet and you get
another chance to capture their information. Once you have that, you can market
to them in their inbox as well as their Facebook News Feed.
#6 Try Out Trial Offers
A very low cost trial offer is an easy way to gain a new customer. They are often given away for $1 and the full amount is billed a few days later if the customer is satisfied with the product.
This type of offer works the best when it is an item that doesn’t need to be shipped.
Customers are able to experience your product/service without having too much of a commitment up front and you’re able to quickly and easily capture their information.
#7 Create a Bundle or Package Deal
Sometimes all it takes is a little extra value to make the sale.
Before a potential customer has a chance to leave without purchasing anything on your website, one strategy that has been proven to increase conversion is to offer product bundles. This works best when the products in the bundle are logically connected.
Adding bonuses to an offer can be enough to sweeten the deal and persuade the visitor to become a purchaser.
Conclusion
These are just a few ways that direct response strategies
can get you more engagement and sales for your business.
Remember to think about how you’re directing visitors
towards an action or offer on your website and how you plan to continue to
follow up with them whether they fill out a form or end up leaving without
taking an action.
By seizing every interaction as an opportunity, you have a
much better chance of growing your business.
Are you ready to work on growing your business and
optimizing your website using these direct response strategies? Call us at
(407) 682-2222 for a free strategy session.