Nov
3
I found this on Ewen Chia’s blog, and thought it was important enough to pass on…
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A couple of days ago, ClickBank implemented automatic currency conversion on the checkout page.
For example, if your product costs USD$47 and someone in New Zealand clicked on the purchase button, the price he sees on the checkout page is NZD $90.38 dollars.
Although USD$47 and NZD$90.38 are the “same” - it may “look” more expensive to the potential customer, i.e. it defeats the tried and tested “psychological pricing point” where numbers such as $27, $47, $67 converts best.
Thankfully, ClickBank has responded and you have a choice. If you’d like to disable this automatic conversion, you can contact them via the ClickBank Publisher Contact Form and request that this automatic conversion feature be disabled in your account.
If you choose to disable the currency conversion, you can still offer products in different currencies by manually setting them in your ClickBank account.
In this case, you simply set up a unique product for each currency you wish to accept. For example, if you want to offer the same e-book in USD and GBP, you can set up two separate products in the “My Products” section of your account.
- Product #1 - default currency = USD
- Product #2 - default currency = GBP
Then provide 2 payment links on your sales page. If customers click on payment link #1, they will see the price specified in USD.
If they click a payment link for product 2, they will see the GBP price. In both cases, the consumer will not have the ability to choose a different currency for payment.
To your success,
Erik
No TagsOct
30
It’s ALL about sales.
Filed Under Erik Stafford | Leave a Comment
I have always had a huge respect for David Ogilvy.
Ogilvy was a notable advertising executive and the founder of Ogilvy Mather. He has often been called “The Father of Advertising.” In 1962, Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.” He was known for a career of expanding the bounds of both creativity and morality… and is the author of the “Ogilvy on Advertising”, a book that absolutely should be on your shelf if you are serious about marketing.
Although he was the head of a Madison Avenue Agency, Ogilvy sided firmly with direct advertising over creative advertising.
Here is an excerpt from a speech he gave in Paris where he laid out the difference between the two approaches and why, in his opinion, direct advertising is the more effective form:
“There is a yawning chasm between you generalists and we directs. We directs belong to a different world. Your gods are not our gods.
You generalists pride yourselves on being creative – whatever that awful word means. You cultivate the mystique of creativity. Some of you are pretentious poseurs. You are the glamour boys and girls of the advertising community. You regard advertising as an art form – and expect your clients to finance expressions of your genius. We directs do not regard advertising as an art form. Our clients don’t give a damn whether we win awards at Cannes. They pay us to sell their products. Nothing else.
You must be the most seductive salesmen in the world if you can persuade hard headed clients to pay for your kind of advertising. When sales go up, you claim credit for it. When sales go down, you blame the product. We in direct response know exactly to the penny how many products we sell with each of our advertisements. Your favourite music is the applause of your fellow art directors and copywriters. Our favourite music is the ring of the cash register.
You generalists use short copy. We use long copy. Experience has taught us that short copy doesn’t sell. In our headlines, we promise the consumer a benefit. You generalists don’t think it is creative.
You have never had to live with the discipline of knowing the results of your advertising. We pack our advertisements and letters with information about the product. We have found out we have to – if we want to sell anything.”
Erik
No TagsOct
23
Leaving Las Vegas
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Hey guys:)
So a couple days ago I was sitting in the airport, leaving Las Vegas.
Watching flights zoom down the runway with people playing slots ten feet away. Crazy.
I was out there for JVAlert, which was totally amazing. I got to spend time with friends like Ken McArthur, Harris Fellman, Simon Leung, Lee and Robin Collins, Willie Crawford, Robert Puddy, Ron Capps, Eric Farewell, and others…
And also made connections with Mari Smith, Chris Haddad, and a bunch more mega-talented people that I am sure will factor into my future success.
Anyways, enough name-dropping and shout-outs… the bottom line is that live events are that rare opportunity to creep out of my cave and actually spend REAL TIME with others who share my passion for technology and marketing. It’s always inspiring and exciting.
I was invited to sit on the experts panel again, which is a great thrill for me… and even better is the fact that I got to meet some of my mentoring clients in person (Mary Richardson, Cathy and Laurie) It was amazing to put faces to names and actually sit down and chat after spending so much time cmmunicating long distance through the computer.
What an odd place though… Vegas. All the lights, signs, and opportunities…
Yes, opportunity. Las Vegas sells opportunity: the opportunity to be entertained by a show, to see something incredible, and everywhere (even at the airport) the opportunity to get rich.
To hit the jackpot!
And it got me thinking:
Opportunity is GREAT… but it has to be the right kind of opportunity. I like to think of it as planned or calculated opportunity… and once you put the wheels in motion you need to execute and launch. You can’t hop around from opportunity to opportunity looking to get rich.
This is what’s wrong with our current economy. Instead of looking for actual solutions to existing problems, the government is looking for a “quick fix” which is absolutely the wrong way to approach things…
It’s just like the people who email me and tell me “I need to make $$$XXX in the next two days… can you help?” I always say NO… because I believe you need a plan, and time to execute. You have time, and a plan? Then of course I can help you.
Anyways, it’s time we (as a country) left Las Vegas. Stopped looking for quick fixes and started planning and implementing strategies.
And if you are looking to quit your job, start a business, grow a business… It’s probably time you do the same.
To your success,
Erik
No TagsOct
21
Me and Joe…
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Joe Sugarman is a groundbreaking Direct Marketing genius. His accomplishments in marketing innovation alone give him the right to be called a legend.
Sugarman used direct marketing to get the world’s first pocket calculator into as many hands as possible. This led to the formation of the JS&A Group, Inc. which led the industry in space-age technology. Sugarman introduced the cordless phone and the digital watch to the public with his marketing techniques.
Sugarman also introduced the concept of using toll-free numbers to take credit card orders over the phone, which was unheard of at the time. After only one year of using toll-free numbers to process orders, thousands of other companies followed suit. This led to a revolution in the merchandising industry.
His skills also led to the sale of twenty million pairs of BluBlockers. One of his lasting advertising innovations is the “man on the street.” This involved a public demonstration of the product to strangers passing by and was completely new at the time. It’s now one of the standard tricks used in infomercials.
It was an honor to meet him!
Oct
18
Vince Tan is at it again.
In case the name Vince Tan is not yet ringing any bells with you, he is the guy that pulled off one of the biggest Firesales of 2007, doing $69,000 in sales in a mere 7 days…
Out of nowhere.
Yes, he came out of nowhere and racked up the kind of sales that some people never accomplish after being online for YEARS.
He proved that it you WANT it you can do it. In fact, Vince became quite the inspiration for many marketers who never thought this kind of fast online success to be possible…
So, here’s why we’re talking about this now, in 2008:
Vince is going to do it again, this time shooting for 6 or even 7 figures… with NO out of pocket expenses!
Vince has made it his personal goal to show that ANYONE that wants to accomplish this kind of success online can do it, regardless of how much money they have OR don’t have to start with.
Vince’s Firesale will go live on 18th November, BUT for now, you stand a chance to win the complete Firesale package plus some other extra stuff worth $1,500 (or more!) by going to the site below and guessing the total value of the Firesale package!
Remember, that’s 100+ top IM products that are currently selling in the market Today!
Of course I’ve already put in my guess 
http://www.erik-recommends.com/firesale
Vince has already managed to get over 100 Top Marketers to join forces on this, again, without spending any of his own money, so you really should follow this closely, and be on the lookout for the official launch on November 18th, 2008.
http://www.erik-recommends.com/firesale
To your success,
Erik
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