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In this week’s issue:

• 🤿 Convert effectively, research thoroughly, streamline funnels, persuade users.

Reading time: 5 minutes

🤿
The Dive Deep

Learn practical methods

1) Start with the bottom

It’s intuitive to start with getting website visitors.

At the end of the day, you can’t get customers without new users, right? Yes and no.

There is no point in getting website visitors if you can’t convert them.

You don’t pour water into a leaking bucket. First, fix the bucket. Then add some water.

The same thing with your marketing.

Start with your offer. Make it a no-brainer.

Then understand how you will convert strangers into loyal customers. Step-by-step.

And only then find these strangers. When you are ready.

Chase conversions. Not clicks.

2) Do your research

It might be a shock to you.

But you are not alone. Your product doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

There are users. There are competitors. There are trends.

And you can learn from them. From their wins and losses.

I can’t stress it enough.

Dedicating 5 days to user and competitor research will impact your business more than any marketing task later.

Because you will get clarity on

• What product features do people need the most?

• What words do you need to use on your landing page?

• What pricing is competitive?

• How do your competitors market their products?

Of course, you can ship fast and learn from your mistakes. If you are ready to lose money, do it.

But you can always learn from other mistakes. And make your positioning sharper.

3) Simplify your funnel

Conversion Rate Optimization isn’t a magic spell to make people love you.

It’s about designing a marketing funnel that takes in new users, communicates your product’s value, and helps them to pay you money.

Let’s say you are selling productivity Notion templates.

Of course, you can post on Pinterest, then book meetings with customers to sell them a $19 product. But your Conversion Rate will be shit.

Or you can leverage the time and true funnel.

Threads about productivity -> Freebie to get an email -> Newsletter to nurture leads -> $$ Templates to convert -> $$$$ Coaching to upsell

This funnel converts. Now you need to find the ideal formula for your product.

It will be different. But it should always be simple.

• One main acquisition channel

• One key activation moment

• One key offer to sell

• One high-ticket product to upsell

No rocket science. The simpler, the better.

4) Nudge, nudge, nudge

One thing you will learn pretty soon.

Most users are not ready to buy on the spot. They need to be persuaded.

They don’t get excited by looking at your product.

“I mean, yeah, looks pretty cool, but not a priority right now”

Don’t get frustrated. You can fix it by nudging them.

Nudging users != aggressively spamming them and stalking them IRL

Nudging users = making your offer look more desirable

Handling objections. Building trust. Creating an impulse.

Here are 10 nudge ideas for your business:

• Create a lifetime deal for early customers

• Add a 30-day money-back guarantee

• Describe a success case with your most satisfied customer

• Add a product video in a Loom style with your talking head

• Show statistics of your users (satisfaction rate, number of customers, impact on the metrics)

• Add believable scarcity that makes sense (btw, 2 seats for habit tracker don’t make sense)

• Send a juicy discount for an annual price that expires in 48 hours

• Use non-transactional language on your buttons (Buy it -> Get instant access)

• Let users preview and customize the product for free, but start using it after paying

• Onboard users manually to build affinity

Don’t expect people to just buy your product. Sell it to them first.

5) Prioritize direct user acquisition

Don’t do SEO before you get your first paying customer.

I know. I know. Free traffic from Google. Awesome, right?

It’s bullshit.

It will take you months to see any sustainable traffic. You could get these 50 damn clicks from sending 100 cold DMs.

Don’t put much effort into the channel when you are not 100% sure the product idea won’t be pivoted.

Because otherwise, your time and money will be lost. You will need to start again from scratch.

That’s why, in the beginning, focus on marketing channels with quick effort-to-impact flow.

• Launch on Product Hunt

• Send cold DMs / emails

• Buy Facebook / Google Ads

• Send emails to your subscribers

• Tweet about your product

Finish the quick wins before going to more challenging tasks.

No SEO before the first paying customer. That’s our new motto.

6) One per week; All per month

You don’t need to complete a task from each category every week. It’s pointless.

Be focused. Pick a category and nail it.

Better positioning. Higher conversion. More users.

You chose.

But always cover all categories in one month.

Your positioning is not a one-time task. Your conversion isn’t stable forever.

Don’t just get more users. Improve your marketing holistically.

That’s it for today! 🙌

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Thanks for reading and see you next week,

Marc-Etienne