Sales page to warm audience has a 1% conversion... how can I improve?

[christpa]

The sales page is pretty terrible and the product is way overpriced for new fans.

The fact that you're getting 1% conversion rates ANYWAY is really impressive. And my opinion as a fellow metalhead is because your music is excellent. Seriously, the guitars, the vocals, the recording quality. Top notch. The fact that you're getting any sales at all from that sales page suggests to me that you've got a ton of potential there.

I won't repeat what everyone else already said, but what are you using to create the sales page? Do you have Clickfunnels or something like that? I think just having a more modern looking page would help a lot.

Btw I still buy CDs. It's easier for me to just stick a CD in the CD player in the car than to mess around with phone apps so I prefer CDs. I'm sure I'm not the only one. That said, it certainly doesn't hurt to offer the digital option. But I wouldn't want to pay 47 pounds for a CD with a t-shirt (that I wouldn't really want), even thought I really do think your music is great. I would sell the CD for 10 and add the shirt as an upsell.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Looks a LOT better. I'd like to know, how these changes will impact the conversion rate. I hope you'll keep us updated.

Yeah I'll post up results! It will take a couple of weeks to get the data in.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Yea I want to the check out and CD and Tshirt one of those needs FREE in front of it.

It really would be ideal if all of it could be free but they pay for shipping.

(If you still made a profit.)

A Free + Shipping funnel? The CD costs £5 to make and the t shirt £7. Keeping the prices reasonable and making that work would be pretty tricky.

I could do a CD in a card wallet, which would cost £1.70 to print (£1 or less at scale), and I can hide that cost in the shipping, making a "free" front end offer where people just pay for shipping. They could then upgrade to a full size CD on the 1st upsell and t shirt on the 2nd upsell page...

Is that more along the lines of what you're thinking?

 

[StrikingViper69]

You know it's really tricky....I feel we are in the lab but we really need to get in those customers heads.

I have bought things just to get the other thing that came with it before.

But we need to know what the thing is that gets them excited to pull the trigger in the first place. Little details like actual TShirt design, type of music matters as well.

There is a split second thought going on in prospects heads...wow I want that or yawn I can do without that.

I do not know if the music is Mozart or Kanye all these little details matter in our strategy.

So what we really want to know is that target audience what are their most motivating factors for them and keep pushing that button.

Yeah I think it's a lot of trial and error. I'm thinking of re-focussing onto teaching online... I have people paying me monthly and asking to pay me for lessons... so working on that and getting the $$$ today seems like a smart move.

 

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[MitchM]

Hey man, mad respect for what you’re doing!

It’s really great to see the improvements you’ve made.

I think doing a bit of a VSL and Having a good value stack is your best option. These people haven’t been following you for long at this point, so make it exciting for them.

For example, if you tour or visit any specific areas, you can say that they’ll also receive X% off your tickets or something like that when you visit their city.

This would also allow you to create segmented email lists.

Maybe also throw in an unreleased song?

The music industry can be really tough for making money, as I’m sure you know. My brother makes music and I’ve tried to think of things he can do.. and it’s very tricky.

Ultimately, I think it may actually be best to make your goal something simple - like breaking even with your list - and then growing the rapport and trust overtime before selling something.

Maybe do an initial album download with 1 unreleased song for a cheap price and wait a while before upselling.

Sorry - just throwing some things at the wall. I hope something sticks!

 

[StrikingViper69]

Hey man, mad respect for what you’re doing!

It’s really great to see the improvements you’ve made.

I think doing a bit of a VSL and Having a good value stack is your best option. These people haven’t been following you for long at this point, so make it exciting for them.

For example, if you tour or visit any specific areas, you can say that they’ll also receive X% off your tickets or something like that when you visit their city.

This would also allow you to create segmented email lists.

Maybe also throw in an unreleased song?

The music industry can be really tough for making money, as I’m sure you know. My brother makes music and I’ve tried to think of things he can do.. and it’s very tricky.

Ultimately, I think it may actually be best to make your goal something simple - like breaking even with your list - and then growing the rapport and trust overtime before selling something.

Maybe do an initial album download with 1 unreleased song for a cheap price and wait a while before upselling.

Sorry - just throwing some things at the wall. I hope something sticks!

Yeah the VSL is something I'll add. I've been thinking of completely revamping how I do this. People being unfamiliar with me and quite new to me and my music is a major challenge... but I think I have a solution to test.

You're right about the goal being to break even, but even that has been pretty tricky. I'm going to work on something related but different, that will bring in money now, so then I have a bit more money to play around with for making good videos for my ads / experimenting with merch.

I've been trying to get this to work with a shoe string budget and it's plain frustrating!

Thanks for the ideas - I've got a few things to test out once I improve my income.

DId anyone bought a cd from you? (I didn't picked it up from the thread)

Maybe you could contact them and ask for testimonials .
Since you assume that people consider buying (44s on order page), testimonials there might help to put them on the right side of fence.

No-one bought, but I had 3 abandon carts. So people are considering it, and even filling out some of their details before deciding against buying. I'll test out the testimonials when I give this another shot!

 

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[broswoodwork]

Edit: Have you guys run tests and found that shorter copy converts better than longer copy?

I sell furniture, so it's highly visual after the item title/ headline. I'm lucky if I can even get them to read the copy most times, before clicking the "ask a question" button.

I still throw everything and the kitchen sink into the copy for people who want the whole picture.

Disclosure: I'm not even remotely an expert on copy. Read a few books, and my stuff sells, but I'm very much a newbie.

 

[csalvato]

In terms of copywriting, one of the biggest mistakes you're making is making the whole thing "me-focused" rather than "you-focused." It's all about Sam, and his dreams, and his goals. It needs to be all about the potential buyer, and their dreams, and their goals, and the type of community they want to being to.

"People like me buy stuff like this."

If you can implant that thought into your potential buyer's mind, it will go a long way toward boosting sales.

Right now, the copy is missing answers such as "who even IS the potential buyer? What do they care about? When they buy music, why do they do it? What kind of emotions are they looking for music to create in them? What kind of lifestyle is attached to or implied by the music they listen to? What are their fears? Their aspirations? Acknowledge those things in your copy and you will resonate with the people who are in your target audience.

Another big issue with your copy: it doesn't adhere to the tried-and-true structure of a high converting sales letter. The order of what you put first, second, third, etc matters. You are structuring a sales pitch that is supposed to move the prospect from inaction to action.

Another big point: your headline is weak, and then the subhead essentially repeats the headline in different words that say the same thing. The headline is one of the most important pieces of real estate in your sales letter. Your headline should make a huge promise while evoking curiosity. I would test a series of headlines in different categories to see which ones perform best. (Hat tip to Brian Kurtz for the following list
Curiosity
Call out pain point
Promise-Solution
Specificity
Simplicity
Credibility: Address the prospect’s skepticism
Time frame to achieve results of the promise

I would also agree wholeheartedly with putting a video on the page. Your typically see headline, subhead, video, button at the beginning of a sales page like this.


The good news is, you have a page that's covering at 1%! Congratulations! This means something is working. Now you have the opportunity to tweak, pivot, and adjust until you get this dialed in.

As a copywriter, when do you assess if the offer is even good? How do you make that assessment?

I imagine your job is 1000x easier if the product is great, so I assume there’s tools in your toolbox to determine product quality before you take a client.

My interpretation is that his conversion rate of 1% is stellar, because I believe the product offering is weak. I have sold products with about the same/slightly better conversion rate with great copy, but the product never took off and I determined the product to be subpar.

(Sincerely, No offense intended OP. The music clearly resonates with people based on your following, and the fact that you’re making sales. It’s just that selling CDs in 2019 seems very odd to me.)

I am curious if you disagree with my opinion from your experience in copywriting. Thanks!

 

[csalvato]

From a news source I follow:

Research shows new tech can help bring old tech back from the dead

Studies show that 3rd-gen tech is actually helping bring vinyl and film back.

thehustle.co

The fact that CD sales are stagnant and digital camera shipments are declining illustrates another principle researchers found: although third-gen tech can be a boon to first-gen tech, it often cannibalizes second-gen tech -- in this case, CDs and digital cameras.

Timely

 

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[Bekit]

There's a big benefit to selling a physical item like this, though, which shouldn't be overlooked:

OP gets the physical address of his most committed buyers.

This is the ultimate measure of control, as then he has the option to send them something in the mail.

A list of the mailing addresses of people who liked your stuff well enough to order an outdated piece of tech to get it... That's worth its weight in gold.

People who bought one thing are the best candidates to buy a second thing.

@SamRussell I'd say treat these buyers like the VIPs that they are. Send them something extra as a surprise a month after their purchase, even if it is just a bookmark and a handwritten note. (Or some cool swag, depending on your budget.) Give them a no-brained upsell if they buy a second cd to give away. Cultivate this group into becoming an ever increasing mass of super fans.

Used wisely, this list could generate a ton of momentum for you.

 

[csalvato]

Have you experimented with vinyl vs CD?

Also, just curious, what’s your goal? To make a few grand a month? Or to blow up into a worldwide sensation? Or something else?

 

[GoodluckChuck]

So, you have their email but they aren't buying? Can you send the ones that open the sales page but don't buy an email asking why they didn't buy?

We can all speculate all day but the best answers will come from your customers.

I also don't own a cd player.

 

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[csalvato]

The type of person I get is around 50 years old. They loved the heavy metal music from the 80s, and do not like what modern bands sound like. My music has a bit of an 80s vibe to it which they like. My audience are facing issues such as getting old, divorces, loved ones in hospital. Music and listening to it is a huge part of their life, they're the sort of people that will sit and listen to some music, in addition to having it as background. The implied lifestyle is fast cars and girls in leather, but they're probably past that now, and that sort of lifestyle is more of a memory than an actuality. They dislike the negativity in modern music, and they do like the positive messages in my songs. Community wise, they're the type of person that views metal fans as being part of a community

how do you know this? Did you talk to people who purchased? People who didn’t? Or inferring some marketing metrics based on Facebook audiences or something ...?

 

[StrikingViper69]

Have you experimented with vinyl vs CD?

Also, just curious, what’s your goal? To make a few grand a month? Or to blow up into a worldwide sensation? Or something else?

I can't experiment with vinyl at the moment, the minimum order for vinyl comes to about £1000.

Ultimate goal is to have the time to focus on creating music with a semi-passive marketing system making sales and bringing people into my ecosystem.

The goal with the ads and funnel is to break even on the ad spend so I can scale things up and create a list of buyers. Then I can crowdfund the next album and have a list of people probably interesting in some sort of MRR service I create

Your music is right up my alley. I'm a bit of a metalhead myself, and I'm impressed you got Doro on your album!

Getting people to purchase a physical copy of a CD is not going to be easy, and you're charging over $40 for it. Wow! I assumed it was a free + SH offer with a T-shirt as an upsell. Casual music fans would never pay that much for some music; only the hardcore fans would. That's okay, but I don't know how 'warm' your list actually is. Is it a list of proven buyers who also interact with you on social media, or is it a list of people who have taken a free download of your music?

From a copy perspective, you're not really selling the purchase at all. Your story really isn't all that interesting. We're not buying the dream because buying your album is not going to help us identify with you or achieve what you've achieved. People buy into stories in order to identify with it somehow, and when you're selling a product, you need to either (1) sell becoming part of that story (think crowdfunding) (2) sell the story being the lead in to a solution to a problem (think selling a skin care product made by Cindy Joseph or something), or (3) sell having that story become the customer's story (think a 'get rich' product)

Why should I buy your music, even if I like it, when I can listen to it somewhere else for free?

@csalvato had a good idea: test vinyl vs. CD and sell it as a collector's edition with a very limited run. 100 available, 500 available, etc.

I assume you've read '1000 True Fans', if you haven't go read it.

Thanks J!

The warm audience is a list of people who have opted in for a download. Some of them comment on my social media / blog / reply to the emails (I respond to everyone).

Do you think I should lower the price? The unit cost of the CD is £5.09, so I can afford to make the retail price a lot less (currently its £15... ). I didn't really have any idea on how to set the price. What sort of price would make the purchase (either CD or a download) a "no brainer" impulse buy for you?

At the moment, you can't listen to it somewhere else for free. My music is only available on my website, it's not on streaming platforms.

Thank you for the pointers on stories. I'm going to have a think on those and rewrite that section of the page.

I've read 100 true fans - great theory!

 

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[StrikingViper69]

Colors dude. Why is this black and white???????

Use colors. Make me feel a lot more without having to read or do anything.

Some of this is closer to Hard Rock than Classic Heavy Metal. As your album progresses it seems to get more metal? It's the drumming. Perhaps that is what you desired. Your guitar work is excellent throughout, judging by the sample.

And lol track 8...I did not expect some melodic death metal in the middle of it. haha. Your growl is pretty great! But straight up I would imagine the majority of classic/speed/power lovers to not appreciate it. There is a serious divide in the metal world between clean/harsh singing and growlers/snarlers. Though I imagine you know this? Ballsy choice.

Thanks man. That song was meant to be a bit of a surprise. Yeah I know metalheads love to get divided over specifics of sub-genres, but I wanted to try writing a mix of songs... so I did.

Now I'm going to rip up your page thoroughly. I hope it helps! I also know it's way easier to criticize than create.

Overall you do a lot of "This is the product" as opposed to "This is the benefit".



My reaction is...No. Why? What does it do for me? You're selling me this hard out of the gate when I have zero feelings or care? Strong No reaction.

How about, "Enjoy furious riffs with a classical twist and passionate vocals to headbang in Sam Russell's latest album: Impetuous Desire"



I don't care. Woopie F*ck. Why suggest I need to learn how to buy something? Is this something different or complicated?

How about, "Groundbreaking new album and official t-shirt available now!"



I'm a new potential fan. I haven't checked out your music over the last few days. So this is confusing.

I would address old fans and separately address new fans. But keep it short. 1-2 sentence max.



Honestly, this is just dumb. You're telling me what an album is. I know what an album is.



Odd comedy. Pointless stating facts. 'Great' is a bullshit qualifier I instantly dismiss.

How about, "Show off your love for Sam Russell by wearing the official shirt to your next concert".



I don't love this wording. I would include the name of the album. 'Buy Your Copy of Impetuous Desire Now'.



I get what you want to do here. But most people don't really care about your journey BEFORE they already like your music. Make maybe 1-2 sentences that describe the journey culminating into the album.

Let your riffs speak for itself. If anything I'd like to know what other bands are your influences.



Don't ask for permission. Do metalheads expect niceness and passivity? I think not.

How about: "Here's a sample of the tracks to get a taste of what's in store for you"

Make me feel like you're doing me a favor by letting me listen to your tracks. Which you are.

Actually, I would put the entire section with your huge album cover and the samples to the first thing I see after the headline and subheadline.

At first I thought the woman holding the album was Sam Russell. You made me think unnecessarily.

Next what is going to make me buy more than anything, and I have bought over two dozen album in the last 10 years, is hearing your music. I don't really give a shit about your words and story first. This isn't singer songwriter world, this is metal.

Now your model is curious. Why are you using a woman? Is that your main audience? I think not. I want to see how it looks on a man, preferably one that looks metal as F*ck. And, this girl looks death metaly. Not heavy/classic metaly. It's the red hair. I'd rather see the t-shirt by itself not on anyone than a woman, and especially not a woman that doesn't make sense for the subgenre. I would never expect to see her at your concert.

The 'What Do Other People Think?' section is curious. I don't usually see this for metal albums. It doesn't compel me at all. What would possibly compel me is an endorsement from a metal magazine, from someone notable from the metal-archives, or from another musician. Random Facbeook people are not who I want to be like as a metalhead.



Wait. I'm paying for the album and the t-shirt? I didn't realize that until this far down?

What if I don't want the t-shirt?

State this way up at the top. Odd choice to force buying a t-shirt.

I only buy t-shirts from bands I already know I like, really that I know I love. Liking is not enough, for me. And typically I buy them at shows, not online. But that may just be me.

Why offer a money-back guarantee? That's super odd for music. I'd remove that entirely. It actually removes trust by making me think that you're not confident that I'm guaranteed to at least like it if not love it.

I'd move the billing section to another page. Strange to me to see it here on this page.

I also checked out your homepage.



That sounds awesome haha, may have to check this out. I'd plug this at the bottom of your new album's page too.

Well goodluck to you. Hopefully something I said is useful.

Tons of great pointers there, thanks for that - time to start rewriting!

 

[StrikingViper69]

I mentioned before that just isn't true. You have instant feedback. If your music sucks, they'll tell you it sucks or they just won't listen to it at all!

You're in control of these platforms as much as you're in control of email. If you get enough spam complaints, you'll be blacklisted there, too. Your open rates are never going to be 100%. The control for anything online is pretty much an illusion.

We could argue that until the cows come home though!


A major label picked her up, she is receiving a few hundred thousand in royalties alone, her sales on iTunes are up, she's booked a US tour, she's got a contract for another album, she's wrote songs for another artist as well...

I mean... buddy, you're REALLY missing the boat here.

Approximately a million dollars in sales, albums, tours booked is nothing to scoff at. Maybe you're doing more than that now but man -- once again -- you've got to open your eyes.

Of course they are!

Get to it!

Wow... well that shut me up pretty fast! She really is killing it. I'll put my music back up there this week then.

 

[StrikingViper69]

So, you have their email but they aren't buying? Can you send the ones that open the sales page but don't buy an email asking why they didn't buy?

We can all speculate all day but the best answers will come from your customers.

I also don't own a cd player.

Most poeple in the survey said they couldn't afford to buy, so my pricing (as J mentioned) might be part of the problem.

how do you know this? Did you talk to people who purchased? People who didn’t? Or inferring some marketing metrics based on Facebook audiences or something ...?

The demographics are from my Facebook Ads Manager, which is my only source of leads into my sales funnel at the moment

 

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[StrikingViper69]

So I just checked the sales page - the last update to Thrive Themes I installed has completely broken the page which is why it looks like a two year old designed in in MS Word.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Between the CD and the T-shirt, I'm thinking around $25, and that's if I were a fan. The T-shirt is much more valuable to me than the CD, as I haven't paid for music since buying Symphony X's album 'Iconoclast' in 2011 at a music store that no longer exists.

BUT if your music isn't available on streaming platforms (and you should definitely release it on one of those despite the revenue being absolute dogshit), you can make it an exclusivity offer. Not only do you get a limited run of these T-shirts, AND a limited run of these CDs, you can listen to it 3 months before anyone else.

You may have to sweeten the deal even more, adding in priority tickets to your shows, artwork/posters, anything that is attractive to people who are honest fans of your work.

That's good to know - thanks! And some great ideas. I did wonder if a t shirt would be more popular than t shirt and CD deal. I've got some prints, patches and stickers I can use to add to the deal.

The next offer I'm going to test is the t shirt with an MP3 download, along with a new t shirt design.


---

I've been editing and rewriting the page for several hours based on everyones feedback, but got slapped by a technical problem. I'll post the edit up once I get this fixed (waiting on a support ticket). Just wanted to let you all know I've been working on your suggestions and I do appreciate the time you're giving me.

 

[christpa]

I was using Thrive Architect to make the page, but discovered last night it had a conflict with Autopimize (which I fixed), so the layout is fixed.

You're right, my pricing and offer is way off for new fans.

I've rewritten the page here:

Impetuous Desire CD and Official T Shirt Offer

Metal Fans: Enjoy furious riffs with a neoclassical twist and passionate vocals that you will headbang all day to, with Sam Russell’s latest album, Impetuous Desire Groundbreaking Album …

www.samrussell.co.uk

Tomorrow I'm going to:

1. change the price
2. change the offer to being just the CD (with download), and use the t shirt as an upsell / offer at a later time

Definitely an improvement. If I were you I would replace that first section with the picture and the text and put a short video instead. And then have the album art and music samples directly below that.

Also might want to play up the fact that you have Doro on the album. I don't see any mention of that except in the sample tracks. That would definitely raise your credibility.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Definitely an improvement. If I were you I would replace that first section with the picture and the text and put a short video instead. And then have the album art and music samples directly below that.

Also might want to play up the fact that you have Doro on the album. I don't see any mention of that except in the sample tracks. That would definitely raise your credibility.

good points - I've got the video on my list for later in the week. And I can't believe I didn't mention Doro... rookie mistake. Thanks!

 

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[StrikingViper69]

Update: I've got about 40% click through from the sales page to the order form... but no orders. CD is now £8.99 + shipping. People are spending 44 seconds on the order page, on average... so they're thinking about it.

I'm going to try putting a countdown timer on the order form with something like "One time offer: Order in the next 15 minutes to receive XYZ". Cheesy and slightly aggressive... but we'll see if it pushes people over the edge. Just trying to think up a free gift that doesn't cost me anything, or at least costs very little

Free gift ideas:

• Printed photos (£1)
• Printed patch (£1.50)
• Download of alternative versions of the songs and demos
• Download of a "bonus album" of recordings I made a while ago (Bach chorales on electric guitar... possible audience mismatch with this offer)
• Instant digital download of the album (should probably put this in there anyway)
• Bonus area on website with "behind the scenes stuff"
• Upgrade to deluxe double album with alternative versions of the songs and the demos (unit cost +£1)
• Scans of the original lyrics as I developed them (I wrote them in a notebook, could be interesting for someone to go through)

I hear what people are saying about this possibly being too soon in the process from awareness to becoming a fan, and I've got some ideas for a new advertising approach to work that. I'll run some lyric videos of the songs on Facebook, retarget video 2 to people that watched 50% of video 1, and do that for the whole album.

 

[Entre Eyes]

People don’t buy CDs anymore. How can you expect them to buy yours?

Yea I want to the check out and CD and Tshirt one of those needs FREE in front of it.

It really would be ideal if all of it could be free but they pay for shipping.

(If you still made a profit.)

 

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[Entre Eyes]

You know it's really tricky....I feel we are in the lab but we really need to get in those customers heads.

I have bought things just to get the other thing that came with it before.

But we need to know what the thing is that gets them excited to pull the trigger in the first place. Little details like actual TShirt design, type of music matters as well.

There is a split second thought going on in prospects heads...wow I want that or yawn I can do without that.

I do not know if the music is Mozart or Kanye all these little details matter in our strategy.

So what we really want to know is that target audience what are their most motivating factors for them and keep pushing that button.

 

[Kid]

DId anyone bought a cd from you? (I didn't picked it up from the thread)

Maybe you could contact them and ask for testimonials .
Since you assume that people consider buying (44s on order page), testimonials there might help to put them on the right side of fence.