Terry Dean and Glenn Livingston Discuss Their Unique Approaches to Doubling Email Profits by Establishing a Dominant Presence as a Trusted Adviser in the Market Place
Also Please Consider Terry’s New Email Course
(You can also download an interview about
email I did with Terry back in 2007 here MP3 / PDF)
So, I have a very good, but VERY strange friend these days…
He’s a high-end copywriter who lived with a copy-writing legend we all know and love for a few months.
I find it difficult to have great copywriters for friends…
Because they’re constantly distracting me with their emails, especially their subject lines…
I mean like DISTRACTED with a CAPITAL “D”…
TODAY I got an email with the subject line “choking your chicken” from him.
I’ve got ask you this…
How the HELL am I supposed to get ANY work done when someone I know and respect sends me an email about “choking your chicken?”
Of course I read the email, which linked to an interesting lesson about “chicken rental” offers.
So I had to ask him “how the heck do you come up with one email after the next that I absolutely, positively, have to STOP EVERYTHING to read?”…
I mean, I KNOW the formula is “Curiosity + Benefit = Eyeballs and Clicks”…
But his EXECUTION OF THE FORMULA is just soooooo damned compelling I felt like there was something I was missing.
Know what he told me?
“It’s because I enjoy it entirely too much”… and he meant it. Apparently he bought pet chickens a few months back—(which is in and of itself, by the way, and I don’t care what kind of vegan freak you happen to be, just plain WRONG!)—and had been dying to use the line ever since.
It’s like his emails are his one chance to be evil and irreverent in his attention getting maneuvers… and then he just finds a way to link the subject line to a story, and the story to a sale. (His email links to a compelling story about his pet chickens.)
It all start with irreverent, outright enjoyment of his evil little mind…
“I want to use ‘choke the chicken’ in an email” (heh heh heh – insert slightly maniacal laugh here)…
Then he takes that curiosity and links it to a benefit (in this case fun and profit)…
Conjures up a story to match and there you have it!
It’s sick, it’s twisted, but it works damn well.
BTW, here’s his email, reprinted with permission:
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Anyway, if you want to study his style in more detail, he’s got a GREAT print newsletter I suggest you sign up for via my shameless affiliate link.
In the meantime, maybe we should all be asking ourselves what evil little daily thoughts WE could be using to grab attention, link to a benefit, and make some cash from our markets?
Until then,
Glenn 🙂
PS – Going forward I plan to call this email writing strategy “choking your chicken” and I give you all permission to “choke your chickens” until your heart is content.
PPS – At the end of the year last I exhaustively combed the detailed notes from my live webinars club to find the TEN BEST CONVERSION SECRETS most people were omitting from their websites. Through Friday this week you can pick this up as aseparate product here. (As a bonus, I asked Perry Marshall to do an hour long interview with me about the 3 most important things he’s learned in his entire marketing career… I was shocked at how much I personally learned from this! Exclusively available in this product… coming down on Friday night)
Been cataloging and organizing the last 5 years of MP3 interviews, PDF Cheat Sheets, and Conversion Videos…
Thought I might as well give you the benefits of that too 🙂
Right click the image above and you’ll get a PDF full of links to my BEST Cheat Sheets, Interviews, and Conversion Videos…
It’s all my best stuff, all in one place!
(Don’t say I never gave you anything)
Now go turn some visitors into buyers, would you?
Dr. G 🙂
PS – If you haven’t already joined the LIVE CONVERSION WEBINARS club, you should do so now. If for no other reason than (a) the “best conversion secrets of 2012” video is about to scroll out of the archived club recordings and become a $67 product in it’s own right; (b) the “Persuasion Architecture” bonus audio contains the crowning jewel of all my work for the past 8 years and (c) today you can still download both of these for less than five dollars
PPS – If you’ve been through the hyper-responsive club but never got around to implementing the work (or not quite as thoroughly as you wanted to)–OR–if you’re servicing clients and think whitelabeling Glenn’s hyper-responsive bulls eye research behind you might make you look stronger to your client… get your tuchas over to BullsEyeMaster.com
PPPS – If you’re spending more than $20K/month in paid advertising and would like my team to start optimizing your landing pages and conversion funnel FOR you, well, you may be in luck!
PPPPS – If you’ve got a system that converts really well online but you’ve got NO telephone follow up in place, you really ought to consider letting this funny looking phone genius do it for you on commission.
A ZILLION Ps S: Would much appreciate you SHARING this page, posting it in your forums, passing around the PDF by email to ALL your contacts, and telling your mama’s how cool it is to have Dr. Glenn’s stuff. (Not particularly modest, but hey, I’m too old for that)
Know what’s kinda stupid?
Not optimizing your email follow up sequence to maximize clickthrough and dramatically increase your site traffic, that’s what’s kinda stupid…
Because you spend a lot of time, money, and attention to acquire the prospect…
And you CAN realistically double or even triple the traffic to your website with an optimized follow up sequence.
In today’s interview, Ryan and I discuss an unusual way to double your email clickthrough rate…
And we made sure to give you the 80/20 version after we explained the whole thing too! (Be sure to listen for it near the end)
Speaking of stupid things, wanna know something else that would be really stupid?….
Not getting started for only $4.95 (and locking in your rate forever!) for my bi-monthly live webinars this week before the price raise, that would be really stupid!
And hey, even if you never join me live, you can always download the recordings (available for 90 days). PLUS, you get two bonuses immediately when you join: (1) Maximum Sales Bumps in Minimum Time – a collection of the BEST sales bumping techniques which I’ve identified as working across markets and (2) Building Your Persuasion Architecture(tm) – How to Focus on a Two Minute Verbal Sales Pitch Before You Publish a Single Page.
The first bonus alone is worth 100 times the $4.95 it’ll cost you to download it, because plain and simple, it’s got the best conversion techniques Terry Dean and I have found to work across markets, presented in under two hours. Many of which you can implement quickly.
But it’s the second bonus I’m most excited about, because it’s there that I’m introducing the concept of “Persuasion Architecture(tm)”… a powerful way to develop a two minute VERBAL pitch which keeps you focused and grounded in everything else you do. (One of the biggest reasons I see for websites not earning what they’re worth today is lack of FOCUS… this is the solution!)
Anyway, as soon as I get the word from ClickBank that my preferred higher price has been approved, I’m going to raise the price forever.
But as of the time of this posting, you can still lock in the lowest rate I’ll ever offer on this, just as a reward for paying attention to me 🙂
(I guess if my Mom paid more attention to me when I was a kid I wouldn’t need to bribe you… oh well, my deep-seated psychological problems are your gain)
Seriously though, this is one of those head scratchers… I can’t understand why anyone who’s been following me wouldn’t jump on board. Do it now before ClickBank approves the new prices please. (Hey, at the very least you can say you finally “made money with ClickBank” right?)
Onwards and Upwards My Fine Marketing Friends…
You can clear away SO much confusion if you’ll just take the time to master a few fundamental conversion principles. And now you can watch me do it LIVE on site after site. (Get started as of the time of this post for less than $5)
Dr. Glenn 
Your “Web Sales Hero(tm)”
Hey, maybe this is cliche’, and I know I’m definitely not the first one to say it, but every marketing project starts with enthusiasm and passion. If you don’t have it, it’s really WAY more difficult to get over the rough spots.
See someone do something you think you could emulate? Sometimes even if you’re wrong, it’s worth the effort and you DO get partial credit for TRYING. Consider the little guy in this video:
You’ve gotta believe he saw someone playing, maybe his master.
Then, during the day when his master was away, he took his time and started wailing away…
Who knows where he’ll be after HIS 10,000 hours of practice?
While I’m on the topic, there’s an MP3 interview with Sharon and I below talking about everything OUR dogs taught US about marketing… worth listening to!
For what it’s worth,
PS – Do you ever feel alone in your marketing quests?
PPS – Did you join my live webinar club for the $5 trial yet? (As of time of this posting)
You probably won’t read this, but if you DO, I’m going to reward you with 3 bone-crushing marketing tips you can use tonight:
Well, I guess you caught me in one of my moods.
Aren’t you glad you did?
I’ve sent 419 broadcasts to my entrepreneurial list in the past four and a half years.
The other day, Terry Dean asked me to identify the best 25 or so for us to include in The Total Conversion Code. (Shameless plug). So I analyzed all 419 … actually it was 417 at the time… all 417 subject lines and click through rates, looking for patterns.
Anyone have a guess which subject line got the second highest click through rate EVER?
I’ll give you a hint, it was NOT “Disturbed Emotional Copywriting”… that one was just a little above average, despite my best hopes. (A killer interview with Ben Settle by the way)
It also was NOT “I’m so ugly, so very very ugly” –> just average there too, but I particularly enjoyed writing that one!
“Time is running out” was one of the lowest of the losers… if subject lines were like kids in grade school, this one definitely had koodies! (How the hell do you spell Koodies by the way… anyone know the official word on that?)
OK… know what it WAS?
“all my audios are now on iTunes” (they ARE by the way – Glenn Livingston Mp3s)
The CTR on this was over 400% higher than the average, only beaten by ONE other message in over four years.
Why do you think this was?
I’ll tell you.
It’s the “no brainer” principle.
Establish valuable FREE content that sells… then tell people where they can get more.
They’ve already consumed the value… so you’ve got all the PROOF you need in the subject line because they’ve already EXPERIENCED it. (“Who wants more cookies and milk?” DUH!) (By the way, you can use this same proof principle to establish proof for your physical products by simply using a nice product demonstration on video)
They already associate me with solving DESPERATE PROBLEMS (figuring out how to get prospects to buy, and customers to buy more)
And it’s a unique offer… right there in that puny subject line… “ALL the cookies and milk you missed!”
Desperate problem, unique offer, and overwhelming proof.
Establish valuable free content that sells, then tell people where they can get more.
Of course “that sells” is the kicker.
Know how to do that?
I’ll spare you the usual rhetoric about having to know your market cold, etc.
Let’s assume you do.
How do you define the “free line?”
The best phrase to write on the inside of your eyelids is “Useful but Incomplete”
Like, for example, giving people your SECOND best click through generating email.
Or creating amazing cheat sheets, and sharing genuinely valuable methods and tips, but not putting the whole SYSTEM together step by step for everyone until they’re convinced and willing to pay you.
Useful but incomplete.
Someone send me a t-shirt with that on it please. Or a bumper sticker.
(I know… my wife is chuckling now saying that’s kind of how she thinks of ME… “Useful but Incomplete”… oh well!)
Here’s another one of my best (but not my absolute best) tips.
Almost NO ONE bothers TAGUCHI TESTING their email subject lines. But 90% of click through variance is all about the subject. And if you’re generating traffic from your subject lines, you could be generating twice as much with better subject lines!
Food for thought,
G 🙂
PS – Have you see the new Guaranteed Video Traffic Service yet? We’ll be ceasing the case study discounts shortly (we’ve almost chosen our lot)
Perry Marshall EXTENSIVELY UPDATED his Definitive Guide to Google Adwords today.
To celebrate, I’ve zipped up 6 of the BEST interviews I’ve done with Perry and his office over the years into one big “Fill Up Your MP3 Player Perry Marshall Mega-Download” (there’s an important interview with Bryan Todd, his co-author too.
Perry’s NEW Definitive Guide includes intensive MULTIMEDIA modules on:
Here’s more specific list of changes to the Definitive Guide:
It also includes up to $75 in free traffic from Google for new advertisers.
If you’re marketing in AdWords, you really need to keep up with these changes (personal opinion). You can pick it up here today
Dr. G 🙂
Below you’ll find a FREE MP3 of an intriguing 45 minute conversation I had with my Director of Copywriting and Director of Sales at Rocket Clicks. (NOTE: The call has been slightly edited to remove the details of our clients and their sites)
We did NOT intend to distribute this conversation, so I apologize for the speakerphone, but I thought it represented a unique opportunity for you to be a fly on the wall to see:
A) How a high-level copywriter interviews “in the trenches” sales people to elicit the benefits and objections necessary to write A level copy
B) How my thinking has evolved into a more comprehensive, yet simpler system for building a solid internet marketing structure
The original purpose of the call was for Tony to get the material he needed to develop a consultation form like the one we’ve got here, but targeted at people who wanted more than PPC management… instead desiring a more comprehensive package including market research + site design/repositioning + PPC/SEO.
You see, it’s been several years since I originally innovated and presented the How To Double Your Business process, and I’ve moved WAY beyond the advanced survey methods I originally presented. The way I approach markets presently is simultaneously simpler and more powerful.
1) MAKING MORE MONEY WITH FEWER KEYWORDS
The most successful of the 100+ clients I personally audited at Rocket Clicks last year (especially those who seemed to survive the economic earthquake in the fall of 2008) were focused on many, many fewer keywords, leading me to develop a set of algorithms for choosing the smallest number of keywords likely to make you the most money.
In fact, I now believe it’s ESSENTIAL to have a well articulated rationale for choose ONE dead-center bulls-eye keyword for your business… the one you’d advertise on if Google restricted your account to only ONE adgroup with ONE broad match keyword in it. (The “ultimate elevator speech”).
Considerations of relevancy, volume, and bid price are essential in making this choice.
And once you know your Bulls-Eye, I think it’s also essential to define a very small set of concentric circles around it … no more than six keyword groups. And you’d better have a good written definition of the CONCEPTUAL BOUNDARIES OF YOUR KEYWORD SET, or else you’ll wind up wasting time, money, and diluting your conversions by aiming off your “keyword archery target”
2) GATHERING MORE FREE COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE THAN ANYONE IN YOUR MARKET
Once you know exactly where your keyword archery target starts and ends (and why!), I’ve innovated a NEW method for leveraging social media, competitive intelligence spy tools, and RSS fees to set up one systematic and comprehensive competitive intelligence dashboard…
Then identifying YOUR SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT COMPETITOR and totally reverse engineering their web testing diary. (I’m not just talking about the stupid PPC spy tools … I’m NOT NOT NOT talking about figuring out what web changes they made which made them successful in the first place)
3) IDENTIFYING POINT OF DIFFERENCE BENEFITS WITH A NEW 80/20 VERSION OF MY SURVEY INTELLIGENCE PROCESS
On the foundation of a more clearly defined and simpler keywords set AND comprehensive competitive intelligence, we then utilize the survey process to find point of difference benefits for the market.
4) DESIGNING YOUR SITE, COPY, AND FOLLOW UPS TO BUILD ON ALL THIS UNIFIED INTELLIGENCE
With a clearly defined bulls-eye and keyword archery target, the knowledge of who’s winning the game on that target and why, the consumer language, emotional benefits, and point of difference benefits in hand, the process then proceeds to UNIFY ALL YOUR MARKETING COMMUNICATION AROUND A SINGULAR, WELL RESEARCHED USP.
5) BUILDING OUT PPC AND SEO CAMPAIGNS FOR YOUR VERY FOCUSED TARGET:
SEO and PPC are expensive and time consuming. The gorillas who survive are the ones who know exactly where to FOCUS their time and money. The new Livingston Process ensures you eliminate waste and laser focus on a hyper-responsive message for the short set of keywords which define your business.
6) OPTIMIZE YOUR CONVERSION: Multivariate and Taguchi testing are still VERY powerful tools (always will be). But they’re only useful when you’ve got the RIGHT INPUT to test. The new process above ensures you’ve always got a prioritized list of options for continually bringing your business to the next level.
Enjoy the FREE MP3 below please! 🙂
ACTION OPTIONS: Do all this yourself, hire us to do for you, or have me coach you through it personally.
If you’ve ever run an analysis of WHEN your customers buy from your email follow ups, most marketers will find a highly disproportionate number of buyers in the early weeks (even the early DAYS) immediately after signing up. As Gary Halbert says “You’ve got to get them when they’re in heat!”
Yet despite this very clear and convincing skew, almost NO ONE goes to the trouble of testing the ORDER of their follow up sequence. That’s a BIG MISTAKE because, if email #12 happens to be your strongest pulling follow up, there’s a damn good chance you’ll snag more buyers by moving it closer to the sign up date when a greater proportion of your list is “in heat”…
Moreover, sometimes a particular email does a better job immediately after another email, and, conversely, there are certain messages which will actually decrease the efficacy of their followers. The bottom line is, there’s usually money on the table for marketers willing to go through the time and effort to optimize the ORDER of their email sequence.
Logistically, this can be difficult, in fact, I’ve found only one or two other people who’ve ever run these kinds of email sequencing tests. To try and ease the burden, I’ve prepared a simple cheat sheet which outlines exactly how to do this using aweber, step by step. (Instructions are logically translatable to ANY autoresponder system)
Last, in case you don’t know it yet, I’ll be opening my business coaching practice for the first time in three years (and quite possibly for the last time ever) on January 1st, 2016. Read the letter and get on the priority notifications list if you’re at all interested please since the spots will go quickly!
Upwards and Onwards!
Dr. G 🙂