What makes a landing page that creates response and profits?

They opened your mail (email or print) or clicked your Facebook ad, and now…instead of being intrigued… they’re bored stiff or confused—or just annoyed.

And then they’re gone.

Whether you spend thousands of dollars for a remarkable direct mail package or a few bucks for a pay-per-click banner ad, you don’t want to waste a dime by having an anti-marketing landing page for greeting new visitors and generating leads and sales.

So…what makes an excellent landing page? Easy…these 7 basic tactics do it right:

1. No navigation distractions
2. A strong, powerful, benefit-oriented headline that corresponds to the message that brought the visitor
3. The call to action (CTA) in the sidebar in the upper-right corner
4. Enough copy to convince and reinforce the first message from the email, web ad, direct mail or whatever drove them to the landing page
5. Use of direct response copy and direct response art
6. An efficient, 1- or 2-step process for the shopping cart
7. Copy and graphics, testimonials or video examples reinforcing benefits you offer to buyers, often on the right side of the page

Never, never drive the prospect to your main corporate website—or violate these 7 tactics of the special webpage you send them to.

Let’s take a look at a landing page for one client that illustrates these points:

Lear Capital deals in precious metals and is well-known in investment circles. On the landing page we created for them, distractions are non-existent and, therefore, do not take a viewer away—and you can see that we have a strong headline. Who can resist financial security?

Critical here is the use of convincing direct response copy. It’s unique in that it uses persuasive adjectives and strong verbs.

To accentuate important points, applying boldface or color (in this example, we used red) to type brings that out and speaks directly to readers; especially those who might skim copy looking for summary information.

The art supports the copy, drawing connections for readers and guiding them to a decision. Four of the firm’s strongest testimonials are included—on this webpage, celebrities—with photos to strengthen their words.

To find out more about what makes a good direct marketing landing page, click here to watch a short video (it’s less than 3 minutes).

This format works for both business-to-business and consumer marketing.

If you need help with these 7 website design components, email me at craig@cdmginc.com.

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Direct mail can take many forms: One format many are not aware of, or they overlook, is 3-D direct mail.

3-D direct mail simply means that you send a package far beyond words on a page. Your package is actually a three-dimensional package—one with height, depth and weight.

It’s something prospects can hold in their hands. It “jumps out” at recipients and shows concrete value and substantial benefits.

It’s sent to your prospects by FedEx, so it gets by gatekeepers and demands the full attention of each of your addressees.

Obviously, it’s more costly than traditional direct mail—easily $10 to $30 per piece. So it’s for high-margin products or services and usually sent to audiences of about 5,000 recipients.

A 3-D direct mail package I created for a South American gold mining firm was a good fit for this successful format. They wanted to make a select and qualified group of top investment professionals aware of their project, so they could attract investment capital.

The challenge was huge:

1. They had a new venture—it had never been tried before.
2. The project was in Colombia—perceived as distant and unsafe because of drugs, violence and kidnappings.
3. Their targets were extremely busy—and overloaded with literally hundreds of other lucrative investment opportunities.

We selected institutional investors and prestigious newsletter writers for a four-day, all-expense-paid trip to explain the project.

We had to show these people this was a good investment for their clients.

The package included:

• A formal invitation letter and RSVP card with contact information…
• An event itinerary styled as their international passport…
• A map of the location in the form of a “travel brochure…”
• Colombian coffee, to reinforce the conference location.

And most crucially…

• A wooden treasure chest filled with chocolate gold coins and all the components described above.

Of the select prospects invited, 48.9% accepted the offer. This is a great response.

If just one investment professional came aboard, this company recouped its marketing costs.

A high-quality 3-D direct mail package pulls dynamite results—if it’s relevant and well-suited to your message and offer.

Click here to watch a short video explaining more about the treasure chest project—and expanding on the 3-D concept with information about a second effort, too.

Show me your last direct mail package and I’ll show you how to grow your response. Contact me today at craig@cdmginc.com or call 310-212-5727.

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USPS lost billions in 2010, and 2009, and $450 million in January alone.

It owes $5.5 billion by September for future medical benefits and $1.3 billion for worker’s compensation by November.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says they’ll run out of money if Congress doesn’t act.

He said the mail would go through, but they’d stiff us to do it. Revenues are down…Mail volume is down.

This means 2 things:

1. Maybe Uncle Sam shouldn’t mail my letter
2. And surely someone else can do it better

Bureaucracy never works efficiently, or in response to the market.

Tell me what you think. Email craig@cdmginc.com.

USPS

The 2008 stock market crash was still fresh in the minds of investors when Wall Street analyst Charles Payne set out to market an investment newsletter.

At the time, many investors had lost a good portion of their life savings and consequently many of them dumped their investment newsletter subscriptions or opted not to renew them.

Charles Payne already had great exposure as a regular commentator on the FOX Business Network and FOX News and as host of his own radio show. But it was important to reach out to more investors to market his newsletter Charles Payne’s Common Sense and significantly grow his subscriber base.

This integrated multichannel campaign included a magalog, landing page and emails as well as paid search and banner ads. The campaign tested three different approaches: One focused on Charles Payne’s investment strategies and the other two highlighted his latest stock pick.

The major and unique focus of the campaign was the direct mail piece. What was created? A mini magalog dropped into an oversized #14 envelope with a cover letter.

This campaign focused on 3 main objectives:

1. Play up and expand on Charles Payne’s credibility by positioning him as a trusted stock commentator who has dispensed profitable advice to millions on television, radio and through his Common Sense newsletter.
2. Communicate Charles’s passion to help average investors grow and protect their portfolios while easing their feelings of panic and uncertainty about the stock market.
3. Gain new subscribers in a difficult economy while overcoming resistance not only to subscribing to an investment newsletter again but at a price higher than the competition as well.

To help meet these objectives, I created an envelope with a photo of Charles on TV to build credibility.

Potential subscribers were driven to a landing page with video.

The campaign also included emails, an outsert (a 4-page wrapper around the outside of a magazine), banner ads and paid search for a multichannel marketing campaign.

A compelling offer for Charles Payne’s Common Sense newsletter was designed to win new subscribers, including 4 FREE Special Reports, a FREE bonus report for early responders and a 100% Money-Back, No-Nonsense Guarantee.

The key to this success was powerful, informational direct response copy that motivated the skeptical audience to respond.

As other investment newsletters saw their subscribers decline, the Charles Payne’s Common Sense subscriber base grew, which was remarkable considering the challenging economy and intense competition.

My staff and I created this campaign. If you’d like to see it, just let me know and I’ll get a copy to you for your review. Or to learn how we can help you, email me today at craig@cdmginc.com or call me at 310-212-5727.

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The U.S. Postal Monopoly announced plans to hike postage rates again on several different types of mail in April. The good news? The cost of sending a Mother’s Day card in May will stay the same.

Here’s the breakdown:

• For larger envelopes, the cost of the first ounce remains at 44 cents, but the cost of each additional ounce will increase from 17 cents to 20 cents.
• Rates on postcards will increaseby 1 penny to 29 cents.
• Letters to Canada and Mexico will increase to 80 cents from 75 cents and 79 cents respectively.
• Letters to other international destinations will remain unchanged at 98 cents.
• Express Mail and Priority Mail prices will not be affected.
• A variety of price increases for other mailing services will go into effect, including advertising mail, periodicals and packages. Details can be found here.

USPS

Integrating a variety of direct marketing media into a single marketing effort with powerful direct response copy can have a dramatic effect on response. Let me show you how I used a fully integrated campaign to increase response more than five-fold.

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copywriting · Direct Marketing · email · landing page · Social Media

Marketers use the term “autoresponder series” a few different ways. You may also have heard it called a conversion series, retention series or renewal series.

Here is an interesting recent test that demonstrates how we as marketers need to be constantly rethinking how we use the various channels available to us.

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Direct Marketing · Direct Response · Testing corner

Direct mail’s greatest danger is not the advent of electronic media. As you saw in the article above, direct mail in an online world works—and it works well.

No, direct mail’s greatest danger is the government-protected monopoly status of the United States Postal Service (USPS). This creates bureaucratic inefficiencies and the ever-increasing price hikes.

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Direct Mail · Direct Marketing · Postal Service

Direct mail principles apply to a variety of marketing challenges. For example, direct mail can be used to make a trade show exhibit a success. If you are unknown to your attendees, you must give prospects a compelling reason to visit your booth. Let me show you how I helped one company—IPRO­—use direct mail to drive prospects to their booth.

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3-d · Direct Mail · Direct Marketing · Direct Response

In last week’s bonus issue, I discussed the importance of seasonality to the success of your marketing and how to plan for it.

Today, I want to talk a little about the idea of tying seasonality directly to your marketing and using it in your emails in order to boost sales by making your messaging and your offers more urgent.

The idea is to use holidays and other seasonal events as a tie-in to your offer and a reason to purchase your product now.

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Direct Mail · Direct Marketing · Seasonality