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Last I wrote, I was going to test the Virtual Sales Agent (VSA). I know it’s been a while, more on that in a moment…
What about the test? In the markets I tested them in (non-Internet Marketing) the VSA didn’t fare so well. As a matter of fact I noticed no increase in optins or sales at all. So was the experiment a complete bust? Maybe not.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not solid on this technology. Maybe I went about it the wrong way or came off too snide. It could be the markets I tested in were wrong for a VSA. It’s also possible I would have experienced better results with a better script. It’s hard to say. It wasn’t a total failure either…
One of the tactics I tried was admitting the VSA was indeed, well, virtual and then I tried to elicit some questions from the visitors. I did get some questions. I dropped that ball because I left out any way for respondents to receive an answer. So how would I fix this?
When I do this again, I may try a couple of different ideas. First is to simply add a place to gather an email address so I can reply with an answer. But what about the increasing resistence to email marketing? Hence idea number two…
Tell readers up front I will select the best questions and post them on the blog. I say the “best” for a couple of reasons. First, this gives me an out from posting every question. Second, should I not get ANY quetions (yes, it can happen - even with substantial traffic) I can post an entry dealing with this with no loss of respectability. This second option offers several advantages:
- No worries about emails such as resistance, fears or spam complaints .
- Makes the site “stickier” because vistors will return for answers.
- Builds traffic as answers may draw more vistors
- Builds content as questions are answered
Of course you can do all of this with a simple poll. There’s no real need to use a VSA to do this but it’s worth testing both to see which garners the most response. Especially since the VSA script is so cheap. Plus it works really well.
Now about that personal confession…
You may have noticed my blog entries have dwindled lately. It’s because my wife and I have been preparing to sell our house. Where are we moving too? We are not sure yet.
This may sound crazy but we believe God is moving us to get out of this mortgage. Whatever we do, our plans right now are to get out from under.
Unfortunatley, this is the worst possible time to sell. But we are trusting in God to provide. The nice thing about this is, even if we are wrong about what God wants, we can trust Him to help us out if we get in a big pickle.
As I said this may sound crazy, but in my over 30 years as a Christian, God has never, EVER failed me.
I’m not even sure I’ll continue copywriting or marketing via the Internet. Bluntly put: everything is in God’s hands and I’m committed to doing His will no matter what.
I will keep you up to date on what’s going on.
God bless,
Andy
Maybe you’ve seen this claim. Maybe not. At first glance the statment is impressive but there is also room for a great deal of skepticism. And there should be. Before I delve into this particular claim, how about we lay some groundwork for such claims in general?
One of the first questions I always ask is “40% of WHAT?”. It makes a difference. You’ve seen figures like this before in my posts.
For example: increasing from one sale a day per 100 visitors to two sales a day brings in a 100% increase in sales from just one sale. However…
If you ring up 20 sales a day that one extra sale is now only a 5% increase so the first thing you want to know is where the claimant starts from.
Next I want to know the conditons of the “miracle”. Where did the prospects come from? Was it search engine traffic? Did trafic come from somone’s list or a big promotion? As always the “quality” of the traffic needs to be considered.
Plus what is the market? Is it a hot market or just lukewarm? The more resistance to sales the more I’m impressed by big victories.
Finally… who’s making the claim? Are they trustworthy? Well-known? You and I will have a lot harder time selling something in the same market as someone with established credentials in the field.
Now about the claim starting this whole post… a 40% increase in sales :
Let’s start with who is makeing the claim and for what.
The statement is by Dave Guindon for his Virtual Sales Agent He shows results from a number of marketers - most of whom are well-known or at least already successful. What does this mean? Well, for one thing… results WILL vary i.e. don’t expect to get the same.
In addition it seems these figures all come from the sizzling IM field where pickin’s are relatively easy and traffic is hot and heavy. Now don’t get me wrong…
Dave is a smart guy and an excellent marketer. Plus he doesn’t churn out junk. As a matter of fact his Virtual Smart Agent is an excellent product in itself. But will it work for you? Maybe. Maybe not.
In principle exit polls and/or offers tend to be very effective. Again several factors need to be taken into account. Credibility, the offer and the market itself to name a few. But overall invasive techniques work well. By invasive I mean something like a popup that people forced to pay attention to. And while the Virtual Sales Agent is not much different than a pop up it is perceived as having more class.
Plus, unlike a popup, the Virtual Sales Agent is interative. Getting your visitor involved makes a big difference in sales. Dave’s script allows you to offer different responses based on certain keyword “triggers” you define. What does that mean?
If your prospect types in “Is there a discount?” (sale, promotion, whatever keywords you define) the program responds with the reply you provide - “Yes, I can give you a discount. Click on this link for details.’ (and then provide a link to your discount page or a coupon code) or you can respond any way you prefer.
But what if visitors ask questions you didn’t anticipate?
Prospects are famous for that. Dave has a couple of ways to deal with this. First, all questions are logged so you can spot common themes in the questions ask. Is everyone asking for a feature you didn’t think of? Are many looking for a bonus? This script is an excellent marketing tool in the right hands.
Prospects can also contact you with questions that don’t get answered in your canned responses so no burning question gets ignored.
All in all there are a lot of advantages to using this script. It is well-thought out script with a lot of powerful features. Is there a downside? Well…
It is a bit pricey. It’s regularly priced at $197 and I’ve seen Dave offer a discount as much as 50% (give or take a dollar). Still there’s no reason to think the lower price will return (if it’s not still available). Might there be future promotions? It’s certainly possible. Meanwhile unless you have enough sales to justify the hefty pricetag , it’s a bit much if you simply want to see if the technique will work for your market. Fortunately, there’s a very affordable alternative if for those who want to get their feet wet without a lot of expense…
It’s called Sales Bot Generator. It’ s nowhere’s near as fancy as Dave’s script but it’s
easy to install (just ftp one folder to your host)
easy to use - open an html file, add your domain path the to the script right in your browser and then copy and paste it to any page you want to use the Sales Bot.
Now all you do is tell your “virtual sales agent” what to say. Her name is Carol, but this is
easy to change to any name you any name you want. Simply highlight “Carol” and drop in any name that suits you.
You can use html to dress things up or pop in links to send your customers.
You won’t get all the “bells and whistles” Dave offers, like the ability to respond to certain keywords or track questions but this should give you an idea whether it would be worth the investment to spring for Daves Virtual Sales Agent or not for a very low price. How low?
How about $10? Yep, ten bucks. I’ll even toss in resale rights. Subscribers to my Copytactics blog alerts save even more, however that email already went out. If y0u missed it now’s a good time to sign up so you don’t miss the next great deal.
Click here to find out more about the “Sales Bot Generator”
I’m in the process of testing this on several pages myself. I’ll let you know as soon as the results are in.
God bless,
Andy
P.S. There’s a suprise bonus waiting for those who pick up the Sales Bot Generator. It’s worth the price of admission all by itself. Find out more…
Click here for more information about Dave Guindon’s Virtual Sales Agent.
