Information Products - Working the Sales Funnel

There are many varieties of information products, starting with a simple one page bulletin, a white paper or manifesto, an ebook, an e-course, printed or hard copy course, an online course that is delivered weekly or by a membership site, or even a membership site as an info product.

I want to introduce you to the concept of the sales funnel.

In online sales, marketers use a free give-away item such as a special report or short ebook to induce prospects to give the marketer their name and email address. This is known in the trade as an ethical bribe. You give the prospect something of value in return for them giving you their contact information.

Ethical bribes are used to build your marketing list - your list of prospects. Studies show that people don't buy something until they have been exposed to it between 4 and 7 times and sometimes up to 10 times. On the internet in particular, people aren't meeting you face to face, they don't know who you are and aren't likely to hand you $500.00 or more when they first come across you. Some people do; most don't. So the object is to give people time to get to know you, give them samples of your work so they know you have quality information that can help them and get them comfortable with you. This can be done through an email campaign using an autoresponder - a system that automatically sends a series of emails that are timed to drop over the course of a couple of weeks or longer. Don't worry about the technology yet - just get familiar with the concept.

So, the first thing you are going to want to do is have a small ebook, guide or other giveaway that is related to your main product. Because it is a free product, you don't have to overcome price resistance from the prospect and the greatest number of people will sign up to get the free item. That is fine. That is the entrance to your marketing funnel.

As people get to know you and value what you offer, you move them through the funnel. You start them with the free item, then offer them a low-priced item such as a downloadable ebook or video for a price in the $27.00 - $47.00 range. The people who buy that are showing that they are developing trust in you. They also show that they are able to buy something online - that they have some disposable income.

The next step up the ladder is in roughly the $97.00 - $197.00 range. This can be an ebook with downloadable audio files, or a short online course that is in ebook form or done through a membership site or downloadable emails. All you are doing at this point is testing your market - will someone pay $97.00 for what you have to offer?

Here's the thing about "how-to" books and courses. A novel or even a how-to book in the bookstore sells for anywhere between $14.95 to $29.99. On the internet, the information can sell for more. It's the nature of the beast. Or it might be because the information addresses more specific or niche needs.

Here's the magic:

You can sell information in ebook form from $9.95 to $197.00 or more, depending on how useful the information is to your prospects.

If you take the same information, add audio or video downloadable files, you can charge $50 - $500 more.

If you take the information, print it out in a binder with audio CDs and DVDs of you teaching, you can charge from $800 - $2,500 or more depending on the subject.

But it's all pretty much the same information.

Stupid, huh? Yeah, I know. But people all learn in different ways and there is value as you add various components. If they can listen to your book in their car as they drive, that saves them time. If they can watch you demonstrate what you are talking about on a DVD, it helps them to better understand. So, yes, it is worth the extra money that they will pay. Don't forget, you can add special worksheets and other tools as they go up the ladder in price. So you can start with an ebook and expand on it, adding value. You can also put out an advanced version for those who have the basics down. From there, you can start an inner circle mastermind for people who want to do what you are showing them or who just feel better with some extra support.

The beauty of the sales funnel is it allows your prospects and clients to self-select according to their interest in the topic and their price range. When you are in the beginning stages of planning your next info product, commit to a strategy of offering increasingly more valuable content in ever-expanding product formats.