Why Can’t Johnny Get Conversion?

I’m usually full of good news. But alas, today I need to share an ugly reality with you.

Right this minute, we’re staring down the barrel of a full blown Conversion Crisis. It used to be “Johnny can’t read,” now it’s “Johnny can’t convert.” It’s an epidemic.

I’m not telling you this to start a riot in the virtual streets. (Or to make fun of any Johnny.) It just is what it is. And knowing the reason why will help you weather the hurricane that is the Conversion Crisis.

Before I dive in, I want to make a public announcement…

I want to take a moment and thank Michel Fortin for inviting me as a guest blogger. Michel was one of the earliest influences in my copywriting career.

I learned so much from his blog, his Copy Doctor site and a live event along with Gary Halbert, John Carlton and Mark Joyner. So I want to publicly thank him for helping me become a million-dollar online copywriter.

Okay, now back to the business of blogging…

I’ve identified four powerful forces that form the root of the Conversion Crisis (I call them “The Four Horsemen”), and I want to share one of these with you in this posting.

As the Internet grows as a marketing medium, it’s rapidly creating “Instant Marketers” and spitting them out when they fail to hit the money-zone. Why?

That’s the $20,000 question. It boils down to two fundamental issues. People either have problems with:

• A. Generating Traffic
• B. Getting Acceptable Conversion

If you’ve been online for a while, you’ve got a basic understanding about how to get relevant traffic to your website. And, I’m not a traffic expert, so I’ll focus on problem “B” because that’s what the conversion crisis is all about.

If you’re like the hordes of people contacting me on an almost daily basis, desperate about turning their traffic into sales, then pay close attention to what I’m about to tell you.

One of the biggest forces driving the “Four Horsemen” is Market Saturation.

What does that mean?

Well, for starters it means more competition.

I’m not telling you you should be afraid of competition. In fact, quite the contrary. If you’re niche marketing, that’s one of the things you want to look for. Because if you’re seeking your “thirsty crowd,” competition is a great sign that there is money to be made.

The problem with Market Saturation is the fact that there’s just more marketing out there. And the more marketing there is, the more marketing “noise” clutters the eyeballs and ears of your market.

And the problem with more marketing noise is our prospects become increasingly numb to our messages — because most of them, after a while, simply sound the same. By nature, human beings compare almost everything. You’ve got to stand out from “me too!” crowd before you can even get someone’s attention, much less sell them.

The only way to come out on top in this environment is to out-strategize, out-convert and out-sell your competitors and drive them into the dirt. Then, natural selection takes over.

You know this is true. Picture how you make decisions right now about who to learn from, and who you avoid. You’re looking for the signal amidst all of the noise. You want VALUE. That’s why you come to Michel’s blog in the first place, right? Because he delivers it in spades.

More value means more traction.

The Internet is the fastest growing medium in history. No other mass media has grown as fast as it did. Newspapers, Radio, and Television all took decades to penetrate the mass market, while the Internet took less than one.

According to a PBS report in 2006, Robert X. Cringely reported Ad sales, viewership and readership for traditional media — e.g., television, magazines and newspaper — are all trending down. (And recent studies show that Internet growth is slowing down, too.)

But what struck me is when Cringely said, “Television, radio, telephones, even electricity grew to about 70 percent market penetration and stalled until a generation shift made ubiquity possible. Each of these industries literally had to wait until their non-users died.”

Where is Internet penetration now in the US?

According to the CIA World Factbook (2006), roughly 63% of Americans are connected to the Web. And in the last year, it’s still managed to grow. That clearly proves we are near that magical 70% figure… and the market is now officially saturated. (You can see more evidence in my special report.)

Does that mean we should all pack up out virtual bags and look for the next big thing? No, I think not.

But it does mean that marketers who want to “make the cut” need to beef up their conversion skills — or suffer the consequences. And the fallout will be severe for those who fail to heed the warning.

How do you conquer the Conversion Crisis?

Well, a great start to insulating your online business is to get scientific. No, I’m not talking slide rules and pocket protectors, I’m talking testing.

In fact, I have personally seen mediocre copywriters and marketers achieve phenomenal conversion rates by simply implementing aggressive testing practices.

And I’m firmly convinced that anyone with the desire can do it, too. Only then will you rule the roost in your market.

I was in Investment sales for over a decade, and we had an old saying:

“The Market Is Always Right.”

When I got into direct response copywriting, I never imagined that truism would carry over into this world. (Oh boy, does it ever.)

And the greatest thing about the the direct response biz is the fact that we can actually ask our market what would make them buy. We do it through testing… and it always gives us the correct answer…

… that is, if we allow it to.

Now I realize that many of us are walking around in the “yeah, I already know that” trance. Heck, I’ve been guilty of that myself. So, don’t let this revelation (if you want to call it that) land on you that way.

Do something about it.

Because chances are, either you’re not testing at all or, if you are, you may be testing the wrong things the wrong way.

It’s never been easier (or cheaper) with some of the testing tools available for free (like Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer, for instance).

And the dirty little secret online is that many of the gurus who always tell you to “test, test, test” don’t do it themselves. (I know this because they want me to create their ads.) I shudder to think how much money they were leaving on the table before I made them test.

So, get hip to testing, let the market tell you what works, and side-step the Conversion Crisis — before it’s too late. For more on this, I encourage you to download my free white paper, “Conversion Crisis,” by clicking here.

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