At this point, you’re probably thinking…
“Okay, cool. Funny commercial. But remind me again…what’s the point of this totally free mini-course?”
Well, one, I love you. Duh.
Two, I’ve had a LOT of experience doing the whole “online marketing” thing at this point — like 5 years of it! — and I get questions from Tribe members ALL the time asking me to share the mystical secret sauce to making money online. So here I am, delivering on your request!
I’m revealing all I know about the powerful psychological forces that come into play when selling products online. If I can teach you how to spot when they’re being used on you, then YOU can use the same forces (benevolently) in your own business to boost sales and crush your competition.
Pretty sweet, right?
(Oh, and I’m cooking up something special for you next week. If you want to be the first to learn about the advanced content we’re developing on how you can use automatic marketing and funnels to supercharge your business, click here to get on the insiders list instantly.)
Whether you choose to implement these strategies and make tons of cash yourself — well, that’s up to you! It takes time and effort. But the framework is here for the taking.
So, back to Old Spice.
Commercials like those for Old Spice are awesome, and they are very compelling — but at the end of the day, it takes effort to watch a commercial, get in your car and go buy a deodorant stick.
Old Spice knows that, and they’re playing the “long game.” Just like Nike, Coca-Cola and Disney, they are in the business of brand ubiquity at this point. It’s in their best interests to be on your mind 24/7, regardless of whether you’re in buying mode — and if all their efforts result in you buying one product, one time, it was worth it. Their market is huge, and they want to be top dog.
But what about DIRECT sales? How do brands get you to take out your credit card and purchase something right now?
To figure that out, I’ll have to bring you back to 4th grade.
I think we all know where this door leads
Welcome to Narnia.
The coolest part about a sophisticated marketing campaign is that if it’s executed correctly, you won’t even know it’s happening. You may see an email or to pop in your inbox, but for all you know, they’re just random messages that happened to make it past your spam filter.
You couldn’t be more incorrect.
It’s all an illusion. I call this “The Narnia Effect”, because so much more is happening behind the door than you’d ever expect. It’s INVISIBLE.
Let me show you what I mean…
Yes, even “advanced” marketers can fall prey. Look what happened to me…
Two years ago, I bought tickets for my girlfriend and I to fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for a Skrillex concert. Super excited!
I used Expedia. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.
Let’s be honest: I don’t have any particular affiliation to different airline ticket brokers. I’m pretty much a free agent, and at the end of the day, I’m looking for the cheapest price. Period.
Expedia knows that price is a big factor in my buying decision — although sometimes they won’t have the cheapest price. But they want my money.
So what are they willing to do to get my business over other (possibly cheaper) competitors?
They’re willing to hit me at home. It’s a little bit like a drive by shooting.
First, you should know what a basic sales funnel looks like.
I’ll cover what all of these levels are doing in a minute:
A simple sales funnel with 6 levels
The concept here is pretty simple:
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Run some sort of campaign
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Get people interested in your cause/service/product
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Show them the opportunity and benefit they’ll receive by buying
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Give them the opportunity to buy
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They become clients
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Sell to them again and again with different offers
GOAL: To move the prospect as quickly as possible from one end of the funnel to the other and turn them from:
A prospect >> to a lead >> to a client as quickly as possible.
Of course, all of this has to be part of a seamless, invisible process that coincides with what the customer wants already.
The absolute BEST way for Expedia to do this is to pop up in a place where my guard is down — preferably in a place where I’ve already purchased a product. That way, the feeling of trust is passed from the company I’m already doing business with to Expedia.
Expedia’s sophisticated funnel started completely off-site, and hit me right in my soft spot: Spotify.
Typical Friday, at the office…
I was in a great mood listening to my man Skrillex, so I pulled up his artist page on the app. Here’s what I found:
A seemingly innocuous notification that the Skrillex concert was coming up
Hmm…along with his albums and other song info, there was a notification of live events happening in my area.
GAME ON.
I’d just entered the funnel for several different companies, including Expedia, without even knowing it.
“Skrillex, on tour?!” I thought. Excellent.
Of course, I wanted to know more. Here’s the next step in the process:
Check out that juicy, green button for me to press.
Notice that it says “tickets” and not “buy now.”
Why?
Because now wouldn’t be the right moment to present me with a sales offer. Right now, they’re just “Warming me up.”
By clicking, I’m essentially saying, “Yes, tell me more about these tickets you’re offering.”
That’s akin to me raising my hand in class and asking to be called on. It’s a huge interest indicator disguised as an innocuous button.
Next, TWO important things happen:
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I’m transported OFF-SITE for the offer to begin
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I’m presented with a direct Call to Action, and I have a decision to make
The direct CTA to buy
I’m already several steps into the sales process, and only now am I going to be presented with the offer.
I saw tickets were only $20-$50 and decided to buy. Awesome price, and I only ended up spending $70 for two tickets. I felt good about the purchase.
NOTE: I was ONLY presented with this information because I asked for it — so I didn’t feel sold-to, I didn’t feel marketed or schemed. I legitimately wanted to learn more about the Skrillex concert, I clicked through and the offer progressed in line with the natural order of my desires.
At this point, you may be wondering where Expedia came into play.
As it turns out, they were waiting in the wings to hit me with the good ol’ 1-2-3 (“wings”…heh, no pun intended. Did I mentioned I’m funny?).
Suddenly, an inline popup appeared and asked, “Need a flight to Las Vegas?”
This is like me saying “Man, I really love Thin Mints” and a freaking Girl Scout showing up at my front door. OF COURSE I’M BUYING AT LEAST 3 BOXES.
Expedia is the Girl Scout in this scenario.
Well played, friends. Well played.
The link in the popup transported me to the mobile version of Expedia.com and guess what I found?
The perfectly-timed offer from Expedia
Awww hell no!
Nope, you’re not hallucinating. That’s a perfectly curated selection for the exact flight I need to Las Vegas. Already sorted for best price and travel time. H.o.l.y S.h.i.t.
Take a second to soak in the can of psychological whoopass that was just unleashed on me:
I listen to a song that I enjoy (emotional tie) in a trusted application, Spotify (established history) >> Spotify knows I like Skrillex, offers me tickets (logical) >> I buy, they know I need a flight (GPS) >> I’m offered a flight
I may be the only nerd on earth that’s completely fascinated by this. But I can’t be the only one who realizes how brilliant it is!
Obviously, I clicked through to learn more info about the flight, and I found the price was only $150 per flight.
A scary bonus that helped remove even more objections:
In the shopping cart field, Google Wallet had already filled in all my information, including my credit card info…(no idea how this happened). All I had to do was click “BUY.”
Literally, that’s it.
I just went ahead and bought the flights. It was a little impulsive, but since they had removed absolutely all barriers to me making the choice, I felt like I barely had a chance to reconsider.
This entire funnel from listening to music to buying concert and plane tickets happened in about 7 minutes or less, and I ended up spending about $400.
But I didn’t feel “marketed” to, and I got exactly what I wanted.
From Initial Concept To The Deepest Levels Of A Million Dollar Funnel (And Why All Of This Matters)
You may take this type of transaction for granted, but that’s only because you’re so USED to these things happening, you don’t even realize how advanced the psychology, technology and strategy is anymore.
What you’re saying in your head:
“Big deal, I was listening to Skrillex and decided to buy some concert/plane tix.”
The reality of what actually happened is far more complex. Remember, the Narnia Effect is invisible, when deployed correctly.
Here’s how you fall into the funnel without even knowing it (refer to funnel diagram at the top of this thread):
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You begin on Spotify, innocently listening to music you like. Little do you know, companies are strategically placing offers in all the places you’re most likely to pay attention (Level #1: Campaign)
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You find a particular artist you like, and see they have a concert coming up (Level #2: Leads)
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You demonstrate interest by clicking “Tickets” to learn more about possible dates(Level: #3 Opportunities)
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You’re presented with an intelligent offer to buy the tickets you’ve already said you were interested in a second ago (Level #4: Sales)
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You purchase and become a client — and are primed to buy more things. It’s psychologically easier to make more purchases after you’ve already made one. Even if the first purchase is just $1
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You see an ad for the exact plane tickets you need. Since you’ve already been qualified, you skip steps 1-3 and head straight to Level #4 (Sales), but this time in Expedia’s funnel.
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You buy from Expedia because they present you exactly what you want with as little friction as possible. They even fill out all your information for you
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You’re now in the retention (Level #5) phase of 3 companies: Spotify, Flavorus (the concert ticket broker) and Expedia. They will continue to send you highly relevant opportunities to buy.
I woke up that morning with no intent of buying concert tickets or plane tickets.
But these companies found me in a place where I was already hanging out (Spotify), then worked together to use well placed ads, advanced psychology, compelling design and fluid technology to create an experience that made me WANT to open my wallet and do their bidding…THEN, think that the entire transaction was my idea from the beginning.
Now are you beginning to understand what’s really going on here?
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Tomorrow, I’ll show you exactly how I set this up for my clients — and how you can create a funnel like this for yourself that generates revenue while you sleep (even if it’s not millions, or you don’t run a site like Expedia).
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If you liked this free lesson and want to know more about building an Automatic Sales Funnel— aka your very own money machine — click here and I’ll add you to the private list.
