QUALITY

Is The Quality High?

The quality of the products you promote is very important. There is the obvious reason of great products enhancing your reputation.

But there is another reason, this one more subtle and often overlooked.

You want to promote high quality products because they will have the lowest refund rates.

Refunds will hurt your reputation with your new buyer. And they cost you commissions you fought dearly to earn.

Think of it this way. You spend $500 to promote product A. You make sales and earn $800 in commissions. So far, so good.

But you did not use a checklist (like this one) and so you find out too late that product A has a 35% refund rate.

On $800 in commissions that means you will lose $280, leaving you with a profit of only $20 after your advertising costs.

What looked like a $300 windfall has turned into a $20 case of heartburn.

Remember, you don’t get back the money you risk in advertising, so choosing great products can massively affect your bottom line.

Here now are the questions I ask about any product before promoting it.

Do I own and like this product? Yes / No

The most profitable marketing I have ever done of other people’s products has been when I owned and liked them. The reasons for this are simple.

One - I can endorse the product ethically. I can get very specific about what I like and what could be better.

Two - I can create meaningful bonuses. If I am going to work hard to promote a product I will often create a unique bonus to give to my buyers. This increases sales like crazy. By owning the product I can choose the bonuses I create wisely.

Do you have access to free information? Yes / No

Remember that an educational sale really does work best, long term. That is why you see so many lead magnets on the market today. They short, free reports help educate a prospect about what you offer by giving them results in advance.

Rather than relying on hype and false scarcity, providing useful free information to your prospect will encourage them to trust you and believe that your product is worth their investment.

Educational sales is how you truly build a business.

So ask this - are there ...

• Pre-written solo ads I can use?
• Blog posts I can modify and use?
• Banner ads I can use?
• Lead magnets of high quality?
• Webinar replays where I will be credited with the sale?

By knowing what free information can be used in your marketing you can plan exactly how to best market any product.

What if there is NO free information available? Yes / No

When promoting lower-priced products you will often find a lack of marketing tools for your use. But don’t worry, we can turn this into your advantage.

Here are two reasons why a lack of marketing tools can help you.

1. The market won't be flooded by other affiliates with the same free content you want to use, which results in making your offer stand out.
2. You can market in your own style and not be forced into the mold the vendor prefers.

Do they provide marketing tools? Yes / No

This could be pre-written ads, follow up messages, graphics, etc. It saves you time and money by not having to create - or outsource - these things yourself, and often leads to more sales because the materials will be tested and proven effective.

Be sure to look at the quality of the marketing tools. With the availability of inexpensive graphics and ads today you might be better off creating your own tools.

NOTE: Always ask the product owner for permission before using your own marketing materials. Many affiliate agreements require you to use their marketing materials.

Is there an upsell path? Will you get paid on upsells?
Yes / No

This is important. It is proven that people are 10 to 20 times more likely to make a second purchase than the first purchase. So starting out with a low-cost “tripwire” product makes sense.

But for that strategy to work there must be an upsell path.

WARNING: Promoting products that lock buyers into an unending upsell path will lead to more refunds and hurt your reputation.

Be sure to know what the upsell path is before promoting any product. And make sure the upsell path would not frustrate you. If it frustrates you it will frustrate your buyers.

I have seen upsell paths with literally 9 upsells, all designed to make me feel stupid for not buying the upsell. I won’t market products like that and suggest you avoid them as well.