The other day I walked into one of the local spas by my place…

…and I realized how clueless people are when it comes to using the web to market their businesses.

They thanked me, and they also said they hoped I came back again soon.

And that’s it.

They didn’t ask for my email address.

They didn’t offer a loyalty program

Nothing.

Now take a guess what I said…

“You guys are crazy! You’ve got customers who come in for massages, and you’re not building an email list?”

“Let me ask you a question: Do you find that most of your customers are regulars or one-offs?”

And they said “We have a lot of regulars, but we also have a lot of one-off customers.”

I went on to say “how awesome would it be if you converted more of those one-off customers into regulars?”

Naturally, they were interested.

How to Convert One-Off Customers Into Regular Customers

So, I went on to tell them the perfect email marketing strategy for a spa.

I told them to get the email address of every single customer that enters their doors.

Then, I told them here’s what they should do:

1. The day after the massage, send a helpful reminder email reminding them that it’s important to drink water after a massage. And that’s it.
2. 1 week later, I told them to send an email where they just check in with the customer. No sales pitch. Nothing. Just a simple email asking them how they’re doing, and then share some data / research about the importance of getting a massage regularly.
3. 2 weeks after that second email, I told them to send one more email where they offer a loyalty program…

…but not just ANY loyalty program!

Here’s How To Create Loyalty Programs That Work…

I told the spa to structure their loyalty program like this:

If the prospect scheduled an appointment today, they’ll gain access to a special loyalty card that would work like this:

For every 10 massages, get one free.

But here’s the kicker!

To entice them to schedule the appointment right away, I told the spa to tell them this:

Get the appointment now, and we’ll punch your card for this session, the session you already did, and we’ll give you a free punch too.

That way, if people come in for a massage during that week, they get 3 massage sessions of credit…

…and they only need another 7 massages to get a free one.

Why is this KEY?

I’ll tell you why.

How One Car Wash Implemented A Loyalty Program

I wrote about the car wash loyalty experiment a while ago, but here’s a quick refresher.

Two researchers, Joseph Nunes and Xavier Drèze, conducted a customer loyalty experiment with a car wash…

…and they found that “artificial advancement” increases customer loyalty 82%.

What’s artificial advancement?

I’ll explain.

On two consecutive Saturdays, they gave out loyalty cards to car wash patrons. Half of the cards required 8 car washes to earn a free car wash. The other half required 10… but instead of requiring the full 10, the car wash gave a 2 car wash head-start as a free bonus.

In both scenarios, the patron needed to buy 8 car washes total to get a free car wash.

However, in the second example, people received a 2 car wash head-start, which is deemed “artificial advancement.”

But here’s what happened:

During the next 9 months, 28 out of 150 people earned a free car wash when they didn’t receive artificial advancement. However, 51 out of 150 people earned a free car wash when they did receive artificial advancement.

The same 8 car washes… one slight tweak… customer loyalty went up by 82%.

Insane!

But why? Why did artificial advancement increase customer loyalty?

People are more likely to complete tasks when they’re closer to the finish line.

When you start with a loyalty card, and you only have 1 car wash punched, that means you’re 12.5% complete.

But when you start with a loyalty card that has 3 car washes to start, you’re 30% complete.

Even though the patrons need the same 8 car washes, in one instance they’re 70% away from the finish line… whereas in the other case they’re 87.5% away.

A nifty little behavior trick, right?

Right!

But there’s one caveat:

The artificial advancement only had that drastic of an effect when there was a clear reason why people were receiving the artificial advancement.

In other words, you couldn’t just give it to people for no reason.

Instead, you’ve got to give them the artificial advancement for a real reason… like a sale… or new customer appreciation… or anything like that.

Now let’s take this back to the spa

Do you see what I did there?

Based on the car wash research, the data says that they’d be 82% more likely to complete the loyalty card when they have the advancement.

So, when you offer the new customer a loyalty card with the opportunity to have 3 massages, you’re giving that customer 30% completion, meaning they’d be 82% more likely to complete the card.

But it gets better…

If these one-off customers didn’t have a massage habit, after getting that many massages, you can bet they’ll develop one.

And all this spa has to do is send out 3 emails after a new customer uses their services.

God I love marketing.

Let’s take this back to you and your business…

How do you follow-up with new customers?

What do you do to try and turn new customers into repeat customers?

Smart email follow-up is the KEY.

So, if you’re not putting your customers on an email list, start doing that.

And if you’re not following up with new customers, start doing that too.

And in those follow-ups, you should approach them as a friend who’s trying to help.

Show them data, give them research, and explain why they made a smart decision. This shows your new customer that you have their best interests in mind, while simultaneously alleviating what’s known as buyer’s remorse.

Then, to get customers to continue buying, using loyalty programs, like the car wash experiment, or the massage card, is just the beginning.

But the reality is…

Running a business is TOUGH.

You’ve got to:

create something people want to buy

… and then get them to buy it.

Fine-tune the thing you created

…and then get more people to buy it.

Now the creation part is on you.

If your product and service sucks, human behavior tricks on a customer loyalty program won’t work.

But when it comes to getting people to buy..

You know, marketing your business… that’s something you should invest in (both time and money).

I’ll explain.

The Secret to Selling More Of Your Stuff…

When you’re running a business, your job is to make sure your products and services are the best they can be.

And that’s a full-time job.

But if you want to sell more, you’ve got to learn how to market your business, and that’s ALSO a full-time job.

And as you just saw, there are little hacks—just like that customer loyalty hack—that makes marketing your business that much easier.

How can you learn more about marketing?

You’ve got to invest in your marketing skills.

How?

Well, of course, you should continue reading Social Triggers (get free email updates, and you’ll gain access to never-before released content from Social Triggers).

Here, I pride myself on the fact that much of my free content is better than what most people sell.

I always knew that, but what really nailed that home was when my friend Ryan stumbled on my podcast “Social Triggers Insider” and said, “dude, I can’t believe you’re giving those master classes away. I know people who would sell each one for $97″

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do have a premium training class that I released to around 100 students a few weeks ago, and they’re loving it.

And it’s true, I also sell software like Webinar Bridge, in addition to the premium training material.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t create awesome content that helps you… and give it to you for nothing.

(As long as you don’t turn into the “I can get it for free guy,” I don’t mind helping you out )

Because in 2012 and beyond, I believe the companies who focus on helping their ideal customers the most, will win the most business.

“Companies who focus on helping their ideal customers the most, will win the most business.” – Click to Tweet

And I like to practice what I preach.

So, on that note, I hope you enjoyed this article, and I’d love to hear what you think.

Source: Nunes, Joseph and Dreze, Xavier, The Endowed Progress Effect: How Artificial Advancement Increases Effort. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 32, March 2006. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=991962

Today I’m super excited to introduce the latest edition of Social Triggers Insider. You’ll learn:

• Why people buy what they can get for free
• Why you should design your website for the “Homer Simpsons” of the world
• Why people overvalue their work (better known as the Ikea Effect)
• And much, much, more

In addition to the short video below, you’ll love the special guest on the audio portion of this master class.

Why Selling From Your Blog Is Okay—and What To Do With Those Who Complain About It

Look at that freeze frame… Whoops. Quick. Press Play!

“I happily sell products and services from my blog.” – Click to Tweet

Introducing Dan Ariely, A NYT Best-Selling Author, And A Leading Behavior Economics Researcher

Look. If you’re an entrepreneur who sells software, consulting, information products, or coaching…

…the secret to thriving in today’s overcrowded marketplace requires you to MASTER the fields of psychology and human behavior.

And that’s why I’m pumped to have Dan Ariely on this episode of Social Triggers Insider.

Download audio file (07-Why-People-Buy-What-They-Can-Get-For-Free-And-More-Insights-About-Human-Behavior-with-Dan-Ariely.mp3)

Dan Ariely is a professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke, and his research has been published in leading economics, psychology, and business journals. In addition to that, he’s the best-selling author of “Predictably Irrational” and “The Upside of Irrationality.”

Ever since I started Social Triggers, people have asked me what books do I read, and what blogs do I read. While I’ll likely never publish my complete reading list (you’ll be scared by it, trust me), I can tell you that I happily read Dan Ariely’s blog, and every book he gets published.

Did you know Social Triggers Insider is now on iTunes? If you enjoy this series, please take a few seconds and leave an honest review. It would be a huge help.

Here’s a list of his books:

1. Predictably Irrational (This book is one of the reasons why I became obsessed with understanding psychology as it relates to marketing. The study where he talks about decoy pricing is priceless.

2. The Upside of Irrationality (In this podcast, we cover a ton of what he covers in this book, but it’s still a worthwhile read).

3. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty (This is his new, yet to be released book, which I haven’t read yet, but I hope to get my hands on it soon…)

Note: When you buy those books through my link, I earn a commission. It’s paltry, but I’m including the link for one main reason: I’m curious to see how many people listen to my book recommendations.

Right click this link to save the audio as a MP3 file to your computer.

Right click this link to save the transcript as a PDF file to your computer.

Now I Pass It To You…

Have you ever dealt with the “I can get it for free guy?”

How did you handle it?

How would you enjoy suddenly having an influx of people, “chomping at the bit,” ready to buy whatever it is you’re selling?

It would be insanely great!

But what holds those people back… preventing you from experiencing the surge that you deserve… is something that I believe 95% of people (and businesses) suffer from.

I call it the “customer coma.”

So, first, I’ll tell you all about it… and then I’ll give you the “smelling salts” you need to eliminate it forever.

How People Accidentally Lull Their Customers Into A Coma (Do you make these 3 mistakes?)

Like this video? Share the tweetable.

“You don’t need to be interesting, to not be boring.” – Click to Tweet

How To Wake Up Your Customers with Sally Hogshead’s 7 “Fascination Triggers”

Now that you watched that video…

If you want to captivate your readers and customers with wonder, awe, and fascination, you’ll love this discussion with Sally Hogshead.

You’ll learn the 7 Fascination Triggers that are proven to persuade people to take action.

And this isn’t opinion… it’s fact.

Sally conducted a research study with a major marketing organization and stumbled on these triggers after analyzing the data.

So, without further ado, listen to this edition of Social Triggers Insider now. Just press the play button the audio player below.

Download audio file (06-Social-Triggers-How-to-Captivate-Customers-with-These-7-Fascination-Triggers.mp3)

Who is Sally Hogshead? Sally is the Chief Fascination Officer of Fascinate, Inc. She is an international keynote speaker, with proprietary research published by both HarperCollins and Penguin. She’s also the author of the GREAT book “Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation” and the founder of the newly released website How To Fascinate. She also blogs at her blog SallyHogshead.com

As a matter of fact, did you know there are 49 different personality types? Find out which one you are by checking this out.

Did you know Social Triggers Insider is now on iTunes? If you enjoy this series, please take a few seconds and leave an honest review. It would be a huge help.

For a quick summary, here’s what you’ll learn during this episode of Social Triggers Insider:

• How Marilyn Monroe captivated the world with what’s known as a wet voice… and then you’ll see how you can apply it to your business.
• How to keep people on the edge of their seats… waiting for whatever it is you’re selling… and then happily buying it with little to no questions asked.
• Why people do things they’re not supposed to do… and how you can take advantage of that to pull in more sales.
• Plus… you’ll find that everything we talk about during this masterclass is backed up by DATA.
• And much, much more

Right click this link to save the audio as a MP3 file to your computer.

Right click this link to save the transcript as a PDF file to your computer.

What Should You Do Now?

You’ve learned about what I call “the customer coma,” and studied the 7 Fascination triggers from my discussion with Sally Hogshead. Now it’s time to put this knowledge to work…

Follow this simple 3-step formula:

Step 1: Pick A Fascination Trigger

Before you write your next piece of content, decide which fascination trigger you’d like to press. There’s 7 of them. (Power, Lust, Mystique, Alarm, Prestige, Vice, Trust).

Step 2: Avoid Putting Your Customers Into “The Customer Coma”

After you write your content, make sure you’re not putting your customers into a coma with “toning it down syndrome.” (I tell you all about that during the video).

Step 3: Celebrate

Watch the results pour in… and then let me know how it worked out for you by leaving a comment below.

And then…

Don’t forget to check out Sally Hogshead’s new website “How to Fascinate.”

Now let me know what you thought about this Social Triggers Insider masterclass by leaving a comment below.

Back when the iPhone 3G first came out, people had two options: They could buy the black iPhone or the white iPhone.

You may think people made their decision based on their color preference, but as you’ll soon find out, it’s not that simple.

When people buy products, the reason why they buy is mysterious at best, and at worst, you’re left wondering “what the heck?”

However, today, you’re going to learn how people make choices, and more importantly, how you can influence those choices—Social Triggers style.

As smart entrepreneurs and business owners, I shouldn’t need to sell you on why this is important, so keep reading.

The Art of Choosing

To understand what makes people buy one product over another, I invited Sheena Iyengar to join me on the latest episode of Social Triggers Insider.

Download audio file (05-Social_Triggers-Why-People-Bought-The-White-iPhone-Even-When-They-Wanted-The-Black-One.mp3)

Who is Sheena Iyengar? The short of it is this: Sheena is a professor at Columbia Business school, and the author of the book “The Art of Choosing (aff).”

In addition to receiving high praise from Malcolm Gladwell—”No one asks better questions, or comes up with more intriguing answers”—Sheena has given three TED talks and is recognized as a world-renowned expert on choice.

Did you know Social Triggers Insider is now on iTunes? If you enjoy this series, please take a few seconds and leave an honest review. It would be a huge help.

In other words, you would be silly to miss out on this episode of Social Triggers Insider. Her insights have personally helped me accomplish a TON online.

(For example, you may remember my article about “How to Increase Sales by 600%.” Well, that was based off of her research).

What else will you learn during this Social Triggers Insider master class?

Here’s a list:

• Why people bought the white iPhone—even when they wanted the black one
• How the “Magazine Rack Effect” helps you organize your products and services
• Why you need to give people a choice—even if you plan to make it for them
• How price positions you as the “go to” product choice in an ultra-competitive market place
• And much, much more.

Right click this link to save the audio as a MP3 file to your computer

Right click this link to save the transcript as a PDF file to your computer.

Also, during the episode, we talked about this research. So, if you’d like to dig into the academic stuff, there’s your link .

Here’s What You Need To Do Next…

Now that you listened to this episode of Social Triggers Insider, here’s what you need to do next:

1. Education is meaningless without action. So, tell me what you learned from this episode, and how you plan to apply it to your business in the comment section.
2. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor and share it on Twitter or Facebook. Or better yet, send a personal email to one of your friends whom you’d think would love this.
3. This part is important. I’m currently at 51 reviews on iTunes, and I need to get to 70 reviews. If you have a few seconds, can you please go to iTunes and leave me an honest review (after subscribing).

And now that’s out of the way…

If you absolutely love these Social Triggers Insider episode, make sure you sign up for the Social Triggers email newsletter. In addition to these master classes, you’ll receive never before released content that will help you improve your business.

One of the easiest ways to make money from a blog is to sell stuff.

However, you’ve got to sell the RIGHT stuff.

What’s the right stuff?

That’s easy. The right stuff is whatever your readers want to buy .

Question is how do you know what your readers want to buy? Keep reading.

How to Discover What To Sell Your Blog Readers

There’s one simple tactic I developed last year, and I since proved that it’s one of the best ways to figure out what people buy.

Here’s the deal:

When people sign up to my mailing list, they receive a “Welcome” email.

(For those of you unfamiliar with that email marketing jargon, a welcome email is the first email people get “after” they confirm their subscription to your newsletter)

In that email, after telling people exactly what to expect from their email subscription, I tell them to reply to the email and tell me what they’re struggling with right now.

And that’s the tactic.

The “What are you struggling with” question.

The Power of the “What Are You Struggling With?”

Most bloggers who want to figure out what their readers will buy may run a survey… or worse… they’ll GUESS.

But people lie on surveys, and guessing can be costly.

The “What are you struggling with” question, on the other hand, is the PERFECT tactic for figuring out what people buy.

Why?

Because it’s conversational!

Most people who sign up to email newsletters are accustomed to the broadcast mentality—the blogger broadcasts emails without ever inviting conversation.

However, this question positions you as a friend AND expert. That’s why people respond.

And when people respond, they tell you their problems.

And when you know their problems, you can either create content OR products and services to solve those problems.

Win.

4 Steps to Implementing the “What Are You Struggling With?”

By now you’ve got a broad understanding of how the “what are you struggling with” question works.

However, how can you implement it in your business the RIGHT way? And by the right way, I mean how can it help you build your list and increase sales?

I’ll walk you through it right now.

Step 1: Craft An Email That Invites Conversation

Before I tell you how to craft your email, let me show you the exact email I use.

What’s up {!firstname}?

Thank you for signing up. Every week, you’ll receive valuable advice that shows you how to turn web traffic into leads and sales.

And if you’re not getting traffic, I have advice for that too.

Right now, I want you to do two things.

Thing #1:

Reply to this email and tell me what you’re struggling with right now. Even if it’s something really small, don’t hesitate. While I can’t reply to everyone, I read every single one of these emails.

Thing #2:

Prepare yourself. I whipped together some great stuff for you, and you’ll receive it soon, so keep an eye out.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Talk soon,
Derek Halpern

Now that you’ve seen that, let me break it down for you.

Do you notice how conversational the email is?

I don’t sound like some boring corporation… I write as if I’m talking to a new friend.

And that’s key!

When you craft your “what are you struggling with” email, you want to write it as if you’re writing to a brand-new friend.

That’s how you ensure that people respond to you.

Note: I don’t recommend you copy my email word for word. I suggest you read it, analyze it, and adapt it for your readers.

Step 2: Include The Email In Your Lead Generation Sequence

Here’s the deal:

If you’re using an email service provider like AWeber, I like to make this welcome email the first email people receive from me.

However, if you’re not using an email service provider that allows you to set a welcome email, like Feedburner, I suggest you get one.

Building an email list is the MOST important thing you can do for your online business. It’s more important than RSS, SEO, and heck, I’d even say it’s more important than your blog itself.

But let’s say you don’t want to sign up for a mailing list provider, what can you do?

Instead of automating this, you can simply write a blog post that invites your readers to share what they’re struggling with in the comment section.

While this works it’s not preferable because people don’t like to air their problems in public.

Step 3: Interact With People Who Respond To You

This part is VITAL.

This is your opportunity to get your readers to dig deep inside themselves and tell you exactly what their problem is.

It’s also your opportunity to WIN a loyal reader for life, thus increasing the loyalty of your readers..

When people respond to you, it’s your goal to try and help them out. How can you do that?

Well, first, you can share an article that you may have written in the past that answers their question.

Or if they have a quick question, you can simply answer them in email.

What you SHOULDN’T do is try to sell something to them right off the bat. That turns people off.

Note: As your readership grows, it often becomes impossible to answer every single question. So, as a rule of thumb, try to answer the people that really took the time to respond to you.

Step 4: Find The Common Thread Amongst Your Subscribers

Finally!

Here’s how you figure out what you can sell your readers.

As people start responding to your “What are you struggling with” question, it’s your job to keep track of the problems.

Eventually you’ll notice a trend.

You’ll start seeing that people struggle with the same things… over and over again.

Different people, and the same problems.

When you find that thread of similarity, that’s your chance to create a product to solve that broad problem that most people have.

And you can have a best-seller on your hands.

Here’s What You Need To Do Next

Now you have a decision to make. Are you going to take action and test this quality advice right now or will you procrastinate? Ball is in your court.

However, if you’re an action taker—and I’m sure you are, you’re reading Social Triggers—here’s what I want you to do next:

1. I want you to brainstorm how you can implement the “what are you struggling with?” question in your business. Remember, don’t just copy what I do. Adapt it to your business.
2. Then, if you plan to use this tactic (or already have used it), leave a comment and tell me about it.
3. Finally, if you haven’t subscribed to Social Triggers Insider on iTunes, go do that now. I’ve got a new episode coming soon, and if you’re not subscribed you may miss it. And trust me, you don’t want to miss this one. It may be the best one yet.