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AMY PORTERFIELD: “I like to call this section the highlights reel, and the outcome is to paint a picture in the heads of your prospective students about what's possible and how your offer will get them there. In this section, you'll want to focus on describing specific, desirable scenarios that will become possible once they've worked through everything in your course. An effective way to do this is to paint the picture of where they are right now, using common objections or struggles that your audience shares with you, and showing what it would look like on the other side thanks to your offer, your product, your program, your course, basically showing them that the grass actually is greener on the other side as long as they say yes to your offer and, of course, do the work that you're going to lay in front of them.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-million-dollar business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, money, and time to focus on growing my small–but–mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step–by–step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and helps you create a life you love, you're in the right place. Let's get started.
AMY: If you're an online entrepreneur, you've got a sales page. In fact, you may have more than one. And if you don't have one yet, I bet you have an idea of what you want to sell, so listen to these tips to learn where to focus when you do build your sales page.
Now, if I've learned anything in my past eleven years or so of being an entrepreneur, it's that if done right, your sales page can be gold and one of the most essential parts of your sales funnel and your customer journey and conversion success. When your sales page leaves your customer saying, “Oh, my gosh. You have read my mind. This is exactly what I need. Say no more. Where do I sign up?” then you know, my friend, that you’ve hit the nail on the head.
But that's not necessarily something that happens on your first try. And I'm speaking from experience here. The first time you create a sales pitch, it is tough. In fact, it took me a while to perfect the formula of a highly converting sales page. And yes, there is a formula. Now, if you are a Digital Course Academy student—shout out to you—then you know that there's an entire module about this topic. But also, I always record my podcast as a love letter to my course creators, meaning I think you should still listen to this episode because I'm going to give you some insights and reminders and ideas that you can use to make your sales pitch even better.
Here's the bottom line. If you want to increase your sales conversion rate, you've got to master your sales page, which is why in this episode, I'm sharing three essential parts of that formula that I mentioned earlier to get your sales page to not only convert like hotcakes, but to make it feel as though you're speaking directly to each individual potential customer, because after all, that's how you create lifelong loyal customers.
Now, maybe you're listening to this episode because you have a sales page and it just isn't converting quite like you want it to. Or maybe you're working on your very first sales page and you want to make it high converting from day one. Either way, you're going to gain extremely valuable insight from today's episode, and you're going to walk away with next steps for revamping or creating from scratch your sales page so that it works like a charm.
All right, let's dive in.
Just to make sure that we're on the same page about what a sales page is, let's talk about it. And you might be saying, “Amy, we know what a sales page is,” but hear me out. Your sales page is a tool for delivering the four w‘s of your offer. That means it addresses what your offer is, who it's for, and why you created it, and what transformation your course or product or service offers and how. It should conquer objections, answer questions, and convince your future students or customers that this is exactly what they need. In other words, it's where your conversions happen. It's where all your hard work pays off, literally.
Okay. So when it comes to your ideal community and audience landing on your sales page, it's important to note that they will all digest it differently. For example, you'll have the action takers. These are the people who already know they are going to say yes to your offer before they even get to your sales page. These are the people who have been following you. Maybe they attended your webinars or have been loyal during your pre–launch runway. As soon as they arrive, they are going to sign up. No questions asked. They're ready, and they're thinking, give me what you got. You got to love these people. More people like these, please, right?
Next, you'll have the skimmers. These people are going to peruse through your sales page and only read the sections they think are important or that grab their attention, like headlines and bolded words.
And then you're also going to have those audience members who read every single word, a minimum of twice through. This may or may not be me. If you know me, you can probably guess.
It's important to keep these various types of ideal customers in mind as you put together your sales page, because different features will cater to each of these types of people.
Now that you know what a sales page is and understand the different personality types to be aware of, let's cover some sales page essentials.
First off, let's talk about your call to action, your CTA, or as I like to call it in Digital Course Academy, your call to action confetti. Why confetti? Because I have seen just how important it is to sprinkle your CTA throughout your sales page. If you only have it living in one place on your page, that’s a big no–no.
So you might be asking, “Okay, Amy. I hear you, but where do I strategically place it to ensure I don't annoy or overwhelm my potential customers who are reading the page?” Excellent question. While this does depend on the length of your sales page, I generally recommend that you have four different calls to action throughout.
The first one should be near the top of the page. This one is for those action takers that I mentioned before. Placing a call to action, meaning “buy now,” near the top allows them to take action right away without getting frustrated looking for their next step.
Your second call to action, which is, again, it's a Buy button that leads to the order form. I just want to be really clear. So your second call to action should land right after you share what's included in your program and your bonus section. So basically, you'll have a section that clearly lays out what's included in your program/your offer and any bonuses that they'll receive. Right after that, drop in your call to action. This acts as a way to support them when they’re fired up about the contents of your offer and the extra goodies that they're going to get.
Next up, your third call to action. This, guys, should land right under your guarantee or money–back promise. Many people want to ensure that there's a safety net, and this section dramatically decreases the risk factor; hence, the perfect place to invite them to say yes and sign up.
Last but certainly not least is your call to action that caters to your audience members who read every last word, and that's placing one at the bottom of your sales page. I personally like to wrap up my sales page with a little personal note that helps give my fence sitters permission to move forward and reiterates that I'm here to support them. Because this is an emotional section—you'll see it on every one of my sales pages—I aim to leave them feeling confident that they have all the information they need. And I like to place my last call to action, the button to enroll now and go to the order form, just after that so they don't have to scroll back up to find it.
All right. Here's your action item. Reassess where your call–to–action buttons are currently placed and use the strategies I just shared to improve your call–to–action placement and boost your conversions, Remember, think about it as confetti that you're sprinkling throughout the page.
All right. Next up on the list is clearly stating who your product and offer is for. And honestly, you're going to want to put this bad boy near the top of your sales page. What this does is it either affirms without a shadow of a doubt if this potential customer is right for your offer or if they are not. This is what we call the magic mirror. I love a good name for things, so, hopefully, this is going to help you remember it. So the goal of this section is to get them to say, “Yes, that's me,” so that they can see themselves in your copy and feel confident that your program is designed to help them and keep them reading and on your sales page so that they can learn more and, you guessed it, enroll in your offer.
So, for example, on my Digital Course Academy sales page, I frame this by saying, “Before I tell you all about this life–changing program, let's talk about who this is really for.” Those are my exact words I use. “Before I tell you all about this life–changing program, let's talk about who this is really for.” Notice how the messaging is subtle, but the takeaway is that I'm not interested in wasting their time, and I only want people to keep reading if they resonate with the description I share. This is where knowing who you serve and who your ideal community is is extremely important. You want to be specific here while also casting a wide net.
I go on to say, “You're a dreamer with no shortage of ambition, who's tired of trading dollars for hours, and ready to build a business that allows you to impact infinitely more lives, make a whole lot more money, and work whenever, wherever, and however you like.” I keep it to the point, clear, concise, and I'm intentional about my wording. You want to share the main desires in this section. Let me read it one more time for you. So when I'm telling people who is right for the program, I say, “You're a dreamer with no shortage of ambition, who's tired of trading dollars for hours, and ready to build a business that allows you to impact infinitely more lives, make a whole lot more money, and work wherever, whenever, and however you'd like.”
I know that my ideal customer is tired of the time–for–dollars trap. They want to make an impact—they care deeply about the people they serve—but they also want to make more money, and they want to have time and location freedom. The funny thing about my audience is they'll work their tails off. They don't try to work four-hour work days, but they want to make sure that when they do want to take off, when they want to be at their kid's soccer game or take a mini vacation, that they do have the opportunity to do so. So time and location freedom for my audience isn't sitting on a beach, drinking a Mai Tai, with a laptop, in a bikini. No. That's not my audience. They just want to have some options, freedom to do what matters most to them while making a good living.
So that really shows up very differently than what we typically see for life and location freedom. And I know that, so I weave that into my sales copy. So I paint a picture. If someone comes into my sales page and says, “I don't care about making an impact. I actually love trading time for dollars. I don't really care about time and location freedom,” they're likely not going to be the right person for my offer. So you can see how important it can be to put this at the top of the sales page, right?
The last thing you want to do is to have someone who isn't a good fit read through your entire sales page, only to realize at the end that they're not a really good fit; that your offer doesn't align with their wants, needs, or desires. And maybe because they read all of it and some of it speaks to them, they buy and then they're not a good fit. I don't want that either. So be transparent and clear about who is the right fit for your offer early on.
All right. Your action steps. I want you to identify, if you do paint the picture and a clear picture at that, of who would be the ideal fit for what you're offering. Once that's clear, take note of where this is placed, and make sure to move it up closer to the top if it's found its way further down the page.
All right. Moving right along, let's chat about the very last area. We're going to hone in on a specific copywriting technique called future pacing. If your sales page is missing this, there's a good chance you're missing out on converting valuable sales page viewers to customers. I like to call this section the highlights reel, and the outcome is to paint a picture in the heads of your prospective students about what's possible and how your offer will get them there. In this section, you'll want to focus on describing specific, desirable scenarios that will become possible once they've worked through everything in your course. An effective way to do this is to paint the picture of where they are right now, using common objections or struggles that your audience shares with you, and showing what it would look like on the other side thanks to your offer, your product, your program, your course, basically showing them that the grass actually is greener on the other side as long as they say yes to your offer and, of course, do the work that you're going to lay in front of them.
So here's an example from my DCA sales page. The header for this section says, “By the end of this course, you will have…” and then I go into specifics—nailed down your course topic instead of spending yet another year just thinking about it; validated your program to make sure your audience is willing and excited to invest in it the minute it's ready; developed a high–converting webinar presentation and irresistible offer that authentically enrolls your best prospects into your course. And the list goes on. So notice how I shared what they will accomplish by going through my program and then mentioned what they are struggling with now.
So let me take you back of an example. So I said you're going to nail down your course topic. That's what they're going to get. But I also talk about the struggle: instead of spending yet another year just thinking about it. So I'm really specific about what they're going to accomplish.
Okay. Another example that I love is from my student, Sandra McLemore, and this example is from her membership sales page. She actually lays it out in two bulleted columns. One says, “Right now,” and then lists the struggles or common objections her audience has. And then the next column says, “With our help,” and then lists the solution, the benefits, and outcomes her ideal customer will experience with her membership.
So, for example, one column says, “Right now you are attracting…” and then lists out Price Shoppers, Tire Kickers, Clients Outside Your Specialty, and No Clients At All. And then the next column says, “With our help, you'll attract clients who are your ideal client, see your value, are happy to pay your fees, and feel like they would be missing out—FOMO—by not working with you.” So I’ll link to her sales page in the show notes so you can see what I'm talking about, but I think it's brilliant.
So beyond just listing what they'll do in your program, think about painting a picture of what life will look like for them. So what kind of stress will they let go of? What kind of struggle can be a thing of the past? So beyond just listing, “this is what you'll do in my program,” really also think about, am I painting a picture of what life will look like, what they'll feel like, once they get the results that I'm promising? So my recommendation is that you put six bullets in this section that highlight the incredible results that your potential customer will experience by purchasing your product or offer.
All right. Here's your action item. Revisit your sales page, and see if you're doing this. Are you addressing the before, where your clients are now according to their objections and struggles, and follow it up with the solution that you can offer them? It's important that these are bulleted, especially for those skimmers.
All right, my friend. If your sales page isn’t converting, I want you to go through this list one by one and take the action steps. And if you've never created a sales page before, you just learned three new very important insights, tips, tricks, whatever you want to call them, to help you create a stellar sales page.
So let's recap.
One, where are your call to actions, CTAs? Where are they placed? Are they strategic? Remember that there are four areas that I feel like are the magic areas for your sales page. So if you include all of the sections I mentioned today, your golden.
Two, do you make it very clear—and I mean very clear—early on who your offer is for? Again, put your magic mirror near the top and make it something that is in their face so they cannot ignore it, they cannot deny it, and it's full of transparency of who you serve.
Three, paint a picture of how your product is the solution for your customer by laying it out in a highlight reel. Remember that you want to do at least six bullets here. Play around with these and see what tweaks work best for you and your audience. Your sales page is really important. So put the time, the thought, the energy, the work, the focus into it. If you do this, you'll be converting like crazy before you know it.
I want to give a big shout out to my copywriter Chanti, who has helped me create the formula for sales pages that I teach in Digital Course Academy. I’ll link to Chanti’s website in the show notes. But she's at chantizak.com.
All right. Thanks so much for joining me here today. I'll see you next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.
