You’ve probably heard about the idea of preselling your audience, but perhaps you’re not sure how to do it.
Preselling is the ability to promote a product or a service and have someone emotionally invested in it so they’re presold on the idea of buying it. When presented with the opportunity to purchase, they’re ready and waiting to make the payment!
There are many versions of preselling and the process can happen offline or online through a variety of different mediums.
Apple have nailed the art of preselling – whenever they release the latest version of their iPhone, there are people queuing in the early hours of the morning just so they can be the first to buy.
The same applies to products online.
If you’ve ever wondered why some sales pages convert much better than others, then chances are that the visitors were presold on the information before they hit the sales page.
In a nutshell, preselling is about the things that happen BEFORE the sales pitch. It’s NOT about pitching. It’s about connecting with your customers and helping them to alleviate some sort of problem.
When done correctly, preselling means:
- Gaining trust
- Giving value
- Creating the right emotional connection
- Hitting your prospect’s hot buttons (the things that bother them the most)
- Helping them understand their problems
- Eliminating any false beliefs they may have
- Presenting them with the right information
- Seeding content to create a natural curiosity for your products
It’s been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that a presold prospect is far more likely to convert than a cold prospect. That’s because preselling warms the prospect up by presenting them with tips and solutions that can help solve their biggest problems.
Preselling can happen in many ways – through content, webinars, videos etc.
However, I want to focus on using preselling in your email sequences in particular. You can still apply these principles to any content you produce, but my focus in this post is to really help you write more persuasive emails that presell your prospects BEFORE you send them to your sales page.
This is extremely powerful when done right, because it will make a HUGE difference in the conversion rates of your sales page. It will help to keep your audience engaged and will lower spam complaints and opt-outs.
There are lots of ways of preselling – and it all starts with the first touch-point your intended audience has with you – your lead magnet.
Your lead magnet is also known as an ethical bribe, an irresistible offer, an optin bribe etc and is basically valuable content you’re giving away for free (in exchange for an email address) which solves a problem or enlightens your prospect over a particular issue they may be having.
A lead magnet should form the front-end of a sales funnel. A sales funnel is simply a process of moving a potential prospect into an actual prospect and then into a buyer and then a repeat buyer.
For example, if you have a product that’s aimed at helping new parents get a good night’s sleep, your preselling strategy might include giving away a free report or video series sharing tips on how to settle newborn babies so they sleep longer at night.
If your prospects like your content and find it valuable and helpful, they’re more likely to buy your product.
You can then follow up with a series of email autoresponders (an email sequence) which offer even more value by sharing helpful and relevant advice to parents. The idea is to show prospects what solutions they need…but you’re only sharing a tiny bit of the HOW – they have to buy your product to find out the full details!
The idea of your autoresponders is to move a prospect further down your sales funnel and towards your product/service. You can help do this by revealing some techniques or uses of your product that would solve your prospects’ problem.
The way you write your emails is incredibly important. From the language you use, to the various different persuasion techniques you use in them (that’s a topic for another day!), your emails are designed to do one thing and one thing only:
Presell your prospects into wanting to buy your product or service BEFORE they hit your sales page.
If you’re creating your first ever series of emails, I recommend writing at least 7 emails in your sequence. Never underestimate what it takes to move a prospect into a buyer. You need several touch points with your prospect before they decide on whether your product/service is right for them.
The aim of your emails is to educate, inform, wow and help prospects make the right decision – 7 emails is what I personally recommend and create when I am working with clients.
However, I’ve had clients where 5 or 6 emails has been enough. I’ve also had clients who’ve needed more than 10!
The general advice is that the more expensive the product, the more preselling is needed. However, it also depends upon many other factors such as the quality of your list, the kind of lead magnet prospects opted in for, the type of product you’re selling etc.
All of these things impact your email sequences. My most recent client is currently in the middle of a product launch and I wrote a total of 26 emails for a $2000 product!
If you’re writing the emails yourself, here’s some suggestions on how to presell:
1. Talk about themes relevant to your product – your main aim is to give away a tip or secret and explain the ‘what’ with only a small bit of the ‘how’. You want prospects to think: ‘wow, that’s great, I need to know this’ – and leave out just enough so that they would need to buy your product to find out more.
2. Give each email a teaser at the end – perhaps leave something out and promise to share it with them tomorrow. The way I like to think about it is you want to leave them with a cliffhanger, just like in your favourite soap – you have to tune in the next day to find out what happens!
3. NEVER pitch in each email to your prospects. This is a hard NO. Instead, give them valuable insights into the problems they’re facing. In the third or fourth email, you can do a VERY soft pitch – nothing makes a prospect hit the delete button faster than being bombarded with pitches again and again!
4. Keep your audience engaged. Use the p.s at the end to give your prospects a sneak peek into what they can expect in the next email – this way, they’ll want to come back and learn more.
5. Use attention-grabbing subject lines for each email you send out and make it sharp and to the point. Prospects should think: ‘I’ve got to open this and read it’. Great headlines should give a big benefit to the prospect, arouse curiosity and should be written in a compelling way. If not, your prospects won’t even open your message let alone read it.
6. Avoid a hard sell in any sense of the word. If you’ve written your email sequence correctly, each one you send out should be edging the prospect naturally towards your product, and you should leave out the full pitch until the final email you send out.
7. Eliminate alternatives. Before your final pitch, include an email which eliminates the alternatives. For example, if you have a video product teaching people how to train their dog, your alternatives might include a book (which is too long and doesn’t show you visually what to do), hiring a dog trainer (expensive) or going to a training class (expensive, you have to travel to get there, inconvenient etc). Once you’ve eliminated the alternatives, present your product as THE solution for the prospect.
8. Your full pitch is your last email and should give an overview of your product. Mention the biggest benefits of your product to your prospect and then point them to your sales page.
For a sequence of 7 emails, here’s how I would write the emails:
- Email 1 – Welcome email. Set expectations for your prospect on how you can help them, what you’ll be sending them and how often
- Email 2 – Talk about a problem your prospect is having and offer a tip
- Email 3 – Mention a false belief your prospect might have about their problem and offer advice
- Email 4 – Offer another helpful tip and make a very soft pitch by briefly mentioning your product
- Email 5 – Give more valuable content designed to help them understand their problem better and give another tip or recommendation
- Email 6 – This email should eliminate any alternatives to your product by talking about their advantages and disadvantages
- Email 7 – Full pitch for your product and call to action to check out the sales page
If you’ve written your emails correctly, you’ll find you get more click-throughs from your email sequence (and then to your ‘Buy Now’ button) than if you were to send visitors to your sales page alone.
The aim of these emails is simple – create enough value and desire that your prospects naturally gravitate towards the actual product itself. The only ‘hard’ sell is in the last email.
Your preselling material should push your prospects about 70% of the way towards your product. It’s the job of your sales letter to push your prospects over the edge (by overcoming objections, shifting their belief patterns, showing them what’s possible etc) and ensuring your product is positioned as the only answer your prospects are looking for.
Preselling material plus a well-constructed sales page is an incredibly powerful combination that can considerably improve your conversion rates and help you sell more of your products and services.
One question I’m often asked is ‘do I need to be a copywriter to write emails?’ and the answer is well, that varies! I truly believe that as long as you’re a decent writer, you can definitely learn how to write effective emails that engage your audience and convince them to buy your product.
If you’re interested in learning how to write powerful preselling emails, I’m considering doing a masterclass about this.
Simply leave a comment below to let me know if you’re interested!
Key Takeaways
- Preselling will ‘sell’ your prospects into wanting to buy your product or service without actually directly selling to them.
- Preselling is about gaining trust, building a relationship and presenting your prospects with the right information in the right way. This will bring your prospects to the natural conclusion that your product or service is right for them.
- Each of your messages should offer an insight or tip (the WHAT) with only a small bit of the how.
- Your email sequences are all about value and the focal point should NEVER be pitching. Instead, concentrate on a very soft pitch around the third or fourth email and a full pitch in your last email.
- It’s the job of your sales page to do the actual selling. Preselling will push your prospects 70% of the way towards a sale, while your sales page should do the rest.
