In this market, product launches have become one of the pre-dominant methods of making money. You can see this technique used almost daily. The method, made common by Jeff Walker, is very effective if used correctly. It has a way a drawing you in to what is being sold. It is designed to do this. Incidentally, I highly recommend Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula.
Once JV’s (Joint Venture) are involved, and advanced affiliate techniques are used, you end up with what looks like many product launches and hyped up emails, pre-sell sites, etc all convincing you that you must buy this latest product. Some say that the product launch is losing its effectiveness due to the onslaught of pitches everyone receives.
The reality, however, is that this technique isn’t going anywhere. I’m not saying that it isn’t losing effectiveness, but I am saying it is still a very effective technique and, from a consumer standpoint, if you are in the market for what is being offered, you would be crazy not to pay attention to this post.
One affiliate technique is to offer a bonus to people that they can only receive by purchasing through their affiliate link and sometimes sending them a copy of the digital receipt. No doubt, the majority of emails you will receive in regards to a product launch will have some kind of unique bonus to offer. Often, these bonus are junk, but their sales copy will help to convince that it is a fantastic bonus.
Product launches are designed with timetables and pressure. The common method is to only accept the first X number of purchases, or the price will increase after X number of purchases. Or, the door closes on X date at X time of that day and will not be open again.
Here is the reality:
The doors will almost always open again. If you follow any advanced marketers, one thing you might hear is how the door will in fact close on X date at X time on that day. This is true. And, there will be a signup form where you can signup to be notified if it ever opens again. But, there is always a refund percentage…Always. There may be a few or a lot, but as soon as there are enough, the doors will open again and usually many more than the number of refunds will be accepted. Sometimes this happens quickly after the initial launch, and other times it takes months before the doors open again. A case in point is the StomperNet launch. Goto www.stompernet.com and signup for their notification list. I’d bet anything that as soon as they open the doors again, you’ll have early access to join since you are on their list.
Advanced launch marketers will probably not tell you, but they might, that they love refunds. It allows them to open the door once again. They may have had 6 refunds, but when the doors open again, they’ll accept 23 more without blinking. And, now they have a list of people who didn’t make it the first time, but who signed up and said let be one of the first to know when this program or product opens up again. The majority of the time, they don’t even need to do another launch or JV deal. Just an email to their list of opt-in prospects is all it takes. I’ve done it and it works flawlessly.
Now, let me tell you how to use this as a consumer. This is common sense, but as soon as the sale copy starts being read, it start to control you with the implied urgency and you forget common things, like sense. Instead of jumping at the first offer of a new product because you don’t want to get left behind, wait for a while.
A while could mean an hour or it could mean a day. It depends on the launch. But, you want to make sure you have time to review each an every affiliate offer and their bonuses. Which one matches your business goals and objectives? Does the bonus help you, or does it stray from the current direction you are headed in. If it does not help you with your current direction, don’t buy it.
Most product launches do not sell out within the first hour. But, they want you to believe that. They have to create that sense of urgency. It helps to part you from your money. That sentence makes it sound like launches are a bad thing. They are not. There have been many fantastic products launched and the exposure received from launching is incomparable to that if they did not use a launch.
So, pick the affilite wisely and make sure their bonus has a direct and immediate benefit to you and the current direction of your business.
-Mike Loovani
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