An information products publisher most likely knows his stuff. He's done the work to write his report or ebook, and put in the long hours to make it a masterpiece – an information product geared to customers in his niche.
He's kicked off his launch, and made some sales. But nobody is buying his backend products.
What’s going on here?
To convert buyers of an initial product into repeat customers, a publisher needs to accomplish two objectives. First, his product should deliver on promises the publisher made in his sales letter. Next, the product should help the publisher develop customer trust.
Here’s how to produce an information product that meets these objectives, and works for publishers, not against them.
Information Product Publishers Should Check Spelling
Misspelled words spell amateur. An information publisher trying to develop a reputation as an expert can't afford the damage spelling mistakes can cause to her image.
The publisher shouldn't rely on her electronic spell checker. It may pick up obvious misspellings, but it takes a human eye to discover
• Homophones – words that may be spelled the same or spelled differently, but have different meanings
• Missing letters that result in a perfectly spelled word – just not the one the publisher intended
• Entire words accidentally omitted from the manuscript
Solution: the publisher should print the final draft and read it with a critical eye – or have a friend read it to see if it makes sense.
Bad Grammar
If an information product sounds like something Lil’ Abner cobbled together, the publisher has problems.
Proper grammar is a must. No
• Dangling participles (“After being whipped fiercely, the cook scrambled the eggs.”)
• Incorrect possessive forms (it’s Joe’s car, not Joes car)
• Wrong punctuation (using a colon where the publisher meant to use a semi-colon)
Solution: have copies of Stunk and White’s The Elements of Style and Margaret Shertzer’s The Elements of Grammar close by – and use them. Or, all else failing, hire a ghostwriter.
Not Enough Information
The information product publisher is the expert. Her covenant with the customer is that if they buy the publisher's information product they’ll receive the expertise needed to solve their problem.
But, being the expert, the publisher might be so familiar with her subject that she takes explaining it to others for granted.
If the publisher wants to achieve trust, she must make sure that her customers can follow her advice and achieve the promised results. This is where a lot of information product providers drop the ball. They know how to do it, but they can’t teach it. They leave out steps, or provide vague information.
It’s no wonder customers get discouraged. They’re not dumb. They know when they’re reading fluff.
Solution: The publisher must sit back and think through the process, even if she thinks she's totally familiar with it. Include every single step a customer needs to get from “A” to “Z”. Sketch out the process using a mind map.
She could have a friend (one outside her field) read the manuscript. If the friend has any doubts about his ability to get the results the publisher promised, then she needs to clarify the process.
Too Many Affiliate Links
Customers are savvy creatures. They understand a publisher is running a business, and that he's trying to sell something. They know he needs to make a living. So they expect the publisher to include backend products that further address their needs, and affiliate links to products they could use.
But they also recognize bull. When they see affiliate links on every page of a 130 page information product, or realize that the publisher is building his prose around affiliate products to the detriment of the information content they purchased, they know he only wants to sell something. They get steamed – and the publisher loses credibility.
A publisher must deliver on the promises made to his list! Whether he's writing his own information product, or re-branding another publisher's product, the information he's providing must fulfill that promise.
Solution: promote only affiliate products that truly benefit the customer. Limit links to where they would naturally occur in the normal flow of the text.
Empty Promises
As an information product provider, the worst sin a publisher can commit is to publish a product that doesn’t deliver. Customers are looking for specific solutions to problems. A publisher who truly provides this will have a customer for life - one who will shout her praises to the rooftops.
If the publisher fails in this mission, however, her customer will drop her like a hot rock. No amount of follow-up marketing will make them buy from her again.
Nobody wants to feel as if they’ve been conned.
Solution: Information products must truly solve the problems customers need it to solve, not merely hint at a solution. Don’t sell a cheap product that promises to help, but is really geared to up-sell a more expensive product that proposes to cover the problem more fully.
Information products take a lot of time and effort to create. Writing them correctly is critical for future success. By following these five guidelines, an information product publisher can achieve what most other providers would kill for – repeat customers who’ll eagerly snap up her targeted follow-up products. And look forward to more.
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