Blackhat? Not sure.. but worked!

Hey,


Recently had a chat with a friend who gave me this little trick for selling reports... I gave it a go and it worked incredibly well... my conversion rate almost doubled.. but I get a feeling it's kinda black hat...


I simply emailed an old list of previous buyers (in the Gardening niche) a simple page that contained a .ZIP file containing a small relevant report..


On that simple page it says 'Download the .ZIP file here by right clicking then clicking save as' etc..


Below that it has a PayPal payment link for the password to the .ZIP file.


Of course the content inside the .ZIP file is password protected. They need to pay to get the password.


I had a ton of sales - and then followed the email up a few days later with a quick link to the PayPal payment link with a note that the password is given after payment.


A lot of people downloaded the file with no intention of originally paying - then tried to open the .ZIP and saw the password - after getting the update, their curiosity got the better of them (and they already had the file on their hard-drive) - so a lot of hard work was already done - and just paid!


I'll test most things, and this worked so well.. but I feel its a bit black hat ninja style...!


What's your opinions?

 

no way that's super smart. i wrote that idea down. this is a perfect idea if you have an "invite only" or "high ticket" business and your list knows that what you provide is VALUABLEEEE!.

if the title of your report is very interesting you'll definitely get sales.

 

I just find it odd that people would actually get more involved (financialy) even if you just tickled them with that ''small relevant report''.
This being said, if this sale technique is working and that the package you are selling are worth the price you're asking and , I don't see why you shouldn't keep this strategy.
As long as your package is representative of your ''small relevant report''.

 

Its an smart Idea. but you should remember that Google is smarter than us. So you shouldn't follow any kind of black hat methods to earn from your site.

 

Thanks for the idea

 

I've sold to these subscribers before - so I know they're interested and ready to buy. They come from cold traffic banner ads. I email them once every few weeks with relevant (and topical) info (not always selling to them).

After they've purchased my main product they're put on an automated email sequence for 2 weeks.. with quality info and Clickbank affiliate offers then they just get the odd email I outlined above.. and this sort of thing I'm explaining now..

Open rate was 32% (open rate is always high in this niche).

72% downloaded the .ZIP.

With a total of 60% paying for the password (which cost $9.97).

Made me high $X,XXX.

Thinking of adding it into my automated email sequence but will wait on feedback from here, and, of course, customer feedback!

Just thought I would share anyway.

 

That's super smart and lucky you.

 

well.
black hat always worked but not for long time.
because all the search engines have their own algo to check out the status of nice.

dean

 

sounds like a great idea. thanks. might give this a shot.

 

I always find that giving away good free content at the beginning is an effective way to keep your email audience interested and when it comes to promoting any future items, a lot of your list will be very keen due to the previous information they've received at no cost.

The key for me is engaging with your list and only every promoting items which are of real benefit.

 

Well, since your asking the question, you know the answer. You're just looking for others to approve. If people don't know they are paying for something, that's black hat.

 

Interesting. Did you get any negative responses from some of them?

 

that is a great way to make a buck... Haha i'd consider it a bit assholish, but it works indeed.

Nice man!

 

Never tough of this... ni ce one

 

This is content locking.

Search Engines don't really care, but if you provide things from an affiliate network, beware.

 

Smart guy
Have a nice day,

 

Hey, no negative feedback... all good so far and zero opt out.

 

"With a total of 60% paying for the password (which cost $9.97)"

60% is awesome sale conversion!

 

Pretty shifty, I wouldn't pay for it like that.

 

Me neither. But I would love to see what customer was thinking.