It's called Google Alerts

John,

Leave it to a bunch of copywriters to tell you you should've hired a copywriter.

However, I've been watching your pre-launch and overall marketing strategy, and I'm not surprised you beat the TS1 records.

The videos were top notch and (as far as I could tell) addressed any potential objections nicely. And the buzz built, plus the tremendous offer (not to mention this rabid starving crowd), and you have the makings of a multi-million dollar launch.

With big launches like this one, it's not always easy to find that "sweet spot" in the price point, whether to allow a payment plan or not, etc. You have to rely on research and opinions, as opposed to testing the offer (even with a dry test, word would travel fast).

And I suspect your lower PP than TS1 was just ONE of the factors that were responsible for your bigger success this time around.

What can I say? I was sold before I even saw the sales page.

Cheers,

John

Hey John,

Could you set it up so we can send new leads to the videos and get cookied there instead of us sending them straight to the homepage.

I guess I should email and ask Andy, but I'd love to be able to shove my new leads to the videos instead of directly to the sales page.

Great job pal.

Jason

Hey John throw the donations my way!

I agree. If it was any higher than $397. I would've been in a pickle and might have resorted to selling my body.

Thanks John.

Careful if John stops to fast, Dave...

If John is a business man, and I believe that he is, he chose a price point that he believed would be the most profitable. I've said for YEARS here and in the WF, that I believed TS1 was overpriced from a profit standpoint.

Sure he could have easily gotten more but he'd have sold less. It's not rocket science, though the art of proper pricing most certainly is and I've never known of a single major Internet marketer to price test a launch. Mst just follow the crowd.

Reese is smarter than that. My guess is, he's using a Cialdini factor called contrast. With all the $2000+ launches out there, his looks so damn cheap that I'm certain it blasted his conversion. In fact he said it was around 10% on JV traffic and I believe him.

If he was at $2000, his conversion would be well below the 2% required to make it a better price point. And that doesn't even take into consideration the lifetime value of 5X the customers on his list.

Now I know John posted in the WF years ago that he would price TS2 below $1,000 because he felt some responsibility for pushing the product prices up, as he well should. And so I agree that there may have been SOME inkling of altruism in his pricing, but he's smart enough to know that this price point is really making him money WHILE making him look like a good guy (which he is).

Finding that sweet-spot price point is so hard sometimes. There is so much hinging on that one factor.

And I can personally vouch for that.

When John wrote his Reese Report salesletter, he asked me what I thought. I gave him some suggestions, but I had the privilege to literally "look over the shoulders" as John wrote the copy... which he did in just a few hours.

No kidding!

I think what a lot of people don't understand is many of these top marketers hire out their copy because they're too busy... but they are, themselves, FANTASTIC copywriters.

Look at Frank Kern, Armand Morin, Yanik Silver.

All great copywriters, too.

The point?

It's important to learn how to write great copy... even if you're going to outsource it.

I couldn't agree more, Bruce. And that same contrast factor was in play (I presume) when he didn't offer forced continuity, upsells/OTOs, etc. and decided to use the sales copy that he did.

He basically said "I know that you as marketers are hip to all the usual marketing tactics, so I'm not going to patronize you by using them. Here's what you get. Here's why it's a great value. Here's where you order."

Dave, If this were true, then all of the proceeds should have gone directly to charity, right?

Hey, Michel was asking for us to help out with his selected breast cancer charity. John Reese giving away most (or all) of his TS2 money to this charity would be a great idea.

Not only would he be giving away millions to a great cause, but just look at the buzz that would create... talk about creating traffic???

I guess this strategy will have go into the TS3 project next year.

C'mon Dave, do you really think John is doing this for S & G's?
I have a hard time believing John's that naive (or altruistic).

Of course he's doing it for the money!

By saying that he's not doing it for the money is either an insult to John's intelligence or it's an exaggerated attempt to kiss some major guru butt.

Read Bruce's comments, I think he nailed it pretty good on this one.

Maybe It shouldn't, but what really bothered me is this comment:

And all along I believed the reason why John hired Michel to write the TS2 copy was because Michel is such a great copywriter.

I have a strong suspicion that the reason TS2 went so well is because Michel put TS1 on the map with the original copy... can you say, "long-term residual payoff"?

What a great testimonial for a guy who helped make John millions on TS1.

Hmmm... let's see, Michel made how much for this copy in comparison to what John made on TS1?

I would have definitely given a better reason than this for why I hired Michel to write my copy.

Something like:

Although I write most of my copy, I hired Michel Fortin because I wanted my copy to be the best it could be for my original Traffic Secrets project... and boy was this the right decision.

I believe that a combination of John's vids "and" some stellar copy written by a master, such as Michel, John could have easily gotten $997 (or more) for TS2.

I have no doubt about it.

PS - Sorry Michel for my "highly opinionated" raging rant, but you deserve more credit than this from someone who owes you a lot more than a one-time $15,000 royalty check.

... Nuff said.

On any launch, the copy is an afterthought.

After all, look at Frank Kern's sales letter for StomperNet - done at the last minute.

Who could forget the headline: "This Space Intentionally Left Blank"

Didn't stop them from making - what was it - 33 million dollars.

Time to check the copywriting ego.

If you do a well planned launch, the copy is an after thought.

And although I didn't see the results of the recent Makepeace launch, the copy was brilliant but I had zero inclination to buy.

Copywriting is changing in front of your eyes and you guys are arguing about what John should have done or thought - even year later.

We're are seeing a major shift. John has just shown you something important.

Learn the lesson and move on.

Peace.

Harlan

PS. Just for the record, Michel did not write all of the first Traffic Secrets letter. There's an unknown copywriter out there who did all of the bullets. Hopefully one day, this brilliant young man will be recognized.