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I want to sell you twenty pairs of shoes, not just one.

Many marketers are tempted to take the short view when selling online.

That is to say, they pull out all the stops to secure a single sale. They want to sell one pair of shoes and then move on to the next customer and sell one more pair of shoes.

In fact, during a phone conversation recently I was told about one marketer who stated that his sole focus when writing a landing page was to minimize the number of product returns.

What he was saying, essentially, is that he doesn’t care what he is selling, nor to whom he is selling. Nor does he care whether the buyers are happy with what they buy, or ever come back to buy again.

He just cares about making money today, and minimizing the number of requests for refunds.

That’s a pretty cynical view of marketing.

I don’t think many businesses online take a view that’s quite so extreme.

But even without the cynicism, I do think that many businesses focus too much on making an immediate, single sale...without giving enough thought to the potential lifetime value of the buyer.

Doing the math isn’t rocket science

It costs you time and money to secure a new customer. Yes, even if you are an SEO wiz and never pay for PPC or banner advertising.

Even if you do the SEO yourself, you are still spending time to get higher listings. And your time is worth something.

So regardless of the channels through which your customers arrive, there is an acquisition cost for every new customer.

So once you have that new customer, you should care a great deal about how happy he or she is.

And you should take considerable efforts to hold that customer’s attention and even turn him or her into an advocate of your products or services.

In other words, pay customer acquisition costs once, and then keep your buyers happy and talking about your company for many years to come.

How do you hold a customer’s attention year after year?

Well, you won’t do it with pages from your web site. Unless you want to hold your breath and hope they come back one day.

Nor will you do it by sending frequent, intrusive sales emails.

But you can do it with a good e-newsletter, or a sequence of emails containing useful and timely information.

The key here is not to split hairs about whether you’re sending an e-newsletter or an email. What’s important is that every time you write to your customers you keep in mind that this is a long-term strategy.

While keeping in touch, don’t focus on whether or not you can make a sale today. Focus on keeping each reader’s attention for the next twelve months.

Don’t measure the conversion rate of each communication sent. Measure the benefits of keeping in touch with your list over each twelve month period.

And don’t gauge success simply by counting the value of sales. Look at less tangible benefits also – like how low you can get your unsubscribe rate, how fast you can grow your list, how many issues are forwarded to other people, how much positive feedback you receive from your subscribers.

Concluding thoughts...

It makes no sense to focus on making just one sale and then not caring about what happens.

Selling one pair of shoes per customer is a mug’s game.

You’re better off selling shoes to that customer every year for the next ten years. And get him to buy the whole family’s shoes from your site. And their sneakers too. And give him the tools to tell his fiends and colleagues all about your great company.

This is all commonsense. But in the high-speed, high-churn, quarter-by-quarter world of Internet marketing, common sense is becoming a rare commodity.

Resource Reviews:

7 Ways to Power Up Your Landing Page Headlines

Of all the factors that influence the performance of your landing pages, the headline is the most important, and will have the biggest impact on your conversion rates and revenues. This report describes seven ways in which you can increase the performance of your headlines.

Learn more and buy...

The 6 Elements of a content-rich, money-making e-newsletter

This 16-page report gives you the information you need to build a content-rich e-newsletter. With great content you will grow your list and win the attention of your readers, year after year. And when you have your readers' attention...you then have the opportunity to make money by presenting relevant offers.
Learn more and buy...

The Freelance Copywriter Fee & Compensation Survey, Volume 2.

Find out how much to charge for your next copywriting job. Read my review of this survey here...

Self Publishing – Your complete business plan for creating a life without borders. By Gary Scott.

A remarkable program for anyone who is serious about building a self-publishing business. If you just want to write a flash-in-the-pan ebook, this isn't for you.

But if you want to build a self-publishing business, based on a process that has been refined and proven over a span of 30 years, get a copy today.
Find out more..

Writing For the Web #1