Digital marketing agency owner Amiel Riss knew he had to take quick action when his customer base dwindled during the pandemic. To make up for the decrease in their income, Amiel and his wife pivoted and set up a children’s test preparation website.
This proved a smart move because education is a very lucrative evergreen niche. Parents are eager to do whatever they can to set up their children for success.
In choosing the education niche, Amiel and his wife also avoided the headaches of supply chain logistics and shipping hassles that are the bane of eCommerce marketers’ existence. Selling downloadable digital courses avoided all these hassles. There are also tons of affiliate products available in this niche.
Amiel had used UpViral with outstanding success for his past client’s sweepstake campaigns. So he used the software to set up an evergreen lead generation for his new website, Kefel.
The results were nothing short of spectacular.
Amiel’s campaign has generated over 7900 leads to date. 59% of those leads came from referrals, which is remarkable.
Amiel Puts His Expert Marketing Experience to Good Use
Amiel knew he could easily get leads for his new website with Facebook and Google ads. Amiel’s Facebook lead generation campaign for Kefel had a reasonable cost per lead of about 50 cents per lead.
Here is his Facebook ad.
You can appreciate the simplicity of the ad and how it exactly matches his landing page. That’s a big reason why he kept his ad costs so low.
But Amiel knew better than to rely on ads for all of his traffic. He knew a subscriber list enables you to send out offers any time you like, without the worry of getting shut down.
Plus, he knew he could also upload his email list to Facebook to create lookalike audiences and retargeting lists.
His surprising “Cialdini-Esque” share page twist amps up his number of referrals.
Amiel Takes Full Advantage of the Principle of Commitment and Consistency
Robert Cialdini’s 1984 book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion outlines six principles that get people to take action and buy. Amiel used one of Cialdini’s six principles, Commitment and Consistency, to full effect on his share page.
If you can persuade someone to commit to a single action (in this case to join Amiel’s newsletter), it’s much easier to get them to commit to a follow-up action. This principle makes upsells work so well.
That’s why Amiel doesn’t start his share page with what the new subscriber receives for sharing. Instead, he jumps right in and asks them to share before they even know what they’ll receive. Since they’ve already committed to opting in, getting them to share is much easier. Amiel has tried setting up his share page in the traditional way but has found his unconventional way more effective.
It’s worth setting up a split test to see which share page setup works best for your own audience.
An “Upsell” for Your Lead Gen Campaign
Amiel says that setting up a referral campaign for your list-building efforts is like “an upsell for building your list.” When you think about it, this makes total sense.
An upsell invites a customer to buy an additional product right after their initial purchase. Because they have committed to the first purchase, their resistance to purchasing the upsell is reduced. Likewise, asking your new subscriber for a share right after they opt-in increases the odds that they’ll follow through.
Amiel’s results prove the strategy’s effectiveness since almost 4700 of his 7900 leads to date come from referral marketing.
Another huge lesson Amiel has for us is on landing and share page design.
For the Best Results, Keep it Simple
While it’s tempting to go all out and create elaborate landing and share pages filled with attractive design elements, it’s unnecessary.
Amiel also focuses on mobile-first design, as over 90% of his website traffic comes from mobile devices. He doesn’t bother designing his landing and share pages for desktops at all.
Amiel sticks to the basics and focuses on the value of what his new subscribers will receive instead of spending hours designing his pages. See how simple his opt-in page is:
Amiel feels people are skeptical and wary of slick design. All too often, people receive little value from these shiny pages. People appreciate it more when you provide a lot of value with your opt-in gift. It doesn’t mean that you need to spend a lot of time creating it. Just provide something people will actually use and appreciate.
Make your opt-in incentive worth your subscribers while because it makes it more likely they’ll open your future emails!
Another point Amiel made about the share page is to make sure your share buttons match where your audience hangs out online.
Check out his share page below:
The Kefel website targets Israeli audiences. Because Amiel knows his audience, he has WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook as the share options for his page. He doesn’t waste time or effort putting on other share buttons.
Here is an example of why he limits his share buttons.
It wouldn’t make sense for Amiel to include LinkedIn as a share option. LinkedIn’s focus is on networking for business professionals, not where busy parents meet online.
So do some research and find out where your audience hangs out before you create your share page.
Keeping His Evergreen Campaign Engagement High
All too often, businesses collect leads but don’t engage with them often enough. Marketers bombard inboxes with dozens (or even hundreds!) of emails each day.
It’s easy to forget about you if you don’t stay in touch!
Amiel sends his subscribers offers with free worksheets, affiliate offers, and paid courses at least every 2-4 weeks. (This is outside of regular newsletters.)
He is also not afraid to ask his subscribers what they would like from him. Sometimes, he even incentivizes subscribers with free offers and coupons to share options and information with him.
It’s a clever way of giving your audience exactly what they want, and also avoids guesswork. Nothing is more discouraging than creating a product no one wants or needs!
Read these related resources:
- Social Media Engagement: How to Get More Likes, Comments, and Shares for Your Giveaway
- Email Engagement Tips to Keep People Hooked on Your Contest
What Will Amiel Do Differently in the Future?
Amiel was thrilled with his campaign results, but there is always room for improvement. One thing he would like to focus on in the future is building a year-long autoresponder campaign. This campaign would consider all of his offers and seasonal events, such as test-taking periods and holidays.
An autoresponder like this would truly make his lead gen campaign ‘set and forget.’
Adding a milestone campaign element is something else Amiel is thinking about. (Milestone campaigns award prizes after a certain number of shares.) This would be sure to keep subscribers sharing the campaign over time.
Amiel’s Final Words About UpViral
As a professional marketer, Amiel appreciates the ease of use and the analytics baked into UpViral. He also appreciates that UpViral makes the campaign setup so easy that even beginners can use it.
Amiel singled out the UpViral community for being supportive and helpful for marketers of all levels. There is always someone to help with questions and give feedback on campaigns no matter what your experience level.
Finally, Amiel appreciates how the UpViral team constantly strives to make the platform better. After using UpViral for five years, he can’t wait for what comes next.
Ready to put Amiel’s simple-yet-effect marketing strategies to work for your own business? Sign up now for a 14-day UpViral trial for just $1.
See for yourself how easy UpViral is to use to generate leads. Be sure to join us in the UpViral community too!
