If you’ve been keeping track of my 1ShoppingCart™ Expert blog, you know that I really do think the best way to get subscribers for your email list is to use a single opt-in method.

As you can see in my last post on using single opt-in over double opt-in, you could easily lose more than HALF of your customers by using double opt-in.

If you haven’t read the article above, go ahead, I’ll be waiting here until you get back…

So what did you think? For many people thinking about single opt-ins that way is eye opening, and I have even more to share with you so you can have the best of both worlds!

Did you know there is a way to use single opt-in PLUS gain the advantages of double opt-in without losing ANY prospects?

Here’s how. Add the following code at the very top of EVERY email in your autoresponders. (or at the very bottom) Regrettably the merge code does not work in the signatures. So you can’t automate this.

%$optinlink$%

By putting this in your emails, it will put in the following…

It’s best to put this at the very top of your email that is sent out on day 0. Then I would add it in the footer somewhere. That way… It’s on all email messages.

Or you can send an email getting them to double opt-in. Something that is it’s own separate email…

Hi %$firstname$%,

Before you start reading and getting all wrapped up in my material, I’d like to give you some vital tips to make sure you receive every issue.

%$optinlink$%

After you click the above link, follow the directions below.

If you use any of the following email services, this is for YOU!

AOL.COM
Hotmail.com
Yahoo.com
MSN.COM
Any other web-based email program

You MUST enter our ‘sent-from’ address in your personal address book, or the filters may prevent you from receiving your copy of “YOUR Newsletter Name.” Just go to your address book and enter my name and email addresses:

Name: Your Name
Email(s): Your Email(s)

And, for Hotmail and any other service that provide a ‘Safe List,’ be sure to add my address and domain to your ‘Safe List.’

In Hotmail, for instance, log in to your account, click ‘Options.’ Look down the list and right below ‘Junk Filters’, you’ll see the words, ‘Safe List.’

Just add the domain, YOURDOMAIN.com to your list and you’ll never miss an issue of my newsletter!

Again…

%$optinlink$%

Check your email now and you will have the first issue waiting for you,

YOUR SIGNATURE

If you want confirmed e-mail addresses, this lets you keep your message campaigns out of the spam folder AND lets you know that your sales letters are reaching their audience.

That’s how I recommend you set up your e-mails from 1ShoppingCart™ if you want to make sure that double opt in works seamlessly for your subscribers.

Here’s one other myth that I want to dispel right now. Sometimes you’ll hear people say that single opt-in emails won’t ever be sent by 1ShoppingCart™. This is not true. They DO get sent.

There difference however, is that single opt-in emails are sent from a different server than the double opt-in mail server.

Here’s how it works.

All of the email providers (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) have a list of “safe” servers that are known to not send spam. The 1ShoppingCart™ double opt-in mail server is on this list, so any email coming from here won’t be marked as spam. The single opt-in 1ShoppingCart™ mail server is not on the list, so it has a higher chance of being flagged as spam, but it will still get sent.

Overall, the benefits of single opt-in far outweigh the drawbacks, especially when you implement the tip I’ve shared with you in this blog post.

Bonus Tip: If you want to customize the ‘Thank You’ URL for the link provided when you use %$optinlink$%, just follow this simple steps.

1. Login to your 1ShoppingCart™ account
2. Scroll over ‘Email & Marketing’ and click ‘Email Setup’
   
3. Click on the ‘Opt-in Preferences’ tab
   
4. Put your URL in the ‘Opt-In Message Thank You URL’ section
   
5. Click ‘Save Settings’

Bonus Tip #2: 1ShoppingCart™ treats all customers who order from you just like someone who has double opt-in confirmed. So you do not need to add the opt-in code to your ‘order autoresponders’ for anyone who purchases from you.

Hope this helps. Let me know your thoughts below!

Have you ever wondering if there’s a way to get rid of the “Continue Shopping” Button and “Clear Cart” Buttons at the bottom of all the checkout pages?

We get asked this question all the time, and it turns out there’s an easy way to do this… But before we show you how, let me answer another question some of you may have. Why would you want to get rid of these buttons in the first place?

Turns out this can increase conversions, but knowing if this can help you depends on your business. Through testing we’ve found that for those of you who only have one, two, or even a few products that you’re selling, removing the buttons will INCREASE your conversion rates.

Think about it…

If a client fills out the order form and gets to the bottom of the checkout, why would you want to give them options to back out of the sale? You only want to give them ONE option – submit their payment and purchase your product.

If however, if you are running a site with lots of products (think Amazon.com or any type of store front) you’ll have to do your own testing. In this case most of the time you WANT your customers to continue shopping so they can add more products to their purchase… As always I recommend testing everything for your unique situation, but if you only have one product, here’s how you easily remove the buttons:

To “remove” the “Clear Cart” and “Continue Shopping” buttons in 1ShoppingCart™ all you need to do is follow the instructions below:

1. Log in to 1ShoppingCart™
2. Click on the “Setup” menu, then “Cart Customization”
   
3. Then under ‘Custom CSS’ insert the following:

   /* Hiding the Continue Shopping Button */
   #ctl00_scPageContent_continueShoppingButton { display: none; visibility: hidden;}
   #ctl00_ctl00_mainContent_scPageContent_continueShoppingButton { display: none; visibility: hidden;}

   /* Hiding the Clear Cart Button */
   #ctl00_scPageContent_clearCartButton { display: none; visibility: hidden;}
   #ctl00_ctl00_mainContent_scPageContent_clearCartButton { display: none; visibility: hidden;}

That’s it. Simple!

A little bonus: A lot of people asked how do you get rid of the “Return To Cart” button. It’s easy… Just add the following code under ‘Custom CSS’ just like the “Continue Shopping” and “Clear Cart” buttons above:

/* Hiding the Return to Cart Button */
#ctl00_scPageContent_backToCartButton { display: none; visibility: hidden;}
#ctl00_ctl00_mainContent_scPageContent_backToCartButton { display: none; visibility: hidden;}

I created this blog at 1ShoppingCart™ Experts to teach you guys how to use what I think is a great piece of software to help simplify the order fulfillment process and reach customers.

You may have seen recent posts about when refunds are posted to your account, or how to make sure you’re not losing money on international orders. I’ve even written about how to help customers who want to change how often receive a recurring delivery to simplify the process.

As I thought about it, I realized that most of the tips and tricks I’ve come across with 1ShoppingCart™ with my clients relate to specific problems.

It seems to me that you guys should be asking the questions that you want to see answered here on this blog. I want to help you make your website as profitable as possible, but that only comes with knowing your specific concerns.

So, fire away and let me know what aspects of setting up an account or keeping it running are giving you a headache. Consider me aspirin that comes in several forms:

1. If it’s a quick question, you might see me pop into the comments to address it as soon as I get to reading it. You don’t have to worry about long waits.
2. For more involved processes, you may see the the answer as an upcoming blog post. We’ll be sure to let the asker know and credit them in the post!
3. If you need a full-scale consultation to make sure that your business can go from scratch to fully up-and-running, you want to contact me through this site so I can assess your needs.

Three choices and whichever you choose, you’ll get rapid responses about your 1ShoppingCart™ needs from a leader in the field.

Let’s get started: What do you want me to write about and answer just for you?

How To Get Social Proof In Your Checkout Process

All of you using 1ShoppingCart™ are in some way involved in a business. Either you’re the business owner, marketing for a business, or running the web side of things.

And many of you are “lucky” enough to be doing all three.

So I’m sure most, if not all, are intimately familiar with the concept of social proof, and how important it is when selling your products.

There are few things more powerful than learning other people, just like yourself, give their testimonial about a particular product or service.

You see this in action everywhere, and every good sales process has many real life testimonials from folks.

So how nice would it be to also have this social proof for your potential clients shown on the checkout page, right before they are making the decision to purchase?

Well, if any of you have tried doing this yourself you know that 1ShoppingCart™ doesn’t make it easy. In fact it took me a little bit to figure it out myself, and I’ve had programming experience.

So what I’ve done, just for you, is create a product that will walk you through the simplest and easiest way to accomplish having testimonials show up on your 1ShoppingCart™ Checkout or Cart Content Pages.

I’ve implemented it myself for clients, and I’ll show you exactly what you need to do to to get testimonials to appear on your checkout pages, to really convince those people who haven’t quite made up their minds to purchase your product.

“I was very pleased with the look and feel of my how my testimonials came out on my shopping cart. You took care with every detail and I was able to install this within 5 minutes, thank you.”   Steven R Shaw imgears.com

 

Not only do I show you, in an easy to understand step by step format, how to add testimonials to the check out and cart content pages, but I also show how you can add different, specific testimonials to each individual product pages!

This means that you can add a testimonial about product X, right on product X’s checkout page! It’s hard to beat that social proof!

And this isn’t limited to just testimonials. I lay out the framework for you, but you can replace these testimonials with whatever you want, for example, your great guarantee on your products.

(You do offer a great guarantee right? )

Imagine, you’re the customer trying to decide whether you really want to purchase this product, and then you glance over and are reminded about the terrific guarantee you offer. It’s a great way to increase conversions.

So what will this ability to increase your conversions cost you? Well it took hours to create, and at $135 per hour it would be perfectly reasonable to charge about $500 for this.

Many of you can justify the cost of this with an increase of just 1 or 2 sales. But I’m not going to charge $500, and in fact, I’m not going to charge even half that amount.

Because I want to help out as many of you 1ShoppingCart™ users as I can, it’s going to cost you less than a hundred bucks, so even those of you with lower priced products can quickly make up the difference with an extra 2-3 conversions.

For $89.97, I’ll show you exactly how to implement this on your own shopping cart, so you can set it up for as many products as you’d like.

And that’s not all, if you have any trouble whatsoever, just send me a quick email and I’ll be happy to help you out.

So don’t delay, be sure to have the power of social proof working for you in as many places as possible, and pick up your copy of “1ShoppingCart™ Testimonial Template For Checkout” now.

Click the add to cart button below and I will see you on the next page.

Oh… And on my checkout form above, when you click to invest in the “1ShoppingCart™ Testimonial Template For Checkout”, you’ll see these testimonials in action.

To your business success,

I want to tell you a story I had with a new client I just started working with.

This client had someone else initially set up their shopping cart, and since the beginning was under the impression that he was charging customers for shipping.

When I asked how much, the client didn’t know, so I set out to find the answer. To my, and my clients, surprise, it turned out he wasn’t charging for shipping at all!

Boy was that a shock!

After correcting that mistake which was letting his hard earn money out the window, we set out to set up his shipping for international orders, which is the purpose of this email.

(First things first, for those of you new to 1ShoppingCart™, and who have a physical product you send out that you need to charge shipping for, double check that you are charging for shipping!)

This experience reminded me of a little trick I know, that only about half the users of 1ShoppingCart™ know.

You can set up defaults in shipping so when the United States is the country selected (default setting) users will only see a set number of shipping choices. These include only options within the United States (Overnight, Priority, Express 2 Day, etc.).

To enable different shipping methods, you have to switch to a different default country, which then shows Express, International Air, Slow Boat To China, etc. as shipping options.

Why is this so important?

Simply put, you could be leaving money on the table. As an example one of our clients who had international customers quickly realized that people will, surprise, surprise, choose the cheaper shipping options inside the shopping cart.

Well they were losing on average $5 per sale on international orders. They had roughly 10 of these orders a day, so that’s $50 a day, or put another way, $18,250 A YEAR!

So how do you get these 1ShoppingCart™ Shipping Options for your 1ShoppingCart™ account?

Simple, just follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your 1ShoppingCart™ account
2. Scroll over ‘Setup’ and click ‘Cart Options’
3. Set the 9th line down, ‘Show International Designation Option on Shipping Table:’ to ‘Yes’
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click ‘Save Page’
5. Scroll over ‘Products’ and click ‘Setup Shipping’
6. Click your current shipping option (Weight Based, Quantity Based, Realtime Calculation, etc.)
7. Click ‘Next’ on the next screen.
8. You will see a new checkmark box called ‘International’. For all international shipping options be sure to click this checkmark
9. Be sure to check a ‘default’ international shipping option. So you will have two defaults. One for International shipping and one for U.S. shipping.
10. Click ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page
11. Click ‘Done’ at the bottom of the page

And just like that you are done.

Be sure to go through your checkout process and make sure everything works as expected.

ADDED BONUS:

Everyone always says to me, “Tyler, I don’t know how to setup my shipping. What do you recommend?”

Here’s my response.

Sure you can go with Realtime Shipping. By why? It’s complicated and you can’t add $1 or more for handling.

Also, you want to be sure NOT to give your customers too many options when checking out. So I keep the checkout options to no more than 2 options. (2 options for shipping within the U.S., and 2 options for shipping Internationally)

So what I do is set up the following for all of my clients. (The price may change but the shipping options do not)

I choose Quantity-Based so that way when they order more than one product they will be charged shipping accordingly. And I keep the “Minimum total for Free Shipping” set at the default they provide.

Then I set up the following:

Standard U.S. Delivery (3-5 business days)
Overnight U.S. Delivery (1 business day)
International Delivery (4-10 business days)
Canada Delivery (4-8 business days)

• I put checkmarks in the international section for the bottom two.
• I make Standard U.S. Delivery my default for U.S. deliveries and International Delivery my default for shipping internationally.

Why do I offer Canadians a discount? Because, being based out of the U.S. I know it’s cheaper to ship to them then it is any other country. Plus, I never want to piss off any Canadians eh.

A question I always ask my clients is…

“How many subscribers are reading your newsletter and clicking through?”

(The link in your email should be your ‘call to action’ and it’s only effective if your visitors are clicking on it.)

And you know what the response is nearly every time?

“I don’t know Tyler!”

And that response isn’t good enough… You want to know why?

Sure we can send the emails as a HTML newsletter or broadcasts so we could measure the ‘open’ rate.  But many people want to stick with text emails for S-P-A-M reasons. We all know text emails breeze through S-P-A-M filters.

So let me ask you a question… “How many subscribers are reading your newsletter and clicking on the ‘call to action?’”

We just got done testing one of my clients email marketing campaigns and noticed their click-through rates were a miserable 0.83 Percent. We send an email roughly every other day and these numbers were consistent over a two week period.

To put it more simply… We were sending a broadcast to 12,000 people, and only 100 people actually clicked through to the clients website.

When we saw those numbers we knew we had to jump into action. We tried three different variations of emails we sent out.

Email #1: one link in the email at the bottom driving them to the website

Email #2: one link up top and one at the bottom

Email #3: a short teaser email with a link back to the site

Which one do you think outperformed the rest?

Email #1: A 0.83% click-through rate bringing in little to no sales

Email #2: 2.1% click-through rate

Email #3: 14.3% click-through rate bringing a huge increase in sales!

Now for the good news. Those numbers will only go up from here as we will always be testing EVERY email we send out. Our goal is to get over a 22% click-through.

If you get over a 10% click-through rate then you are doing good and anything over 20% is phenomenal.

And even better news for you… I’ve laid out exactly how we test each email step-by-step below:

1. In 1ShoppingCart™ set up an ‘AdTracker’. Name it the date – type of email with the number of characters in the email – page we drive them too (Ex. “12-01-09 – Teaser 456 Char. – Blog”)
2. Next we set up a redirect through our website instead of using the AdTracker link so it looks like it’s coming from our website.
3. Upload the new redirect page to your server
4. Put the link to the new redirect page you just created in the email.

Now you may be asking, why do I want to track this through the shopping cart?

Well the answer’s easy.

In fact, I am going to give you the exact excel spreadsheet we use to track each email.

Click Here to download the excel spreadsheet.

Remember, you should always be working on ways to make your emails campaigns more effective. Keeping track of all my clients email campaigns allows us to immediately see what’s working and improve what’s not, which leads to more money in the pocket.

Leave your comments below
and let me know what you want to learn next.

This is the #1 question I get from my clients:

“Do I set up my email sales campaigns with single or double opt-ins when someone signs up via email?”

I say SINGLE opt-in! WHY? It’s all about the numbers!

1ShoppingCart.com™ recommends the following:

“Using a double opt-in process for your mailing list is a good way to ensure a clean and trouble-free list.”

But what they don’t understand is that you are LOSING up to 60% of your opt-ins.

I have tested this! We have offered free gifts, free audios, free CDs – if they double opt-in.

But think of this… Who, when they signup for something, is going to leave your site, login to their email, and THEN click a link to get the material?

I know I don’t do that!!!

Statistically, 40 – 50% of the people will click 2 links and double opt-in. 65% if you really perfect and test your offer.

However, if you use the single opt-in option, you receive a 100% opt-in response!

That’s right, EVERYONE will get your free material AND be added to your email distribution list!

Now I know what you’re thinking… when you send all those people an email, they won’t receive it because of spam filters.

You’re right. Not everyone will receive your email.

HOWEVER, I just checked my stats and only 3% of my emails aren’t getting through to my intended recipient.

So what would you rather have?

Up to 60% of your clients who don’t complete your double opt-in and you can NEVER email? Or 3% of your single opt-in list not receive your email because of spam filters?

I think it’s a no brainer.

Here is what you need to do to setup your account with single opt-ins:

1. Login to your 1ShoppingCart™ account
2. Scroll over Email & Marketing in the main menu and click Opt-In Preferences
3. Change the ‘Require Opt-In Verification for Webform Submissions’ from Yes to No
4. Click Save Changes

Hope this helps and here’s to optimizing your 1ShoppingCart™ account AND your business!

UPDATE: I’ve posted a follow-up blog titled “Single Opt-In vs. Double Opt-In: Part 2″. Check it out now!