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https://www.facebook.com/sasha.....8420833170

Dear John and fellow musicians,

I want to share my journey with the funnel so far, and to ask for your help and advice since I have mixed feelings of frustration and hope. My wish is obviously to not give up on this and get to a point where I fulfill my dream to make a living from my music (the funnel being a big part of it) and the second is for members of the inner circle to hopefully get some benefit from the very detailed breakdown of content and stats and improvements that I did so far, and that I’ll do with John’s and yours help.

I am an electro-pop artist. I moved from Israel to Colorado two years ago. I am currently working on my third album which is almost finished. I had some success with the first two albums and the remixes that I did, most of the success came from free downloads. I did not really sell a lot and did not really collect any emails so far.

I was extremely hopeful when I came across MMM since it seemed to make perfect sense, and in fact was a method that got me to buy products myself in the past, so I know it works. I appreciated the detailed tutorials and finished building the funnel probably within a few weeks literally working on it day and night.

Now, time for some stats and numbers:

Time running the funnel with facebook ad: Jul 21- Today (25 days)

Budget spent: $137

Budget I’m currently spending per day: $4 (switched to a lower amount after the first 7 testing days to make sustainable)

Amount of ads: 3 ads targeting followers of different artists each

Targeting: fans of Bjork, Depeche mode, and The XX

Conversions: 54 (small portion of it is from direct messages from twitter)

Reach: 16,527 people

Cost per conversion: $2.55 (Not sustainable)

Amount of sales: 0 (This is beyond frustrating!!!!)

Current amount of subscribers through aweber: 39 (after 14 unsubscribed, and about 10 of them are imported from previous list)

Email open stats: 1st (the download) - 85%, 2nd (link to first blog post) - 59%, 3rd (link to 2nd blog post with bjork remix download) - 34%, 4th (you rock, album sale proposition) - 38%, 5th (time sensitive offer -2 albums for price of one) - 30%, 5th - (final notice) - 43%

Clicks in emails (not sure how to see individual stats per each email): 62 unique clicks, 71 total clicks

Strange side note: Even when everything is the same the results very A LOT every day, even in the middle of the week.

Funnel content details:

The funnel is very much based on the MMM 3.0

I’m selling my first album for $9.95, after this a 72 hours time sensitive offer of my second album and the first album for the same price, and an upsell of members site with a huge archive that includes a pre-order of the third album and download of a single from it, for $29 per year.

Improvements that I did to the funnel that seemed to improve the initial results:

Moving the signup form to the top of the page and then putting it again at the bottom (instead of the side of the page), so that it would show up right away on mobile for people who just want to sign up without reading it all
Buying a few hundred likes for the ad links of facebook on fiverr
Buying a few high quality comments as suggested by John for the blog post and for the ads
Turning off one of the ads that was targeting radiohead fans but was not bringing good results
Adding at the end of the squeeze pages a line about not liking spam either and that I won’t share the email address and that they can unsubscribe at any time

Content:

Links for the ads:

The xx

Depeche mode

https://www.facebook.com/sasha.....5817165097

Bjork

https://www.facebook.com/sasha.....1047502574

Links for the squeeze page:

For The XX fans: http://www.sasharaskinmusic.com/

For Bjork fans: http://sasharaskinmusic.com/fr.....c-for-you/

For Depeche Mode fans: http://sasharaskinmusic.com/fr.....mode-fans/

Link for the Album sale page: http://sasharaskinmusic.com/only-music/

Link for the 72 hours 2 albums page: http://sasharaskinmusic.com/you-rock/

Links for the blog posts:

1st: Music saved my life http://www.sasharaskin.com/mus.....ed-my-life

2nd:The most inspiring story in my life http://www.sasharaskin.com/the.....in-my-life

Texts of all my emails:

{!name_fix} - I've Got Your Download Info Here

Hey {!name_fix},

Sasha Raskin here.

Thanks so much for taking the time to check out my tunes.

Please download using your computer (Mac, PC, or Chromebook).

Although we already put a man on the moon, mobile phones are still struggling when it comes to downloads.

You can download the tracks here:

http://sasharaskinmusic.com/Sa.....0Music.zip

Included in the download folder you will find two singles from my debut album 'Only Music' ('Breathe In' and 'Only Music') as well as 'Sea Sand', a single from my second release 'Sea Sand'.

Simply unzip on your computer, then drag and drop the files into your iTunes or any other appropriate folder.

You might also keep an eye out for future emails. I've got some more free stuff, cool stuff, and maybe even a little weird stuff coming your way.

And remember, I dig hearing from you guys so by all means, shoot me an email if you ever have any questions, comments, feedback, or just to say hey!

Talk soon,

Sasha

{!name_fix} - this is involves you.

Hey {!name_fix},

Hopefully by now you've had a chance to check out the tracks I sent you yesterday. Thanks again for taking the time to listen by the way. It means a lot.

I have a favor to ask...

I know, I know. We've known each other for like 24 hours now and I'm already asking for favors. Stay with me here...

I wrote a blog post on my site and I'd like you to read it. It kinda involves you.

Well, you'll see what I mean here:

http://www.sasharaskin.com/mus.....ed-my-life

Thanks again for listening.

Sasha

The most inspiring story in my life

Hey {!name_fix},

This is a really inspiring story...

Read all about how my life changed on my blog:

http://www.sasharaskin.com/the.....in-my-life

It still inspires me when I think about that period.

Well, you'll see what I mean...

talk soon,

Sasha

{!name_fix} - You Rock!

For the next 72 hours I'm going to be giving away my international collaboration album 'Sea Sand' to anyone who picks up a copy of my debut album, 'Only Music'.

Here's where you can get it:

I'm doing this as my way of letting you know that you seriously ROCK!

...as you know the other day I sent out my remix of Bjork's song Joga.

It reminded me of all the love that I got after releasing that remix, and how much it means to me to hear that you guys connected to it.

As a result, I've put this special FREE ALBUM offer together here:

But please remember...

This offer is for fans only. It's not open to the general public and it will only be up for 72 hours and then the offer will come down for good.

So if you want to get 2 of my albums for the price of 1 go here now:

But once more, that offer will be coming down within 72 hours. Once the countdown clock hits zero, the offer will be gone for good.

Talk soon,

Sasha

PS - If for any reason you have not yet had a chance to check out the free remix that got all the great feedback, you can still download it for free here

[Time Sensitive] - Get a free copy of my album

Hey {!name_fix},

Just wanted to make sure you got yesterday's email as time is running out.

Here's the deal...

I'm running a 72 hour sale in which I'm going to be giving away my international collaboration album 'Sea Sand' to anyone who picks up a copy of my debut album, 'Only Music'.

Here's where you can get it:

I'm doing this as my way of letting you know that you seriously ROCK!

...as you know the other day I sent out my remix of Bjork's song Joga.

It reminded me of all the love that I got after releasing that remix, and how much I cherish every feedback I get.

As a result, I've put this special FREE ALBUM offer together here:

But please remember...

This offer is for fans only. It's not open to the general public and it will only be up for 72 hours TOTAL and then the offer will come down for good.

So if you want to get TWO of my albums for the price of ONE go here now:

But remember, the clock is literally clicking and the offer will be coming down soon. Once this special is gone, it's gone for good.

Talk soon,

Sasha

PS - If for any reason you have not yet had a chance to check out the free remix that got all the great feedback, you can still download it for free here

Final Notice

Hey {!name_fix},

This is just a courtesy email to let you know that this is the final day of the 72 hour special I'm running right now.

In case for any reason you missed it...

For the next 72 hours I'm going to be giving away my international collaboration album 'Sea Sand' to anyone who picks up a copy of my debut album, 'Only Music'.

Here's where you can get it:

This is my way of saying THANK YOU for being one of my subscribers.

BUT DO REMEMBER...

This is the FINAL day of this special offer. Once the countdown clock hits zero, the offer is gone for good.

So if you want to get TWO of my albums for the price of ONE go here now:

Thanks again,

Sasha

_______________________________________

I think this is all the details I could think about. I hope it’s not too overwhelming but helpful.

John, I really need your help on this one… And of course you guys as well, I know that some of you probably struggled with the same issues. I has some resistance of writing this post (probably because it was a lot of work and asking for help) but I feel good a did it.

John I really hope that you could give me some advice beyond “keep on trying changing and testing” because that’s what I do and I don’t seem to make a lot of progress and didn’t make one sell within a month. People do like my music and I got infinite proof for it from all over the world in the past, so I really believe it’s not the music… I really trust your knowledge and commitment to this program and I am committed as well but I really need help!

Warmly,

Sasha Raskin

August 16, 2016
10:53 pm

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Hey Sasha,

Thanks for posting. There is a LOT to try and digest there for one single post. But I'll do my best.

A couple of initial thoughts...

You have a mix of good and bad here, at least as I see it...

Your conversion rate is far too low.

Your open rates are pretty decent.

Your sales are nill, but 54 people is just too few to come to any conclusions. It's not a large enough sample for any statistical significance.

To try and expound upon the above a bit more...

I think your ads can still use work. They are fairly straight forward, but not particularly dynamic. I think they could do a better job of really pointing out the ultimate experience your music offers and why that would be of interest to a person with your pre-existing interest and passion. This would likely be part of why your initial conversions are low, but targeting is also often a problem. You do really need to split test different target audiences, find the ones that convert, and turn off the ones that don't. What works is not always the audience that we think will convert.

Another possible cause of low conversions could be your squeeze page. I personally like what you've done, but you have deviated from the format I use, and there is a lot to read there. You may be leaving visitors fatigued, or possibly drawing attention to the opt in form too soon. There is so much to scroll through that it may be overwhelming people.

I don't really feel like we have enough data to comment on your sales rate yet, as 54 people is just too few (as mentioned) however, looking at how closely you are sticking to the templates, my advice would be to dig a bit deeper into the mind of your potential fans and really communicate to your specific audience. Get to the bottom of what your audience will respond to and be a voice that will resonate with them.

In every case I've ever scene, numbers can be turned around. It's a pretty basic equation. Target an audience based on their pre-existing interests and passions, offer them the promise of enticing, and enriching experience that resonates with their sense of "tribe". Build a relationship with them via email and online content to the point at which, the logical conclusion is that they buy from you when you ask them to.

I realize that pulling that off is not as easy as typing it, but in virtually all cases (that I've ever seen) it can be accomplished. Sometimes it's difficult, sometimes it's simple. But I think they key is going to come down to better understanding what your audience is looking for, and then delivering exactly that in a concise manner and entertaining manner.

My apologies if that's too broad, but there is just too much in this post. If you want specifics about different areas, please feel free to break this up into smaller chunks and questions, and I can go into more detail about various points.

But thank you for taking the time to share your story and campaign details so far.

Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.

August 17, 2016
12:22 am

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Thank you for the fast response John, it makes me feel supported in the process.

Yes, I know that there's a lot to cover. Could we maybe focus on the ads text first?

You said that they need improvement. Can you please give me a few suggestions that I can try for the facebook ads?

Warmly,

Sasha

August 17, 2016
12:31 am

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Since I think it's a good idea to focus at one thing at a time (for now being the facebook ads) the breakdown of my targetting is this:

All audiences are 25-50, Canada and USA

Bjork fans: 23 conversions $2 per conversion

The xx fans: 13 conversions $3.55 per conversion

Depeche mode: 17 conversions $2.15 per conversion

Should I turn off the ads for the xx fans at this point?

Warmly,

Sasha

August 17, 2016
10:31 pm

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Hey Sasha,

Glad you're feeling supported.

Those numbers aren't so bad when you consider that you are only converting at 9%. If you brought that up to 27% (which is very doable) your costs would be down to around .70 cents, which would be great. As an aside, you commented that $2 per subscriber is not sustainable. While I agree that it is too high. It is not at all out of the question that a someone might be able to afford $2 per subscriber. It all depends on how profitable your funnel is and how many products/promotions you offer. For example, an active house concert artist might be able to make numbers like that work, given how much more money they typically earn.

But getting back to your ad copy, this is what I see....

Right now you're just doing a pretty basic, if you like them, then you'll like me, kind of ad. That can work, but often fails to entice a given audience. I'd equate it to having an ad for a pizza restaurant that simply said, Like Pizza? Eat at Joe's Pizza. As compared to something more like, Miss the authentic Italian tomato sauce, buffalo Mozzarella, and crispy thin crust of New York Pizza? Eat at Joe's today and save 20%. And then running that ad to people on the west coast that FB recognizes as having an interest in certain highly regarded pizza restaurants.

The second ad copy really paints a picture of what you will experience when you bight into that pizza and gets you salivating. I think you need to work on evoking the experience that your music will provide and expressing it in a way that will be appealing to your target audience. If you can do that, all you need to do is bck up your claims on the squeeze page (somewhat briefly) and you'll start to see conversions.

Hope that helps.

August 17, 2016
10:54 pm

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Perfect, thank you John!

I created two new ads in each ad set, while still running the original (or should i turn off the original?)

1st new ad:

Love Bjork?

Do you want to discover new music to get excited about?

2nd ad:

Love Bjork?

Want more of the warm electronic beats, spacious sounds and haunting vocals like in Bjork's music? Get excited about new music right now.

What do you think? And of course I'll post the results soon.

Which parts of the squeeze page would you shorten? I'm asking because I feel I wrote it pretty closely to your template.

Thanks so much for the detailed answers,

Warmly,

Sasha

August 18, 2016
1:02 am

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I definitly prefer the second ad copy over the first. though I think it could possibly still be tightened up a bit. Try to get out of the "advertising" headspace and just speak honestly to your audience. For example. a sentence like "Get excited about new music right now." just sort of strikes me as fluff and not authentic. I know its easier said than done.

As far as pausing and starting ads... when an ad is in trouble, or you are trying a new variable, always start everything fresh. Create a new campaign and start everything new. Adding a new ad set will just confuse FB's algorithm and you won't get accurate results.

August 21, 2016
4:30 pm

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Thanks John.

I stopped the whole campaign, created a new one for one specific audience (Depeche Mode fans, 25-50, America and Canada).

I was running it for 3 days with no results - only 15 clicks for 1,300 reach and 0 conversions.

The ad was:

Looking for more music like Depeche Mode?

Want more of the warm electronic beats, spacious synth sounds and powerful vocals like in Depeche Mode's music? That moment when new music found YOU.

What should I improve?

About creating new campaigns and starting from scratch - in your video about the case study with 20 something changes you did to it, were you starting a new campaign each time? For example, if I want to change the headline tomorrow, should I delete this campaign and build everything from scratch.

Also should I focus only on one audience at a time?

Trying not to get discouraged...

Warmly,

Sasha

August 22, 2016
11:47 pm

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Hey Sasha,

15 clicks on a reach of 1300 is only about .1%, which is extremely low and definitely indicates that there is a big issue with your message to market match. I typically see something more like a 2% - 5% click through rate on an ad. There are so many variables here that I'd only be guessing at where the biggest issue is. What is your relevance score on this ad?

1. It could be targeting. Depeche Mode may just not be the right audience.

2. While I think there is a big improvement in your body copy I still think it feels a little stiff, it still comes off as "If you like this, then you might like me", and "That moment when new music found YOU" feels a bit out of place to me.

3. It might also still be the squeeze page as discussed before. The layout is quite different than the one I use, and while I don't have any problem with the way it looks, it requires me to scroll more than I am personally used to on a squeeze page. So it remains a variable.

I believe the trouble shooting video you are referring to was shot before FB added the "ad set" level. Before there was an "ad set" level there was just campaign and ad, and you could get away with just pausing ads and creating new ones. Since they added the Ad Set level my Facebook Ad rep has advised me to just stop the campaign when something isn't going well and start it over. Facebook's algorithm has become considerably more robust and once an ad is viewed as under performing, you will have a hard time resurrecting anything to do with that campaign. So it is advised that you start the campaign from scratch and upload fresh images (even if they are the same images). This is all laid out in the advertising videos in MMM and in various places here in the IC.

I would probably start again, edit your squeeze page layout to match my example and test three ads with different images. Take the winning image and start a new campaign and test the winning image with 3 different sets of copy (varying the copy quite a lot). Then I would alter my squeeze page copy to align with the language in your winning ad. Then I would split test the winning image and ad copy with three different target audiences (try adding at least one or two new audiences as the ones you have been running have not worked well). Hopefully you will have seen your conversions go up by the end of that process. If you were still in doubt about the squeeze page layout you could split test the winning ad and targeting against different layouts of the squeeze page.

Just make sure you give each test enough exposure to have some statistical significance.

Hope that helps.

August 23, 2016
12:19 am

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I would probably start again, edit your squeeze page layout to match my example and test three ads with different images. Take the winning image and start a new campaign and test the winning image with 3 different sets of copy (varying the copy quite a lot). Then I would alter my squeeze page copy to align with the language in your winning ad. Then I would split test the winning image and ad copy with three different target audiences (try adding at least one or two new audiences as the ones you have been running have not worked well). Hopefully you will have seen your conversions go up by the end of that process. If you were still in doubt about the squeeze page layout you could split test the winning ad and targeting against different layouts of the squeeze page.

I agree with John here and I would recommend doing exactly what he's outlined.

As for the ad copy - how about something like this?

"Want more warm electronic beats, spacious synth sounds and powerful vocals like Depeche Mode? Then click here."

August 23, 2016
12:45 am

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Or even "Miss the warm electronic beats..."

The sentimental reference sits well with me and I have seen others use it with success.

August 23, 2016
5:50 pm

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Thank you John and Scott!

I started doing everything from scratch like you said John.

I created a new campaign to test out 3 pics, for $10 today.

I reverted my squeeze page to how yours looks like, so there's less scrolling. I shortened the text a bit, left only the strongest 3 out of the 4 quotes, and made my photo smaller, so the page is smaller now. I would really appreciate your feedback about the content!

Once I'll figure out the best photo to use I'll continue with the rest of the steps.

I appreciate you input on the copy of the ads. I wrote down 3, 2 of them are yours, one of them is an improvement of mine that got 10 clicks out of 400 impressions yesterday.

Let me know if you have any more thoughts, especially about the titles, should i try out different ones or just wait and test these as they are?

ads:

Looking for more music like Depeche Mode?

That moment when new music finds YOU. Listen more to the warm electronic beats, spacious synth sounds and powerful vocals that you love.

_____________________________________

Looking for more music like Depeche Mode?

Want more warm electronic beats, spacious synth sounds and powerful vocals like Depeche Mode? Then click here.

_______________________________

Looking for more music like Depeche Mode?

Miss the warm electronic beats, spacious synth sounds and powerful vocals of Depeche Mode? Then click here.

Cheers,

Sasha

August 24, 2016
2:02 am

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That all sounds good.

My favorite ad copy is "Miss the warm electronic beats, spacious synth sounds and powerful vocals of Depeche Mode? Then click here."

I'm not crazy about the headlines. I might try something like: Depeche Mode Fan?

And I might add the words "bands like" before Depeche Mode. I might even try an ad without the use of Depeche Mode and instead try something like (80's electronic pop" or some other less direct comparison. Normally I do like making that concrete connection between the interest and the promise in your copy, but for some reason I'm worrying that this is such a specific sound, that people may not be convinced they will get it because your branding is not as identical. But by broadening things up a bit, you might (possibly) do better. But again, that is not how I normally approach this stuff.

Saying all of that, that could be an area to look at as well. Your image may not be lining up with the Depeche Mode branding you are capitalizing on. Something to think about going forward.

August 29, 2016
1:56 am

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Posting results from the 3 photos test, curious what would you choose John.

image 1: click through (link) 1.60%, cost per click (link) $0.63, cost per 1000 impressions $10.06, relevancy score 5

image 2: click through (link) 2.03%, cost per click (link) $0.54, cost per 1000 impressions $11.03, relevancy score 5

image 3: click through (link) 1.45%, cost per click (link) $0.34, cost per 1000 impressions $4.89, relevancy score 6

This is based on $22 total testing budget, with 2500 impressions total.

My guess is to go with image number 3, since it has much lower cost per click and per impressions, and higher relevancy score, even though it has slightly lower click through rate.

I also don't like the word guess when it comes to numbers, so I would love your opinion John (and anyone else) before I further proceed.

Warmly,

Sasha

August 29, 2016
2:19 am

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