Sales funneling has been around since the “salesperson” became an occupation. Building systems that guide a client from one product to another increases sales, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. More importantly, the automated style of this process that the internet facilitates allows for money to be practically printed why you sleep. And while the adult industry is usually on the cutting edge of technology and sales techniques, there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to companies, creators and sites implementing this simple but powerful concept.
One reason for this is that it’s intrinsically more difficult to do sales funneling in the adult world. With porn links so often filtered out as spam, sending emails (even to those on a custom-tailored list of willing recipients) can be a bit difficult. Also, many people do not want porn in their “normal” email, which is why naughty content-loving fans often create second accounts, leading to a demographic of consumers unable to be marketed to in traditional ways. So, how do you bridge this gap between people who can be reached via email and consumers who still pay for their porn, that do not want the dirty evidence in their main inbox?
If platforms implemented a feature for creators to offer free samples and build their onsite sales funnel, studios would then be able to start assembling loss leaders.
To date, one of the best sites I have seen overcoming this hurdle is Niteflirt. While their system isn’t perfect, they do allow users to receive email messages from their favorite creators on the platform. They can also control the types of notifications they receive from the site. And while many sites do already allow for this, Niteflirt takes it a step further by allowing creators to tailor messages that can be clicked, with contents inside the messages also completely modifiable. Selected offerings can even be included, catering to consumers all the better. Additionally, every purchase allows for this degree of targeting as well, because once a customer buys a video or mp3, they can be shown a curated list of other suggested items hand-selected by the creator.
By giving content producers this kind of freedom to recommend cross-sales, they can gain better insight into what fans are looking for. Mind you, some sites have already taken steps in the right direction, showing other items for sale by the producer after a customer makes a purchase (ManyVids and iWantClips do this), and even Clips4Sale permits studios to send out curated emails to those who have purchased from them. If platforms implemented a feature for creators to offer free samples and build their onsite sales funnel, studio creators would then be able to start assembling loss leaders (free items that encourage the recipient to want to buy more) or even A/B test what is working.
These types of statistics are crucial and one of the reasons many creators have been able to overcome some serious adversity. The data that can be gathered by studios from implementing sales funnels allows them to not only better understand what their fans are seeking out, but also to create better offerings. One can see which video gets the most clicks, but little sales (so then they can suss out if it is a pricing issue) or which one gets the least amount of clicks but high conversions (so then it may be a thumbnail or titling issue). This sort of A/B testing allows for extremely powerful funnels to be created and generates insane amounts of money for not only the studio, but the platform!
Not a studio creator, but still in the adult industry? That doesn’t mean you should not have a lead capture and sales funnel built into your site. We are all selling something in one way, shape or form. Contact information is pretty much digital currency in this internet age! Amy Landino, a prominent digital video marketer for the non-adult world, said that a consumer needs to see something at least six times before they make a purchase. Sales funneling also allows you to push clients to spend higher amounts, purchasing larger services as they get familiar with your brand. They start buying a couple of items that do not require your servicing, but then go on to order things of a more custom nature!
The final hurdle is figuring out how to build out funnels. Currently, few platforms have this for creators/studios. Alternatively, any Wordpress-based site could easily install/run the Newsletter Plugin by Tribulent or something similar. Some have turned to MailChimp or Aweber, but they do tend to give erotic producers the boot when caught. I think this is a great opportunity for someone to create such a service for the industry and also for more platforms to implement it!
Amberly Rothfield has been a phone sex operator for 13 years and is the top active femme domme on Niteflirt. She is also the author of “How I Made $10,000 Dollars a Month as a Phone Sex Operator” and tours North America, teaching how she applies business principles to her business, which includes working with platforms like Clips4Sale and iWantClips.
