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Writer's pictureJohn Brandt

does the discount fairy haunt your sales?

Let’s talk about the #1 problem with almost every brand running emails today:


The discount fairy.


Here’s the sitch:


90% of brands, in any industry, send out boring emails. And I’m talmabout emails so boring, they lull the audience to sleep better than the best sleep meditation soundtrack.


Worse:


Keep this up long enough, and your email opens, clicks, and sales become drier than The Atacama Desert. (The driest desert in the driest part of the world.)


Not only that, but you also burn your list out faster than capping a candle. And it makes sense — why would people continue opening your emails when you bore them to death?


As email goat Ben Settle drilled into my psyche:


“Boredom is the death of a sale.”


(Not sure where he first heard that from.)


This is when the sneaky discount fairy comes in, and whispers sweet nothings into your ear.


Here’s what she says:


“Just offer these people discounts, that will fix your boring emails and lack-of-sales problems.”


And, well, guess what happens. These brands fall for the discount fairy’s whims hook, line, and sinker.


Maybe they start with a modest 10% discount, so they don’t cheapen their brand too much. They get some easy sales and think they’ve found a winning formula. So they keep doing this ad nauseam.


This “strategy” (put in quotes because it’s hardly a strategy) works until it doesn’t.


Here's what I mean:


What usually happens is that sales start drying up again, and the discount fairy comes back in, demanding you offer even bigger discounts. And again, these poor brands fall for her mystical lies.


Now they offer 20% discounts. When that stops working, well, now they offer 30% discounts. Then 40% and 50% and even 60%.


All while their sales keep falling and their list stops opening their emails.


Eventually this transmogrifies (a new cool word I learnt) into offering “eXtENsIoNs” with each discount promotion too.


They’ll send you a buncha emails saying “the sale ends today.” But, if you wait a day, you’ll see their discounts are magically extended. (If this doesn't reek of neediness — another lethal sales killer — I don’t know what does.)


Even more insidious:


Now everyone on that list EXPECTS a discount. They won’t even consider buying without one, which puts the brand's lack-of-sales problems on proverbial steroids.


But here’s the thang…


This is a non-issue if you write interesting emails.


In fact, one of my top clients rarely has any discounts — yet we bring in at least $200k from emails each and every month like clockwork.


Now, don’t get me wrong.


I’m not saying you should never run discounts. There’s a time and a place. And they can make a massive difference in your sales.


But — and this is a big, fat BUT — if you listen to the discount fairy’s sweet nothings, you’re sabotaging not only your biz, but your email list. (And your email list is the most valuable “asset” in your biz, in my humble, yet correct, opinion.)


I call this murderous little mistake, “discount-pimping.” It’s the equivalent of an unfortunate one-night stand where you come down with the nastiest case of “panty crickets.” Because that’s how toxic it is to your brand’s image, impact, and your customers’ life-time value.


Moral of the story?


Don’t “discount-pimp” in your emails. No matter how much the discount fairy eggs you on.


If you need help sending emails people love opening, reading, and buying from (without relying on discounts every other day), book a discovery call.


Who knows, if you have a proven offer, well, then, you might not ever need to write another email as long as you live.

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