I have a confession:
I’m a fraud.
At least according to Klaviyo for my two most recent email campaigns I sent out for a client.
Wellllll, kinda.
(But I sure did feel like a fraud, as I’ll explain.)
Here’s the story:
I’m putting together something of an extended launch—or a part 2 of a launch—for one of my clients.
Reason being, it’s a great product with an incredible use case (it’s actually the same product that was used to help Chernobyl survivors, well, survive). But it didn’t have as successful of a launch as some of our more recent product launches.
Why?
Well, it’s incredible use case is more specific when compared to a gut microbiome product we released a month prior—which has a broader use case. The gut microbiome product generated $77,881.74 compared to this product, which only brought in $30,902.14.
(I say $30,902.14 as if it’s a bad thing, and most brands wouldn’t kill to generate metrics like this from email, where our engaged list only includes about 30k emails max. But such is the result of working with a pro. I ain’t ever satisfied.)
But there’s another reason:
My client secured an interview with the CEO of this new product, so I’m focusing the launch around that interview — as a way to both educate and persuade (...”edusuade?”) our customers about the product.
(Edusuasion is now a new term that I will use, and you’ll be wise to figure out how it works because it’s infinitely more effective than the “jab, jab, jab, right hook” or “provide value until your fingers bleed from typing… then ask for a sale” Gary Vee types preach that dupe people into making boneheaded email mistakes.)
The first email in this “launch part 2” series I put together generated a humble $5,761.53. And I fully expected the other emails in this campaign to do even more of the heavy lifting of getting people to whip out their credit cards, and pay my client.
I sent out two more emails, and have three more planned to send this week.
Well, as I was checking our Klaviyo metrics to pump up my ego, I noticed something shocking…
Both emails I sent out last week generated a whopping $0 in revenue! These emails also had 43.4% and 40.6% open rates, respectively. Click through rates were 1.1% and 0.9%, which ain’t too shabby for only including one ugly, barenaked HTML link to the product.
And yet…
Despite over 500 people clicking through and heading to the sales page, neither of the emails made any sales.
“Oh fvck! Am I a fraud? I thought these emails would crush it, but they didn’t generate any sales.”
Well, no, I’m not a fraud.
I checked our Woocommerce integration and found the problem:
Our Woocommerce and Klaviyo integration broke. Woocommerce isn’t telling Klaviyo any metric, other than when folks add something to the cart. That means our ordered product, placed order, and fulfilled order metrics in Klaviyo aren’t working.
Whoooopsies.
I’m glad I’m not a fraud, but I have no idea how this integration broke. (We have a team of devs who are currently trying to figure out what happened and what to do about it.)
But here’s the kicker:
We have a much bigger problem on our hands.
Why?
Well, since this broke—and the only metric Woocommerce is pulling into Klaviyo is added to cart—this means, we’ve sent out a bunch of abandoned cart emails to folks who have completed their purchase in the day or two since I realized this was happening.
And so, I had to pull the plug on our abandoned cart emails completely.
This ain’t something you wanna do. Abandoned cart automations usually generate the most “bang for your buck” out of any campaign or automation—mayhap save the welcome sequence. (Well, at least when you write welcome sequences using my formula, which is heavily based on the “edusuasion” thang we discussed a few minutes prior.)
I’m not sure if other email marketers would’ve done the same thing:
I’m positive none of your favorite gurus would recommend turning off an abandoned cart automation. But the general experience, i.e. in this case, not inundating mfs with abandoned cart messages for products they already bought, far outweighs any revenue we’ll catch from people who didn’t finish checking out.
Such is the way of working with a pro.
Now, I’ll turn on the abandoned carts as soon as the integration gets fixed. But in the meantime, I’m gonna send out the 3 emails I planned for this week — even if I don’t get to stroke my ego with how much revenue they brought in.
Why?
Well, our people still need to know about this product. And since the abandoned cart automation is turned off, there’s no danger in crucifying one’s general experience by sending out a few broadcast emails.
Anywho:
Lots of “value” packed into this email, if’n you’re wise enough to unpack it.
Need someone like yours truly manning your email ship, preventing fires from erupting, and generating fat stacks of cheddar cheese?
John