Story time:
A whiiiiiile back, I told you how I wrote a simple, 3-email product launch campaign for one of my clients from a hotel room in Savannah while Peanut slept before driving the last leg to Florida.
The subject line was: “3 emails, 273 conversions, and $50,045.58 in new rev” if you’re like me and don't delete your emails.
Well, I got a little update:
That campaign went on to clear $63,146.18 and resulted in 339 conversions.
Another similar campaign, for a sister product I wrote a couple months prior, did $69,685.13 in revenue, resulting in 426 conversions. This one had 4 emails though.
If I’m doing my math right, that means 7 emails resulted in…
* $132,831.31 in revenue
* 765 conversions
* Unlimited email fodder
Or just shy of $19k per email.
Here’s how it broke down per email for the first campaign:
Email #1 — $16,426 in revenue, 89 conversions
Email #2 — $11,138 in revenue, 78 conversions
Email #3 — $23,840 in revenue, 145 conversions
Email #4 — $18,281 in revenue, 114 conversions
Here's how it broke down for the second campaign:
Email #1 — $24,585 in revenue, 148 conversions
Email #2 — $23,429 in revenue, 102 conversions
Email #3 — $15,132 in revenue, 89 conversions
Wait, it gets better:
About a month before sending the first campaign, I sent a pre-order email and updated our list about the flagship product which inspired the two subsequent product launches. (The flagship product flew off our shelves, we couldn’t keep it in stock, and at one point we had over 3,000 backorders).
This one-email campaign resulted in....
Email #1 — $50,184 in revenue, 250 conversions
For those keeping track, that’s $183,015 in revenue from 8 measly emails. Averaging $22,876 in revenue per email.
Crazy results, right?
Here’s the secret to this absolute insane success:
Real scarcity.
This client almost never runs any kind of discounts. We barely run a Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale. The only other time we offer discounts is when we send affiliate offers, and even then, it’s not us giving folks the discount.
Not being able to use discounts in your emails ain’t easy. Discounts inspire mfs to act right now instead of waiting around, dilly-dallying, then forgetting for 6 months before coming back and buying. Plus, discounts create scarcity.
(Quick warning: While discounts are a nice tool to have in your email copywriting toolbox, relying on discounts too much is like relying on alcohol to have the courage to mingle with strangers. Or relying on adverbs—aka the lazy way to write—to beef up your copy. It quickly devolves into a potentially-fatal addiction and wipes out any benefits you'd get from it when used sparingly.)
Moving on...
When I worked for [redacted] before starting my business, we ran sales where we gave out five 40% discounts, twenty 35% discounts, fifty 30% discounts, and unlimited 25% discounts. This campaign was a hoot and did gangbusters.
Why? It created scarcity.
Much harder to create scarcity without a discount. But even then, it’s not *real* scarcity. When I worked at [redacted], we’d often make custom 40% discounts for folks during this sale who weren’t one of the lucky 5 who acted fast if they complained enough. (Not an idea I endorse either...)
While it’s much harder to create scarcity without a discount, it’s more rewarding.
Real scarcity makes people act yesterday.
Not when they open your email.
Not when they read your persuasive words.
Not even when they see your email land in your inbox.
I’m talking yesterday.
This is why Yeezy releases a new shoe, and it’s gone in seconds. (Never mind the fact that mfs learned how to create bots who will buy as many shoes as possible because they have a ridiculous resale value.)
And that’s what happened with these 2 dirt-simple product launches and the pre-sale email:
We had real scarcity.
My emails sold out of my client’s stock quickfast. He couldn’t get more from his supplier. But we also accepted backorders. And so, we’d let our list know we had 2,000-3,000 backorders at any given time, still couldn’t place an order with our supplier (and when we did, we sold out immediately because of the backorders we accumulated), and that we’d deliver backorders first before shipping new orders.
It created a massive sense of urgency for our customers. The kind that you can’t fake.
And so, when our supplier released two similar products—the only difference was the application mechanism—they “borrowed” the hype and credibility of the flagship product.
Plus, I mentioned (and linked to) the flagship product in each email during both launches. Something I normally don’t do. Why? Because I usually follow the “rule of one,” meaning: one product per email. Otherwise, you confuse people and create analysis paralysis.
(Yes, you read that counterintuitive truth right: Giving your customers fewer options results in more sales.)
But like any good rule, you learn it, so you can break it as you will.
I broke the rule and it paid off big-big.
I only checked one email, so take this with a grain of paprika, but I’d assume 25% of the sales during the two launches actually sold the flagship product, not the newer ones.
Why’d I break the rule of one?
This product was so hot, I’d be dumb not to. Plus, it was so closely related to the other two products that it was a form of social proof in and of itself.
Anywho:
Many lessons in this email if’n you’re wise enough to catch them.
Here’s one last hidden “lesson:”
If you need an expert who not only knows the "rules" of email, but knows how to bend them to his will—which, in your case means stacking oodles of moolah...
And let’s try to duplicate these results in your biz. But hurry before I have too many clients to accept new ones, and I force you to join a waiting list.
John
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