I helped a client run a Valentine’s Day Promotion for two weeks—increasing their Valentine’s sale offer by 374% compared to last year—and here’s what I learned:
(no story for today)
ONE
It’s a BAD idea to run any promotion for two weeks.
It’s almost impossible to sustain the excitement, so expect a rising rate of spam complaints (and unsubscribes) as time passes.
I even included an unsubscribe header to reduce the spam rate, but it will still spike after you promote a product for more than a week.
TWO
Regarding promotion, 60 to 80% of your sales will happen at the beginning and the end. But here’s the problem…
Because you are dragging the promotion for so long, people jump ship.
This means you are losing out on the close cart sales.
THREE
You cannot tighten the screw too much.
You have to mix things up: story with a soft CTA in the PS, testimonial with a direct CTA, urgency emails with hard close, etc.
You must use every trick in your toolbox so readers do not learn to “ignore” your CTA.
FOUR
People will buy whatever they want.
My client wanted to highlight the Valentine’s Day limited edition, but customers are buying various products out of our control. 🩷🍵🧊☕
(another reminder that segmenting your list based on interest is a bad idea)
FIVE
The more you send, the more you make.
(provided that you make your emails fun to read—this is why plain-text, story-driven emails shine in longer promos)
Talk soon,
– WYH