Over the past few days, I launched my Daily Email Habit service to people who raised their hand to get on the priority list. At the end of the sales page, rather than linking to an order form, I asked people to write me to say if they are in, out, or have any questions. Most people who wrote me said they are in, like these folks:
#1. “Yes, I am in!”
#2. “No questions, I’m in!”
#3. “This looks brilliant John, I’m in. Thank you for coming up with such an exciting service!”
#4. “Count me in, please! Looking forward to it…”
#5. “I am IN. Please send me the link to join.”
#6. “Wtf dude you are such a badass. Yes I’m in.”
#7. “Yes absolutely im in. This sounds like an awesome idea”
… but some people had questions. Here’s one that came up a few times:
===
I took a loooong look (plus a night to sit on it), and I want to try it out.
But I’m going to be honest with you:
I’m still debating whether I need prompts like this or random insightful articles to expand my thinking.
(for example, the recent one you shared from Sean got the creative juice flowing)
This means I can’t promise I’m in for the long term yet. I understand that the concept of any subscription is to lower the entry cost in exchange for longer loyalty (like Daniel’s AiC newsletter).
So, if this “test the water mindset” bothers you, I’m okay with putting this one off for now, too.
===
Each time I got this particular question, I’ve been telling people NOT to sign up. Why?
I read once of a study in which people evaluated the attractiveness of a core offer (a bunch of saucers and cups and plates) + a free bonus bundle (more saucers and cups and plates, some in good shape and others a little chipped).
The conclusion of the study was that people evaluated the core offer as more valuable if it were sold on its own, with no free bonuses (perceived value: $33)… than if it were sold with the free bonuses, some of which were good and some of which were chipped (perceived value: $23).
I’m not saying that people who are not sure if they want my Daily Email Habit are “chipped saucers.” I’ve known a few of them for a while, and I know they are good people. Plus, I appreciate their honesty in voicing their doubts.
I just mean to tell you a kind of psychology quirk. The human brain tends to evaluate sets of items by using the AVG function, rather than the SUM function.
That includes my own brain. Yes, maybe it’s not very smart. But the fact is:
1. I don’t need the money from an extra subscriber.
2. I particularly don’t need the money if that subscriber won’t be getting anything out of it. (I can’t say for sure that anybody who expresses doubts on signing up will not get value out of it, but to my mind, the odds jump up dramatically.)
3. There’s an impact on my will to work and my long-term sticktoitiveness if I feel that what I’m doing has some sort of meaning vs. if it’s meaningless.
Maybe that makes perfect sense to you.
Or maybe it makes you a little uncomfortable. After all, aren’t we in business? Isn’t the goal to make money? When and how do you decide to turn away good, hard money today because of something vague like “will to work and long-term sticktoitiveness” tomorrow?
All that, and more, is something I tried to address in my Most Valuable Postcard #1.
Most Valuable Postcard was my short-lived paid newsletter, some two years ago.
And Most Valuable Postcard #1 was about the most important and valuable topic I could find — the most important thing to focus on in your business, whether you sell products or your own services, according to the most successful direct marketers in history.
If you’d like to find out more: