Yesterday, marketer Justin Goff sent out an email with the subject line “sold out”. The body copy immediately explained what was sold out:
Just a heads up, nearly half of the 250 swipe files that are available in the special sale going on today have already been taken…
So they will be sold out soon.
Here are a few things I, and probably many other people who are on Justin’s list, know after this email:
1. Justin has been promoting this affiliate offer for a few days.
2. So have several other marketers with large lists, including some with the largest lists in the copywriting/IM niche.
3. After several days of steady emailing by all those marketers, going out to tens of thousands of people in total, fewer than 125 sales of the affiliate offer have been made. That probably translates to a less than 0.1% conversion rate — and maybe as low as 0.025%.
I don’t know how many sales, and more importantly, how much money, Justin made with this “sold out” email. Maybe he did great. And maybe I will look like a fool for sticking my nose into things that I don’t know anything about.
With that in mind, let me say that Justin’s email is a violation of a fundamental rule of copywriting.
Perhaps the most fundamental rule of them all.
It’s a rule I was exposed to in the mythical webinar training that A-list copywriter Parris Lampropoulos put on back in 2018. Parris repeated this rule, over and over, while talking about how he evaluates his own copy, and while critiquing many pieces of student-submitted copy. The rule is this:
“Does it help your case, hurt your case, or is it neutral? Only keep it in if it helps your case.”
This rule might seem blindingly obvious. But as Justin’s email above shows, even smart and successful marketers will break this rule — because they get rushed, careless, or greedy.
When I read Justin’s email, my first impression was, “Fewer than 125 copies sold? This must not be a very attractive offer.” My second impression was, “Even if it’s a fine offer, I’ve got plenty of time to get it, since at this rate it won’t sell out soon — in spite of Justin’s alarmist subject line.”
Again, I might be sticking my hoof in my snout by talking about a promotion where I don’t know the actual sales numbers, and one which is still going on.
But the bigger point stands. Does it help your case, hurt your case, or is it neutral?
Anyways, on to my own promotion:
Nearly half of the infinity+ digital copies of my Most Valuable Email course have already been sold.
The remaining infinity+ copies are sure to sell out soon. So starting tomorrow, I will turn my great eye elsewhere, and start promoting my twice-born Copy Riddles program.
That means you might not hear from me about my Most Valuable Email program for a while, even though it will continue to be available for sale.
But hold on—
Is this any kind of way to do urgency? Should the fact that I won’t be pitching MVE for a while make you want to buy it today?
No. Not unless you’re the type to get activated by “sold out” subject lines and other transparent scarcity tactics.
On the other hand, if you like the basic promise of Most Valuable Email — “turn ordinary and rather boring emails into something clever and cool” — then today is as good a day as any to start down that path. And maybe even better than any later day — because if you get going now, you will start seeing the benefits of this little trick in action sooner.
Whatever the case, if you are interested, here’s the link: