A-list copywriter Carline Anglade Cole doesn’t put a lot of effort into many of her email subject lines. On Thursdays, she sends out an email with the subject line “Carline’s Copy Thought.” Tuesdays are “Trade $ecret$ Tuesdays,” and Fridays are “Flashback Fridays.” And the next week, it all repeats.
Mark Ford, the multimillionaire copywriter and marketer who helped make Agora a billion-dollar company, went through a period where each email he sent out had the same one-word subject line. “Today.” That was it. Over and over.
Is this just a shocking example of laziness that top marketers practice when promoting their own stuff?
Or…
Could it be a case of “worse is better”? Where doing less gets you better results than doing more?
Well consider this. I always open Mark Ford’s emails, even if they say “Today” for the 10th day in a row.
On the other hand…
Today I got an email from an A-list copywriter. I won’t name him, but I’ll tell you I often open his emails. But I didn’t open his email today. I read the subject line and I said, “Oh, I know where this is going. I don’t need to read it.”
The fact is this:
Even people who are perfect prospects for what you’re selling will often dismiss your message instantly. They will use any little excuse to say, “No no, this is not for me, not now.” Even if your offer could hugely benefit them. Even if it’s exactly what they need.
Why are people like this? I don’t know. My guess is it has something to do with why taking out the trash is so hard.
Of course, one way to deal with this is the usual direct response light show, with flashing neon promises and blaring warning sirens.
But if you’ve got enough credibility with your audience, then you can do what Carline and Mark do. And you might actually get better results. And if you’re not convinced yet that “worse is better” can get you better results, let me give you an example with some hard numbers:
Marketer Rich Schefren once offered an upsell he called “Mystery Box.” Once you bought Rich’s front-end product, a video popped up with Rich holding this box and saying something like,
“Do you trust me? I promise you that what’s inside this box is worth 100x the $49 price I’m asking for it. Get it today and see for yourself, and if you don’t agree with me, you can always get your money back.”
Rich says his typical upsell converts at around 30%-40%. The mystery box? No excuses to say no? That converted at 75%.
Twice the sales. For less effort. Might be worth a try in your business as well.
And since you’ve read this far, let me ask you a question:
Do you trust me? I promise you that the free offer that’s waiting at this link is worth 100x the price I’m asking for it. Try it today and see for yourself, and if you don’t agree, you can always get your entire investment back.