Got a massive kick out of this from reader Jason: Subject: Auto-responder disaster and the kindness of friends Hi Josh I wanted to tell you about my brief, disastrous (and not so disastrous) foray into email auto-responders. So I finally plucked up the courage to create my first list auto-responder welcome email series for new […]
Continue readingIn the Email Copywriting Workshop I launched last month (which is just wrapping up), student Ram queried: If I keep on repeating the same structure, won’t my mails look very routinized and formulaic over time? Will people trust me with my stories any more? Very valid concern. In the workshop, I handed the students a […]
Continue readingSubscriber Taylor writes: Hey Joshua, love the content. After someone has gone through an email course and gotten a hard pitch, how long do you wait before pitching the product to them again? The thing to keep in mind when it comes to pitching is this: If your subscriber doesn’t buy, they haven’t said “No.” […]
Continue readingBack in the ’70s, the savvy marketing minds at fast food chain McDonalds crunched their sales numbers and made a discovery: A sizable bite of each restaurant’s customers bought a burger and nothing else. They decided to try a test. The sales clerk would wait until the customer had placed the order—then hit them with […]
Continue readingOnce I heard a story about a German man who’d just gotten a shiny new GPS unit in his car. That little device seemed magical—he could just punch in his destination, then shut off his brain and follow the prompts to wherever he was going. Until… One day his GPS steered him wrong—and he drove […]
Continue readingIn college my career dream was to become a journalist. So halfway through my sophomore year, I took a job as the assistant editor of the student newspaper. There was a lot about this new role that intimidated me. Like calling strangers up on the phone and grilling them for facts and quotes for my stories. And […]
Continue readingGot a sad story for you today… A while back a subscriber (we’ll call him “Wally”) reached out and asked whether I’d recommend my “flavor” of email marketing for his specific brick-and-mortar business. As it happened, he works in an industry that’s rife with misinformation and con artists—while also serving customers who are poised on […]
Continue readingThis weekend I had REALLY humbling experience. Here’s what happened: As part of my recommitted to physical fitness, I recently enrolled in this intense program designed to build strength through gymnastics training. My goal someday is to be able to perform impressive moves like the Iron Cross, handstand pushups and one-arm pullups. One of these […]
Continue reading!!! There— Just burned through the rest of my 2016 ration of exclamation points. I like to waste ’em like this so I don’t get tempted to use them in a non-ironic context. Because exclamation points are usually the first sign that you’re listing dangerously toward *hype*… And I HATE hype in marketing. So does […]
Continue readingSubscriber Stuart runs a website to help lonely singles find love online. And he’s worried about coming on too strong in his emails: He asks: Do you try to sell in every email? For my drip series, there’s a PPS in every email with a different reason to order online dating profile feedback from my […]
Continue readingRecently I found myself engrossed in some of the most gripping email copy I’ve seen in a while—so good I couldn’t stop reading. This particular email told the story of a young software developer who realized that his employer was REALLY working him over… Even though he was highly skilled at his job, he was […]
Continue readingBefore I joined the “dark side” and became a conniving copywriter… I spent several years working part time as a newspaper reporter. One of the biggest challenges of that job was just getting people to talk to you. Your typical “Joe Lunchbucket” (my editor’s name for the guy on the street) has a healthy distrust […]
Continue readingWith all the experiments I have running right now at Simple Programmer, some days I feel kinda like this guy: One of the most interesting tests I have going is around the pricing for our flagship product, How to Market Yourself as a Software Developer. Hang around here a bit and you’ll hear me yakking […]
Continue readingBefore I got into copywriting, I had a side job as a home photographer with a local real estate agent. Whenever the realtor would go to list a home for sale, he’d bring me and my professional lighting equipment in for a couple of hours to make sure the property looked presentable. (Most real estate […]
Continue readingBefore the days of the interwebs, when humanity was still shuttling paper missives to and fro on the backs of weary postal carriers… Smart marketers used a technique called a “stick letter.” A well-written stick letter would almost always boost profits, reduce refunds and increase customer satisfaction. This same approach works with email courses too—and […]
Continue readingA few years ago, just after I’d launched my first product online, I got a lot of flak for the price I was charging. While most books are priced in the $5-10 range, mine was pegged at $19 (an absolute fortune, I know!). And pretty regularly I’d get an email that went something like this: […]
Continue readingDon’t you hate when you ask a “marketing expert” a question— And they reply with something like, “That might work, but you’d have to test it to know for sure”? Sometimes that IS just a copout. Many times, though, it’s just the honest truth. Case in point: Last week I mentioned how I’m trying a […]
Continue readingWhen I’m talking to “civilians” (i.e. business owners who aren’t experienced marketers) is: If I’m not careful I can end up coming across like a complete psychopath. That’s because I usually start the conversation off by looking for PAIN. I ask probing questions about what their customers are experiencing in their day-to-day lives. I’m looking […]
Continue readingA few weeks back my alarm went off as usual at 4:55 a.m. And when I grabbed for my iPhone, I saw that I had a message waiting from Bryan Harris. If you don’t know Bryan, he is THE MAN when it comes to building your email list. He’s created an excellent program called Get […]
Continue readingA few days back I tackled a question from subscriber Carl about tapping your customer’s deepest desires. Like many other copywriters, I use a tool called an “avatar” for this. An avatar is a composite—a fictional character that represents your ideal customer. Carl asks a followup: When I did the exercises you have also done […]
Continue readingMy business partner John and I have this long-standing debate over pricing strategy. I’m a big believer in the “three-tier” pricing model. This is where you offer three variations of your product at different price points. Maybe you have a $99 version, a $199 version and a $299 version. John prefers a simpler approach: You […]
Continue readingLast weekend I traveled to Austin to meet up with my business partner John Sonmez and 250 other entrepreneurs for the first-ever “SumoCon.” The conference was hosted by the team from AppSumo, and I have to say I was impressed by the caliber of the people I met. (The annual revenue of the businesses at […]
Continue readingSharp-eyed subscriber Galit asks: Hi Josh, I have a question for you—I am watching your “Behind the Scenes of a Six-Figure Email Course” video and I noticed your callout of the coveted Welcome email. But I’m looking back at my emails from you and this is the first one that I received after I opted […]
Continue readingBack when I was commuting into Pittsburgh every day, I used to hate Friday afternoons with a passion. I worked on the 57th floor of the tallest building in the city. And every Friday at 3 p.m. I’d wander over to the window and see the great weekend exodus already underway. There are many great […]
Continue readingOne of the biggest challenges of my work with Simple Programmer is this: My business partner John can crank out products like crazy. This is the guy who created 55 multi-hour video courses on technical programming topics—in less than two years. He is a content production “Terminator.” You can’t stop him, no matter what you […]
Continue reading