An Email Marketing Strategy That Gave Very Surprising Results

... with just a few tweaks of a normal campaign.

If you aren't doing so already, you should start running a seriously compelling email campaign to your list(s) every few months. If executed and timed correctly, these efforts can create enormous spikes in your revenue that will have you asking why you weren't doing it all along.

We recently tried this strategy for one of our products and in under 1 week the campaign generated that product's average monthly profit. Here's how we did it.

It's a one-two punch email tactic. The first email is there for creating anticipation and a desire for more information and the 2nd one then relieves that anticipation as well as grants the desired information.

As such, the first one is basically...

... an Appetizer.

Appetizers, when done correctly, should make you hungrier than you already were. You get a little bit of food and flavor in your system and you can't help but NEED MORE NOW. That's your intent with this appetizer email, creating that sense of NEEDING MORE NOW.

In our appetizer email, we told them:

1. We would be sharing a free advanced sales eBook that Friday (use an exact date) that would help with their holiday sales efforts.
2. That inside the eBook would be another holiday gift.
3. The download link would only be live for a few days.

There are several forces at work here. First, they know they're getting something free and that it's advanced. Second, if they interact with (read) this free item they'll get something else for free. And lastly, it is limited in its availability. Doubly lastly, it helps them with an immediate need, which is boosting holiday sales.

Combined, these characteristics should have your audience aching for your next email, which you can think of as...

... Delivering The Main Dish.

As you know, the main dish is why people came to your Meal, and should finish what the appetizer started. Thus, your 2nd email should arrive exactly when you told them it would and do exactly what you said it would.

Here's what ours did:

1. Gave them the link to the eBook.
2. Reminded them of the limited availability and gift included within the book.
3. Showed a holiday spending statistic that presented an eCommerce opportunity... which reading our eBook could help them take advantage of.

And that's it. With this simple technique, our eBook was downloaded a ton of times in just a few days and led to a huge spike in sales. Combined with a pricing promotion, this effort generated nearly an average month's worth of profit in just 5 days or so.

The key is to build anticipation with your appetizer and then deliver the main dish. With a little creativity, you should be able to use this to get similar or even better results than we did. If you're interested in learning more email, conversion, and other internet marketing techniques, check out Chain Reaction Marketing - our internet marketing treasure chest.

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About the Author

Mike is an internet marketer at MindValley responsible for running marketing tests, designing product launches, and leading an eCommerce project.

Check out other posts by Mike W.

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