A few months ago I was browsing Dribbble when I came across some really impressive hand lettering work and eventually found this image from the same person: Sean McCabe.
Clicking through I found a detailed landing page that ended with a strong call to action of an email opt-in form that gave away a PDF tutorial on learning hand-lettering.
My first thought was, “huh, that’s exactly how I would have done it.” and then “He’s going to get a ton of email subscribers.” Since I’m a designer I added my own email address to the list and moved on.
Then the next day I got an email from Sean (we’d never talked before) saying:
“So I was glancing at one of my daily list status updates (which I don’t always do) and out of the 73 people that signed up for that particular list on Saturday, I see your face as one of the 5 random people it displays in the email preview.”
“It reminded me that while yes, I have already spoken with my wallet and given you money for Authority, I’m overdue for a personal thanks.”
That was pretty cool to find what I thought was a very well done landing page, then find that I had already influenced the techniques used.
Crafting an offer
In the next couple weeks we discussed launch strategies, how often to send to your list, and other details about his upcoming course launch. But what really stuck out to me was our discussion on pricing & packaging.
Learn Lettering is broken down into 10 courses with over 50 videos—it’s a massive course—so Sean was planning to sell it individually, one course at time, for $29 each. With a higher package at $199/249 (once the sale ended) that included everything. The advantage with this model is that customers can pick and choose exactly which courses they want, and take them in any order.
Except, I disagree. So I told Sean:
“Two thoughts:
1) People want to know what order they should go through the tutorials. “Any order works” is not an acceptable answer. Tell them “start here, then go here.” Even if any order works fine, people want to be told what to do. If they don’t like your order, they will skip around, but provide a default.
2) I would recommend selling it in 3 tiers.
a) Masterclass — 10 courses ($199)
b) Intermediate — 3 courses ($79)
c) Starter — 1 course ($29)
Pitch them in that order. Most expensive first. Then you can say, if you don’t have money for the full course, get the first three lessons for $79 (a slight discount). If that is still outside your budget, or you just want to try it out, you can get the starter lesson for $29. You can still mention that each lesson is worth $29 (shown by the starter course), and that by buying the complete package you are saving $90.
-Nathan”
You see it’s all about making decisions for your customers. They actually want to be told: “this is what you should buy.” By giving them too many options you are causing decision paralysis—they won’t know what to buy, so they won’t make a purchase.
Sean replied:
“You’re good, Nathan.”
“I’m going to do exactly this, and point people to you in the case study I write next month.”
The launch
Sean’s course, Learn Lettering, launched on Monday this week. With the massive email list he built—combined with great content and a compelling offer—he has sold $93,000 in just 2 days!
Sean would have been successful no matter what, he’s just that type of guy, but I like to think I gave him the framework and tactics to have real leverage in his launch. The ideas he learned from my work, like focusing on building an email list and how to package your products, resulted in a huge increase in revenue.
How to double your launch revenue
The easiest way I know to double your launch revenue is to have the right pricing and packaging. I’ve seen double (or triple) revenue on every launch I’ve done because of really nailing the offer. Just like Sean did.
In the Mastering Product Launches course this is something I go into—in a lot of detail. Here’s one of the lessons on using multiple packages to double (or triple!) your revenue:
$1,000 for an email
Sean and I have been talking this morning (when I asked his permission to share our email conversations) and he added a little more that I want to share with you:
“You sent back a response to me providing my early launch plan on Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 6:13 PM.
“I’ve since told my wife, and two other close friends who know about all my planning, marketing, and launching that I could give you $1,000 for that email alone.
“And true to my word, I did.
“I also said, it goes to show the value of that information to the right person. That email means nothing to anyone, but when I read it, I said “I could give him $1,000 for that email alone.”
Sean was the very first person to buy Mastering Product Launches (20 minutes before it was officially released!) at the $1,000 package. You see, Sean wasn’t paying $1,000 for an email, he was paying $1,000 for the right advice, at the right time.
That’s really why I added the consulting packages to Mastering Product Launches. To help you with timely advice, specific to your situation, at just the right time.
Purchase the course
Mastering Product launches is closing tomorrow. Get your copy:
Purchase Mastering Product Launches »
I can’t wait to help you with your product launch!
