Have you ever noticed how most sales emails are just a repetitive sales pitch? If you check your inbox, you’ll likely find that many emails are pure sales messages, repeating themselves day in and day out, talking about an expiring discount and maybe some bonuses.

This is the way of the Flash Sale

A short 2 or 3 days promotion that focuses a lot on urgency and FOMO by communicating an expiring discount. Many brands prefer this approach. But while it might work for ecommerce, I suggest you use it strategically in your course business.

Frequent Flash Sales are exhausting. 

It’s also an ineffective and potentially risky selling tactic down the line. The more you repeat the same salesy messaging, the less your audience will want to open and engage with your emails. And when it comes to the Flash Sales, there isn’t much you can do besides an expiring discount and some social proof – I mean that is the whole point of the Flash Sale. 

So, what else is there?

And how are other course creators able to cash in millions by selling their programs to their email list? 

Let me give you a hint: they’re not using only the Flash Sale tactic. Here’s what my clients do:

Flash Sale + Customer-Centric Promos

Flash Sales on their own are not enough. And sending only Customer-Centric promos tends to be too much work. So, the middle way is the best. My suggestion to the course creators who are interested in monetizing their email lists is to combine Flash Sales with longer, more customer-focused promotions. 

Here’s an example: Month 1 you run a Customer-Centric promo (I’ll explain in a bit), Month 2 you run a Flash Sale, Month 3, you run a Customer-Centric promo and so on. 

Now you can have Customer-Centric promos every month, just like I write for the course creators I work with. But this doesn’t mean we’re going to talk about an expiring discount for 7 days instead of 3.

So, what is the Customer-Centric Promo?

A few years back I had to figure out a better way to write promo emails for selling courses. If most creators only have one to three promos per year, these brands were doing one or two promotions per month. Imagine what would have happened to their list if all those emails were talking about one thing: an expiring discount!

So, my Customer-Centric Sales Method is taking a different route to conversion 

When someone first joins your email list, they typically have a high level of problem awareness. They joined because they have a specific problem, and they believe your content or course might help them solve it. 

However, over time, their awareness and engagement can diminish. 

The Customer-Centric approach takes this into account. By combining customer data with relevancy and context, we bring the reader back into problem awareness. This is important – it justifies the actual sales pitch by connecting the dots from where they are right now, where they want to be and your course as being a potential stepping stone to achieving their outcomes. 

In this approach, the focus is not on communicating an expiring discount OR pushing the sale or the product. 

And because we’re not under the pressure of the Flash Sale, we can afford to take the reader through a very specific buyer journey:

Stage 1: Problem + Solution Awareness

Stage 2: Consideration 

Stage 3: Product focused + Decision

This approach has generated millions of dollars for course creators across different niches.

I usually write 11 emails that go out over 10 days. Here’s the breakdown:

First Three Emails: Building Problem Awareness and Delivering Value

• Focus: Analyze and identify the symptoms of the problems your subscribers face.
• Goal: Reintroduce the problem and create a need for the subscriber to think about solving it.
• Content: Discuss the initial problem, introduce related problems, and connect the dots to the unsolved issue.

Next Three Emails: Softly Introducing the Offer

• Focus: Address specific false beliefs, limiting patterns, or failed attempts to solve the initial problem.
• Goal: Shift the subscriber’s beliefs and prepare them for the offer.
• Content: Mention the offer casually while focusing on the subscriber’s needs, issues, and concerns.

Next Three Emails: Gradually Intensifying the Offer

• Focus: Resolve false beliefs using elements from your course.
• Goal: Showcase how your course addresses specific obstacles.
• Content: Share success stories, discuss the course’s roadmap, and explain how it works for others.

Final Two Emails: Urgency and Last Call

• Focus: Create urgency and address common objections.
• Goal: Push for the final decision.
• Content: Morning reminder email summarizing the offer and a final email addressing limiting beliefs and reminding them of the benefits.

It isn’t until the last emails in the promo that we talk about the product, and this allows us to write sales emails that are value-based, tackling different approaches to appeal to the rational or the emotional decision-maker.

The best way I can explain this approach is by aligning it with the 80/20 Pareto principle. 

The 80/20 theory, also known as the Pareto Principle, is an observation that in many situations, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This concept can be applied to various fields such as business, economics, time management, sales and email marketing.

The 80/20 principle is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first introduced the concept in the early 20th century. Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He noticed this pattern of imbalance could be observed in different aspects of life and business.

So how does this apply to your sales emails?

In an email promotion with 11 emails over 10 days, 80 percent of the emails are geared towards delivering value, while 20 percent are focused on sales. Here’s how it works: 

Watch this week’s latest video.

And does this 80/20 approach work?

Oh the benefits are awesome. The list remains engaged, the brand gets to convey their messaging and mission, the reader receives value and expertise and the bank account grows. Some months are better than others, but results are consistent. In 2023, this approach generated more than $3M in revenue only from converting subscribers into buyers. 

Maintains Engagement: By focusing more on delivering value, you keep your audience engaged and interested in your emails, reducing the risk of them unsubscribing or ignoring your messages.

Builds Trust: Providing valuable content establishes you as an authority and builds trust with your audience, making them more likely to consider your sales pitches when they do come.

Reduces Email Fatigue: By avoiding constant sales pitches, you prevent your subscribers from feeling overwhelmed or annoyed by your emails.

Increases Conversion Rates: When you do include sales pitches, they are more effective because they are perceived as part of a broader value-driven relationship rather than constant pressure to buy.

Want to learn email copywriting?

Start by analyzing what others are doing. My Email Teardown series showcases some of the best (and sometimes worst) examples of sales emails that have hit my inbox. Here’s the link to the playlist. I publish new email reviews every week.

Are you a course creator?

Email marketing is one of those channels you should be developing early on in your business. Here are The 9 Email Automations Every Course Creator Needs to make bank, enroll students, and nurture audiences.

***

Hi! I’m Monica. I help course creators enroll, engage, and educate audiences through customer-centric email copywriting. I’ve been privileged to partner with course creators from all over the world. And I’ve seen this customer-centric approach to email marketing work every time.

The best part? It’s not about the sale.

Email marketing is a fantastic channel because it builds trust, delivers value, and positions the brand as a partner. Read more on my blog or listen to Master The Inbox, the podcast where I share all my conversion secrets.