There’s a strategy I’ve been using for years to get extra sales that involves giving a certain amount of stuff away for free.
I used this strategy again last week, and it brought in 4-figures of extra revenue.
So I thought I’d share it here.
Here goes…
So, I just launched a new intensive course, YouTube for Business.
As usual, the launch was quick n’ dirty:
- Google doc
- Checkout page
- Emails
That’s it.
I ran the launch and closed it up.
(I might do a debrief on the launch soon, it was interesting.)
Anyway…
I started the intensive and finished the first week, which went great.
Especially session 1, which was an orientation session, where I got a lot of great feedback along the lines of “That changed the way I think about YouTube!”
So here’s what I did:
- Made a list of all the people who clicked the sales page link during the launch (shows interest)
- Sent an email to that segment only
- Said: “A lot of people loved session 1”
- Gave them access to the recording of Session 1 for free
And then directly off the back of that, more sales came in…
Even though we were 1 week into the intensive, generating an extra 4-figures of revenue.
You can use this approach in your business too.
There’s a tactical reason this works, and a strategic one…
And it’s important to understand both.
The tactical reason:
Some people would have been on the fence about joining the intensive, and decided not to buy in the end.
But watching the first session got them involved, made an impact and created FOMO about the rest of the course.
So they buy.
The strategic reason:
When people are being sold to, their guard is always up.
They adopt a defensive “Convince me!” attitude and then it’s up to your marketing — is it good enough to generate the sale?
But you’re fundamentally in this “will I, won’t I?” dynamic that comes down to persuasion, and this is why a lot of educators don’t enjoy marketing and sales, because it feels icky.
But…
Let’s ask a different question:
“What’s the simplest way to convince someone your product is good and they should buy it?”
Answer:
Don’t try to persuade them… just let them try it out and decide for themselves!
Like test-driving a car.
When they experience the quality, they want it.
So, from a business perspective, if you know your stuff is good, letting people actually use it can be the best conversion mechanism of all.
Ask yourself:
Do I believe so much in the quality of my stuff that my audience would want to buy it if they got to test drive it?
If the answer is “yes”, then you might like to bake this into your business model.
For my YouTube Intensive…
Session 1 was 60 minutes of me explaining my entire philosophy to YouTube, and everything they need to know to make it work for them, with loads of examples.
Judging by the response, this proved quite effective in making people want to take the rest of the course.
In StoryLearning, we take the same approach.
Years ago, we weren’t selling as many courses as we wanted.
So we switched to a 7-day free trial offer, and let people try the product before committing to buying.
When people tried our products, they realised how good they were, and ended up sticking around after the free trial.
This resulting in a +35% boost in $ earned for every unique visitor to the sales page.
The strategy is the same:
Instead of selling, just let them test drive the product instead.
There is, of course, an art to knowing exactly how much to give away free, but that’s a story for another day.
(And, of course, if you’re secretly worried that people wouldn’t buy after trying out your stuff… that’s also instructive for what you should do next!!!)
Anyway…
Hope that helps spark some ideas!
Namaste,
Olly
