This is a premium article that originally appeared on Trends.
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That’s why each week we bring you the practical insights and strategies from other Trendsters to help you keep winning.
Here are some of your favorites from the last 12 months.
Three Steps to a Six-Figure Product Launch
Steph Smith’s first book — a self-published guide to content marketing — sold $100k+ in copies in under a year. Her new course did $20k+ in its first three weeks of presales.
Here’s the TL;DR on her product launch process:
- Use presales to validate your idea: While many founders test demand for a physical product before manufacturing, people rarely take this step when building info products. Steph uses a tiered pricing model to create urgency and find out how much people are willing to pay.
- Have a soft launch to refine the product: Soft launch happens when the product is finished and ready to deliver to pre-purchasers. Take a few months to learn from early clients, adapt and improve the product, and collect testimonials that will be useful for the official launch.
- Nail the hard launch: Steph found that the most useful distribution strategies included using Gumroad’s built-in affiliate features, appearing on podcasts to share helpful info from the book, and posting on Product Hunt.
Getting ready to launch your own product? You might also enjoy:
- Authors: Here’s How To Sell 10k+ Books
- Self-Publishing Your Book? Read This First!
- How to Generate Six Figures With <$500 Online Courses
- Use These Two Facebook Ads To Validate Your Business Idea
- How To Keep Your Affiliates Engaged: The Secret to Six-Figure Months
70% Response Rates With Marketing That Doesn’t Scale
Video emails are an amazing way to cut through the noise and get the attention of prospects.
Karan Nijhawan has been refining his approach to video email since 2016, using it to land major consulting gigs with Fortune 500 brands, or crush his annual sales goals in under six months.
Karan uses tools like Loom, VidYard, BombBomb, and Sendspark to make videos, and he says the response rate is often ~70%, which is in line with what Mike Moll reported from using a similar approach.
The secret to his method: His 10/30/10 video format:
- The first 10 seconds: Greet the recipient, and grab their attention by mentioning something personal (e.g., a recent press release or article published by their company).
- The next 30 seconds: Tell them why you’re getting in touch, and offer some value upfront. For example, if you know they’re struggling with a problem, tell them a few approaches you’ve used to solve it in the past.
- The final 10 seconds: Close by opening the door to a future conversation. Karan uses so-called soft closes, like “Does it make sense for us to talk more about [xyz]?” or “Do you hate the idea of learning more about [abc]?”
People tend to shy away from video because it doesn’t scale well, but according to Karan this is actually a benefit at a time when most sellers are sending thousands of irrelevant emails.
Want some other ways to make sure you stand out? Check out:
- How To Nail TikTok Ads
- How To Craft LinkedIn Lead Gen That Doesn’t Suck
- How One Trendster Used Live Webinars To Drive 250% Growth
- How Bearable Grew to 300k+ Users (and Profitable) Using Reddit
- How To Get Anyone’s Attention in Under 30 Minutes With Instagram Outreach
Common Site Features That Are Actually Conversion Killers
The Good is an agency focused on conversion rate optimization (CRO). They’ve increased conversion rates by as much as 87% for big-name clients like Xerox, The Economist, and Swissgear.
We sat down with the director of conversion strategy, Natalie Thomas, to find out everything she’s learned from performing hundreds of A/B tests, website audits, and customer interviews.
Here’s what she told us about common website features:
- Pop-ups degrade the user experience and attract low-value subscribers. Avoid them if you can. If you’re attached, don’t put them on the landing page — and use a scroll- or time-based pop-up that appears only once the visitor has shown a certain level of engagement.
- Generic CTAs encourage “hunting and pecking” behavior until the user eventually lands on what they’re looking for. Test whether your CTAs are specific enough by removing all the imagery from your homepage, then ask yourself if a user would be able to determine what you offer by reading only the copy.
- Store-wide, blanket discounts drain margin and attract budget shoppers. Instead, use free gifts with purchase, loyalty points, bundled discounts, or reduced shipping for order minimums.
If you’re looking for more conversion tips, you should also read: