I recently got roped into a discussion about selling in the “PS”.
Specifically, whether you should put the call-to-action and sales page link in the “PS” because it sounds less sleazy.
Here is my unfiltered take on it:
To my mind, it makes very little sense to do this.
When you go to the hospital and you are in pain, do they hide the ER in the basement?
If you are in acute pain, would you WANT the emergency room to be tucked away in an obscure corner?
No. You’d want it be one of the first things you see when you drive to the hospital.
And if you don’t require emergency attention, you walk right past that wing and use the rest of the facilities.
Would you be annoyed that there is a big “ER” sign front and centre for people who need it, just because on that particular day it doesn’t happen to be relevant to you?
I doubt it.
So why do people think the laws of basic human decency change when it comes to “marketing”?
Your subscribers are on your list because they have a problem. You have the cure. It’s selfish to hide it.
Don’t camouflage the “ER” and sweep it under the PS.
Here is why I say that.
To argue that selling from the PS is less obtrusive is actually a result of 3 things:
1. You have an irrational fear of selling.
2. Your editorial calendar is a mess.
3. You don’t know how to direct buyers to the sales page while simultaneously entertaining and engaging those who are not yet ready to buy.
The good news?
All 3 are curable email marketing maladies.
First, the cure for salesphobia is easy: Stop being selfish.
Let’s be real here. Selling from your heels is not about respect for the customer. It’s about your own emotional need to be mollycoddled. It’s about playing “nice” lest the trolls be mean to you.
Selfish. Selfish. Selfish.
Second, the cure for your confused editorial calendar is a matter of prioritisation. Your blog post hit its head on your launch and had a concussion. Now you need to apply triage.
What do I mean by that?
Well, some email experts argue it’s OK to sell from the PS if you need to:
- Advertise open slots in a future live workshop
- Advertise open coaching slots
- You just wrote an article that’s directly related to something you sell.
I’m sorry to be mean, but that’s not being “strategic”. That’s just you publicly admitting that you can’t plan your editorial/launch calendar properly.
If you still have open coaching slots (and coaching is integral to your revenue), should you even be writing blog posts?
No, you should be emailing your list to line up discovery calls.
If it’s two days before your big workshop and it’s still not sold out…
Why are you emailing your list irrelevant stuff with a CTA haphazardly stitched to it in the PS?
And if you just wrote an article related to something you sell…
Shouldn’t you *proudly* declare that you have a proprietary method for solving that issue and this free content they’re reading is actually pulled from your course?
Honestly, I don’t get it.
In fact, off the top of my head, I can only think of two scenarios where selling from the PS would be permissible:
Scenario #1 - Your programmes always sell out.
You know from past data that you don’t need a full blown sales email to book those last two seats. You have so many rabid fans that casually mentioning it in the PS will do the job just fine.
Scenario #2 - Your article is related to something you sell, but isn’t derived from it.
Something along the lines of:
This article shows you how to do Y.
PS: But to get this particular desired result, nailing Y isn’t enough on its own. You need to supplement it with Z - and my product covers Z.
And the third disease?
The cure is simple because the cause is simple:
Your hand reached for the PS because you didn’t have any other tools in your email marketing toolbox.
The cure for this particular disease is available in “IV-form” in SWIPE, SEND... SOLD (previously known as the Email Reliquary).
You get four new email templates each month.
They help you write a sales email, hit send, and potentially put money in your bank account the very same day.
Yes, it might prick for a second.
Let’s be honest: You will need some practice. You will need to learn how to “administer the IV” (so to say), but at least you don’t need to invent the medicine.
And the “IV” is well worth the discomfort. It can cure you of such revenue killing sickness for the rest of your days.
Let’s do the rounds and listen to the patients:
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Hi Alp,
I wanted to touch base after using the Ganesha the storyteller template. My email is written! (Here's what I came up with: https://1drv.ms/w/s!AqJ-iraomQwEgeFN6E4HSVH7vIOD5Q ) I love that I can pull out this email without a complicated launch sequence.
Thanks so much!
Leslie
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Easy, eh?
Whenever your sales feel a bit anemic, just walk into the clinic, lie back and hook yourself up to the correct “IV” (template).
Because if you’re constipated, you wouldn’t use the diarrhea IV, right?
You need different medicine for different symptoms.
So if you would like access to an ever growing collection of email marketing “IVs”, check yourself into the clinic here:
