Make People Queue to Read Your Emails

Every weekend morning, come rain, sun or slush, there’s a long queue snaking down the street outside a tiny nondescript cafe near my home in North London.?

They are patiently waiting in line for the celebrated brunch at a place called Sunday.

Some are repeat customers.?

Others will have heard about it online or through word-of-mouth and giving it a try for the first time.?

Still more may have been curious passersby and just joined the end of the line.?

And yes, the food is great (although I usually go in the week when there are no queues!)

But it’s the queue, not the food, that interests me.?

I’m not talking about mundane queues like bus stops, post offices or airport security.?

I mean queues, like the one for Sunday, that are made up of people who have made a conscious and willing decision to get in line because there’s the promise of an exciting and gratifying payoff on the other side.?

Think about the willing queues outside nightclubs - the wait to get into Berlin’s infamous Berghain club can be up to 4 hours.

Or the long queues that form outside the Apple store before the release of the latest iPhone.

Or consider how hip streetwear retailer Supreme have boosted their sales (and enhanced their branding) by releasing limited-edition products in small quantities at select retail locations, without much advance warning.?

These are known as “drops”.

Now, this might be new for Gen Z demographic, but switched-on email marketers have been using the ‘queue-for-a-drop’ approach for close to 20 years.?

How to increase your email sales with a queue?

If you are about to launch a new product or have a special offer lined up, go to your email list and give them the chance to be first in line.?

All they have to do is join a hot list.

You include a link in your email that then sends the reader to an opt-in page where they can register by entering their details.?

The important thing here is to segment your list so that you are only sending messages to those who are most interested.

According to Campaign Monitor, segmented email campaigns caused a 760% increase in revenue!

I usually invite people onto a hot list 5-7 days before ‘drop’ day.

Then each day leading up to the ‘drop’ I send the hot list a series of emails that highlight the different benefits of the upcoming offer.?

Here’s why:

Qualify Your Prospects?

You can pre-qualify those who join the hot list based on the price point and the level of sophistication needed to get the best results from your product or service.?

This means that when it comes to the launch you know that the majority of those on the list can afford it and are likely to get the maximum benefit from their buying decision.

It weeds out tyre-kickers, keeps your refund rates low and is more likely to produce glowing testimonials and success case studies in the future.?

Trigger Sales on Demand?

I remember one launch where the hot list generated more than ￡110K in one hour from a ￡497 product!?

There’s nothing more exciting (for email marketers at least) than watching your inbox after the launch email goes out to a hot list.?

If you’ve warmed up the list well, and the promotional copy delivers, you’ll find it hard to resist refreshing your emails every few minutes to see sales notifications flooding your inbox.?

Done right, you can expect to generate a spike in sales on the first day. Yes, with this approach you are front-loading responses and often see sales fall off by launch day +2, but there is a way to get a second bite of the hot list cherry. I call it the ‘Pumpkin Push’ and I’ll talk about that in detail in the next Email Insider.

Get Permission to (Pre)Sell?

I love using hot lists because it means those who join are giving me explicit permission to continue emailing the with more details about the launch.?

This means I can share the benefits and excitement without alienating people who are not interested.?

Your open rates will go up significantly, opt-outs will fall and ultimately boost your sender reputation. I usually see at least a doubling of open rates for a hot list compared to my regular email sends.

Overcome Objections Before Your Launch

Once people join a hot list, consider sending at least one dedicated email that encourages recipients to ask you questions ahead of the launch.?

This means they have as much information as they need to make a quick decision on launch day.?

It also allows you to identify potential objections about the product/service offer that either you hadn’t anticipated or one particular objection that you didn’t think was significant.?

This gives you time to tweak any promotional materials to reflect prospects’ concerns and even go back to your hotlist with a curated Q&A email where you share edited versions of people’s questions (with your responses).?

Find Copy Gold?

Another great benefit of encouraging people to email their questions and comments before the launch is you can find copy gold - the key phrases and vocabulary that your target audience uses to talk about their problems and desired outcomes that you can then work into your warm-up emails and launch copy.?

I’ve used this countless times by simply asking questions like ‘What is the one thing that is stopping you from [specific desired outcome]’ - for example “What is the one thing that is stopping you from trading forex successfully?”

The responses from the hot list are often surprising and allow me to talk to prospects in a more authentic voice.

Bottom Line: A hot list is the best way I know to generate excitement ahead of a launch and trigger a big spike in sales on demand.?

So next time you are planning a launch of a new product or service, segment your list by offering a priority hot list and send them dedicated emails ramping up the excitement, detailing key benefits and overcoming potential objections.?

Next time, I’ll show you how to use the same hot list to generate a second massive surge in sales using the ‘Pumpkin Push’ method.

Until then…