Why Fake Deadlines Almost Never Work - Karl Goodman, Founder

If you scroll through your inbox, I do not doubt that it's filled with emails that sound just like this:

"Last chance to save $$$"

"Only 24 hours remaining."

"Grab this offer while it still lasts."

And other such crap that only works for the smallest percentage of super impulsive types, written by rookie email marketers who don't know how to apply the basics of human persuasion since they are making this critical mistake.

And while the idea is right (playing into FOMO)

The execution is all wrong, because they're missing the fundamental element that makes deadlines work.

As I described in this month's edition of the Alley-Oop, a deadline is a type of Direct-Offer lead that works well with a hyper-aware market... as long as one crucial condition is met.

Want to know what that condition is?

The reader needs to believe that the deadline is true.

And since most people don't believe anything they read about direct-offer, scarcity-driven, urgency-filled emails, it falls on deaf ears, and conversions suck.

So how do you make deadlines work for you the way they were intended?

Well, the answer is easy:

You mean what you say, and you say what you mean.

Yesterday, about 26 hours ago, I told you that in 24 hours, I'd be sending this month's edition off to the printers, and at that point, the chance to have a system for making email marketing work for you (using the exact approach we use at AA) would be over.

And because the deadline has now passed, the chance to get your hands on the "Holy Grail" of email marketing for fitness businesses has ended.

Finito.

Kaput.

So if you subscribe now, you'll get next month's edition, which will be a framework for a more effective sales conversation that never requires you to pitch what you do, using a novel question framework that I've been refining for months and have never shared before.

So while next month's edition will be ridiculously valuable, the chance to implement a wildly effective email marketing system is over.

This brings me to my point:

Deadlines are valuable as hell but are almost always misused.

If you want to use them (and every intelligent business person should)...

Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Because next time, your prospect won't confuse you with the rest of the plebs who use it ineffectively, and they'll take you deadly seriously.

Which, if you're worth your salt, is precisely what you want.

Food for thought heading into the weekend.

Karl