$393,890.69
Over the last 6 years, my online course business has averaged about $80k/year between Thanksgiving and the following Monday.
Despite all my doubts – will this hurt my brand? cause massive unsubscribes? will no one buy outside of BFCM? – I decided to go out on a limb and sell my products at a discount starting in 2015.
Truthfully, as a one-man band that amount of revenue flowing through each BFCM has been pretty incredible – especially since I'm always away from my desk and with family and friends for the holiday.
(Have I mentioned that I LOVE being a creator?)
Anyway, here's where I think most creators screw up when it comes to BFCM...
And these are lessons I've learned over the years through trial & error with my own list, and the lists of my clients:
We don't prepare our audience. We don't find out what someone is excited to do differently next year, and we don't position what we have on offer to fit that need.
We don't tell people what to buy. This is especially problematic if you have a number of things you're selling. People are being bombarded with offers during BFCM.
We don't personalise our offer copy. It's one thing be shown what to buy, but it's entirely different to be shown why they should buy this.
We aren't smart about how we pitch. No one wants to see that the thing they own is now on sale.
And most importantly... We're not strategic about what emails we send, and when. We just hammer out "BUY, BUY, BUY" messages and come off as over-the-top desperate.
While you likely will make decent money with an email or two to your list announcing that you have special offers for BFCM, where you'll really do well is when you fix the above issues with a well thought out, well executed BFCM sequence.