I know, I know…

Here’s yet ANOTHER email about Black Friday.

Your inbox probably got bombarded with ‘Black Friday’ subject lines all last week!

(I know that mine did.)

But I promise I’m not trying to sell you anything, well, not directly anyway!

What I quickly want to show you today is a rock-solid technique, based on Black Friday’s core principles, that you could use to your own advantage.

I’m talking about a proven way of making sales of your very own online course fly!

It’s pretty easy to apply this technique too.

But first, let’s look at the phenomenon they call Black Friday and pick it apart a bit.

The Day that Divides Opinion

Someone made this very droll joke on my Facebook feed the other week…

“I used to love Black Friday but it’s become so commercialised these days.”

Haha.

It’s funny, because Black Friday is one of these days that’s become as much a fixture as Easter Sunday, Valentine’s Day and Boxing Day…

Yet, unlike its rivals, which began as religious and pagan festivals, this is a modern invention that exists PURELY for commercial reasons.

Of course, Boxing Day used to be the day of big sales (and it still is a popular shopping day) but Black Friday has overtaken it by having no other reason for existing other than to SELL, SELL, SELL.

Some people don’t like it…

They say it encourages people to buy things they don’t need, purely because the products are discounted.

Some end up spending more in the festive season because of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, even though the day is supposedly about saving money.

Others argue the opposite… that these massive discounts give people with financial problems a chance to buy things they need at a lower price than at any other time of year.

But I’m not going to argue either way…

Instead, I want to give you a marketer’s perspective on Black Friday… and show you how to take some of the principles that make it successful… and apply them to an online course business.

Because the indisputable fact is, Black Friday works.

This year was the biggest Black Friday sales yet in the UK with shoppers spending more than one-fifth more than last year (according to The Guardian).

But it’s not simply successful because prices are lower.

There’s another reason…

The Urgency Principle

Black Friday happens once a year. The discounts offered only apply for a strictly limited time – sometimes just one day, one weekend or one week.

This is key…

Because when you limit the offer like this, and make it genuinely rare, it gives it urgency.

Urgency is one of the biggest emotional drivers behind sales…

It’s that fear of missing out that compels people to get out their credit cards, click and buy.

More importantly, it allows marketers to do something very clever…

By putting a specific ‘open’ and ‘close’ date on a big discount offer, they can send out a series of emails, each one cranking up the urgency a little bit more…

• EMAIL ONE – A heads-up about the Black Friday offer, in which you prepare your email subscribers and social media followers for the offer to come.
• EMAIL TWO – a launch email announcing the special offer, with the close date, too, so that they know it’s strictly limited.
• EMAIL THREE – a reminder that the offer is now on, repeating some of the main benefits of the product, and re-establishing that this is a rare opportunity that will only last for a specific amount of time.
• EMAIL FOUR – another email containing information about the product that will help the buyer make a decision – perhaps testimonials, results or teases about the information they’ll get.
• EMAIL FIVE – perhaps a sweetener could be thrown in, like free P&P, an extended discount, an extra bonus or free support – but only if the reader responds before the close date.
• EMAIL SIX – a warning that time is running out and that the offer is going to end very soon. Repeat the close date and time, and remind them that they need to act quickly.
• EMAIL SEVEN – an email on the final day, announcing that the offer is about to close, and that if they wait, they’ll miss out.

That’s just an example of the kind of series that you could send out – there are plenty of variables, depending on the kind of product and the length of the discount offer…

But can you see how it works?

You not only add urgency to your offer…

You get multiple chances to legitimately contact your subscriber in a short period of time…

And the sequence of emails creates a huge swell of momentum right up to that final closing email.

In my experience, you’ll usually get a big surge of sales at the beginning, when you announce the offer, and then another late surge at the end, where people feel that pressure to buy before it’s too late.

You’ll probably have noticed this technique yourself during Black Friday – because it’s rare that you’ll get just one email about the offer, but a sequence.

In fact, here’s a little task for you…

Create Your Own Black Friday Swipe File

Put “Black Friday” into your email inbox search engine, and bring up all the related emails. Have a look through them and see how some of your favourite businesses have done it.

Turn that into a ‘swipe file’ of subject lines, headlines, offers and copy angles that you can borrow from when it comes to selling your digital course.

Because this is exactly the kind of technique that you can use yourself when you are promoting your own services online (and your online course!).

Instead of it being a Black Friday offer, you’ll frame it as a special launch offer, but the principle remains the same.

If you’d like more specific information on how to do this, with templates and formats all worked out for you, then you need to take a place on my Course Creation Academy if you aren’t already one of my lovely students.

You can take part in my free online workshop to get started – just click here to find a time that works for you (offered for a limited time only of course!)