Growth Newsletter #052

If you sell a high-ticket item like a program or a service, you're likely relying on some combination of free content, ads, and sales to move leads through your funnel towards purchase.

But consider this complimentary tactic: Create a paid email course.

Build a low-cost course or challenge (under $100) delivered via email, designed to give users a quick win by solving a specific problem in a short amount of time—ideally no more than 7 days.

The benefits of these courses are threefold:

1. Compared to longer, more intensive courses, they're easy to make. If you're already creating content, it'll be easy enough for you to repurpose existing material.
2. Because they’re a paid product, these courses filter out users only looking for freebies—when there's skin in the game, people take your content seriously. And the low price point attracts those who are hesitant to purchase your more expensive offerings.
3. They build on your credibility, giving customers a taste of what you have to offer.

A paid email course moves users further down your funnel, making it easier to upsell more rigorous programs or services later on.

Some examples and ideas for paid email challenges:

• Sean Anthony's 7-Day Challenge → Funnels users toward Sean's Email Side Hustle course
• An intro to design course → Leads to retainers for a creative design agency
• How to Start a Keto Diet in 7 Days → Funnels users toward customized meal plan services

Amazon advertisers can consistently get around a 10% conversion rate. That's wildly high compared to most paid channels.

Amazon’s users are high-intent and ready to buy.

One mistake we see tons of first-time Amazon advertisers make: they fail to optimize their Amazon product pages.

Here's how you can optimize yours:

• Add a compelling title that includes at least one keyword. When you run an Amazon ad campaign, you’ll gain critical keyword insights that will help you further optimize your product page, based on which search terms are converting. Until then, use competitor research tools like Helium 10 or AMZScout and keyword tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google's free Keyword Planner.
• Keep your product description between 250 and 1,000 words. Most Amazon shoppers don't read—they'll skim your description specifically to make sure it solves their problem. High-converting pages will list about five bullet points. Give shoppers what they want, and nothing more.
• Use keywords, but don’t repeat them. Keyword stuffing is as frowned upon on Amazon as it is in content marketing—and Amazon might demote your product's organic ranking if you repeat your keywords too many times.
• Good photos might not be enough. Consider adding a high-quality, high-resolution video. Your video should show the product in use. Pictures can hook shoppers, but a quality video demonstrating the product is often what converts shoppers who are comparing your product to competitors. Aim for around seven images and one video.
• Make it honest. Your product reviewers will be the first to call you out for overpromising or being inaccurate.

Customer reviews are important, but you might not have them yet—all the more reason to launch Amazon ads and drive conversions.

Customers discover errors in SaaS products all the time. Or any product for that matter. When they do, Google is the first place they look for solutions.

If you’re a software company, you can target specific error message keywords your ideal customers might search for, and write about the solution for easy, high-intent ranking opportunities.

For example, SEO tool Ahrefs could look up a competitor’s keyword rankings and filter for error terms like “problem” or “fix” or “broken.”

Ahrefs can help fix the error, then try to persuade users to switch from their competitor.

Another example: If you’re a cryptocurrency SaaS, you might review Coindesk’s rankings for relevant errors or problems people are searching for and you know the answers to.

Some search volumes may be low, but the intent is generally high.

Anyone looking for solutions to such specific problems is feeling the pain and needs an immediate fix—if you can give it to them in an article, video, or FAQ page, you become the hero, the solution they’ve been searching for.

Reddit is rich with content ideas and audience insights, but it can be difficult to navigate. Try these three free tools for more efficient Reddit research.

• Subreddit Stats: Find out which subreddits have seen the most growth in the last day, week, month, and year. Use it to find out what new trends or interests are gaining traction. For example, the recent growth in r/ArivaCoin might explain why a new cryptocurrency is gaining momentum. You can also look specifically at the growing subreddits relevant to your industry to see what kinds of content are being posted. Then see if you can relate this topic back to your product.
• Map of Reddit: Find out what other subreddits members of a particular subreddit are drawn to—in other words, where other segments of your audience may hang out online. For example, searching for the subreddit upcycling shows an overlap with subreddits like ZeroWaste, sewing, and declutter.
• Reddit Saved: Although you can save posts and comments on Reddit, you can’t easily search through this saved content. This app offers a solution, so you can continue saving content for inspiration and then quickly search for a specific post later.