a single source, nothing corroborates it
Warm a cold list before you make it an offer
A list that has not heard from you in months has forgotten what you sell, so the sale email opens with what the product is now and what has shipped since they joined. If running a promotion feels distasteful, copying the register of a campaign you admired is faster than inventing one, and a stated price rise creates a short honest window.
The method
- 01
If you rarely email your list, reintroduce what the product is and mention what has shipped since they signed up before you mention the offer.
- 02
Email your list to warn that prices go up shortly, and treat the gap between the email and the increase as a short sales window.
- 03
If a promotional sale feels distasteful to you, go and study the exact emails that creators you respect sent for theirs, and copy the register rather than inventing your own.
- 04
Make the case for your product's current value to your mailing list plainly while it still holds, but do not build a plan that requires the technology shift to stall.
What it returned
- 2025
Zue wrote to his list that a vetted foundation is still the better bet today while privately accepting that the 2025 version of Pegasus may be of little use to developers a decade out
Zue's list was cold from disuse, so his sale email included a refresher on what Pegasus was plus recent feature news.
Zue emailed his list that Pegasus prices were rising and made five sales in the four days before the hike took effect.
Zue examined Black Friday campaigns from Adam Wathan and Steve Shoger, Wes Bos and Mike Lynch, and used the Wes Bos email dissected on Marketing Examples as his model.
Sources
- Everything Kind of Clicking into PlaceCory Zue · coryzue.com · The month past · 2019-09-01
- Lessons from Running a Sale that Earned 3 Month's Profit in a WeekCory Zue · coryzue.com · Where to promote your sale · 2020-12-09
- When the line stops going upCory Zue · coryzue.com · Looming AI and the conviction problem · 2025-12-30
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in email
- Move the audience you rent onto a list you own7 unconnected
- Hold the schedule you promised to hold5 unconnected
- Decide whether cold email is worth what it signals5 unconnected · contested
- Settle who the publication is for before growing it5 unconnected
- Open the list before the product is real4 unconnected
- Send each subscriber the thing they told you they want4 unconnected