a single source, nothing corroborates it

Give previous buyers their own launch email

Owners of an earlier version are the warmest segment you have: they open far more, unsubscribe far less, and a private upgrade price is the offer that fits them. Splitting the send into an upgrade offer and a one-day discount for everybody else means neither group reads an email written for the other.

The method

1. 01

   Split the launch-day announcement into two versions: upgrade pricing for people who bought the previous edition, and a first-day discount for everyone else

2. 02

   Mail previous-edition customers as their own segment: they open far more and unsubscribe far less than the general list.

3. 03

   Email owners of the previous edition a private discounted upgrade link at launch

What it returned

• 6,467

  Launch email to 6,467 subscribers, split into 1,152 prior buyers offered upgrade pricing and 5,315 new buyers offered 20% off for 24 hours

• 1,152

  The launch email to 1,152 first-edition customers got 56.8% open and 3 unsubscribes; the same email to 5,315 others got 47% and 43 unsubscribes

Sources

• $36,297 in 24 hours: behind the scenes of The App Design Handbook launchNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Let's talk about email · 2013-11-11
• Designing Web Applications — 2nd editionNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · 2015-02-11
• An update on The Audience Building ChallengeNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · A few numbers · 2013-12-12