2 builders who never spoke to each other
Ask the first subscribers what to build
Early subscribers will tell you the subject, the pain and the wording if the first email you send them is a question rather than an announcement. Three authors report the answers redirecting the product itself, and the replies double as raw material for posts and sales copy later.
The method
- 01
Stand up a page for the unwritten product, gather an email list on it, then ask those subscribers what they are struggling with and let their answers reset the topic.
- 02
Run this even before launch by sending the same question to everyone who joins your waiting list or coming-soon page.
- 03
Email the list from the very first subscribers, even at five people, and make the first message a question asking what they're working on and where they're stuck.
- 04
Ask those ten what frustrates them most about the topic and which sites and forums they use now, then invite them to be beta readers, and split it across two emails so the first one is not a request
- 05
Interview roughly ten people in your target market and build your lead magnet around whichever pain the majority of them name unprompted.
What it returned
- 1,000
Justin collected about 1,000 signups on a page for a build-and-launch book, emailed them about their biggest struggles, and switched the first product to Amplification instead.
Of ten freelancers Steven spoke to, eight said they could not forecast income because they had no way to track a pipeline, describing it as stressful and anxiety-inducing.
Sources
- Get traffic for your contentJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Get traffic for your content · undated
- Self-Publishing Hangout highlightsJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · On choosing a topic · undated
- Send your users this welcome emailJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Your turn: write your welcome email · undated
- 0 to 100 Email Subscribers: A 28-Day Case StudyJustin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · The Simple Strategy That Worked · 2024-11-30
- Your "Common Knowledge" Isn't Common.Justin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · Step 3: Take it Up a Level and Learn More · 2023-10-28
- 9 email marketing wins that take less than an hourNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · 1. Use the 10 person rule to kickstart your blog · 2015-04-08
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