NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

Archives for September 2012

How we’re un-sucking AppSumo emails

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When AppSumo first started (around this time), we used to send out these long, hilarious, and foremost…. EDUCATIONAL emails about every product we got a deal for.

Usually it was me writing these emails.

Then there was a point where two full-times sales guys were adding deals at pretty ridiculous rate.

Deals needed to be tested and written…..and we were testing 2 to 3 a day.

Naturally I couldn’t write amazing copy for EVERY DAMN DEAL at that pace.

So we hired a couple of copywriters.

 

After a while, the format of AppSumo emails changed…..and the deal quality was just average.  There were good deals, but our batting ratio was a bit down (although I’m proud that we were still miles ahead of any remote competition).

This left us with:

  • Very “average” quality deals.
  • Very mediocre copy (it was becoming typical SELL SELL SELL bullshit copy).
  • Customers still loved us, but not with even remotely the same fervor they USED to.

 

So recently we’ve been TOSSING OUT SHITTY DEALS.

If we can’t recommend the deal to our friends and family, it shouldn’t make the site.

This is a heartfelt video that explains if we’re not having fun doing this, YOU sure as hell won’t have a fun experience either.

We talk about it here:

 

P.S.  If you ever see a shitty deal on AppSumo….please yell at me.  We’re not saying every deal will be perfect for YOU, but we don’t wanna become the same-old sleazy sales bullshit internet marketing you see everywhere.

Headline and image results from Craigslist product

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In this previous post I tried testing out 4 headlines, and 3 images for this Craigslist Hiring Course …..the goal was to see which headline and image would convert the highest.

Well, the results are in…..and there were some pretty clear winners!

For the image tests, here’s the winner:

It was the very first image I Photoshopped for this deal:

Most people (including me) thought this image would do the best. It’s by far the most descriptive of the group, and the least distracting.  The images with the Sumo kind of took away attention from the text.


Now for fun, take a quick guess which headline test would win….before you peek at the results:

  • HEADLINE 1: Hiring Sucks. Let Craigslist do it for you….here’s the scripts to use.
  • HEADLINE 2: Hire Someone by tomorrow. Use these Craigslist scripts…
  • HEADLINE 3: Craigslist hiring scripts. This is the new way to hire. No sifting through countless crappy candidates.
  • HEADLINE 4: Hire someone by tomorrow. Use these Craigslist scripts…
  • (notice I’m an idiot, and the 4th headline is a duplicate).  Smooth.

 

THE  WINNER BY A LONG-SHOT:
1st PLACE HEADLINE (#2):
Hire Someone by tomorrow. Use these Craigslist scripts…

2nd PLACE HEADLINE (#3): 
Craigslist hiring scripts. This is the new way to hire. No sifting through countless crappy candidates.

LAST PLACE HEADLINE (#1):
Hiring Sucks. Let Craigslist do it for you….here’s the scripts to use.
I originally thought Headline #1 would’ve won.  Turns out the “Hire someone by tomorrow” proposition for people was the best (Usually every Craigslist success story I’ve had happens within 17 hours of posting…..so this isn’t some “made up” headline).

 

 

 As for the Craigslist Hiring Course itself….I’m proud to se people have been pretty happy with it (aka getting results)!

I just happened to use Craigslist 2 days ago to post a job the old boring way. Lots of qualified/unqualified resumes to review and sort to go/no go folders…
Anyway, the course was great! Head spinning with ways to use GoogleDocs/Forms. Integration of GoogleForm, video, AIDA – simple to do and full of value for me!!!
–AppSumo Customer


Very interesting lesson. I think I have learnd 2/3 things (Typing with HTML, Using a video, using Google form).
And most of all, very attractive lesson. Usualy I get bord. But this was exciting….
I had the sensation to really learn something…
Please, continue revolutionize.
–Alex

 

Sincerely,
-Neville

I wonder which headline and pic will win

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Whenever I write kopy for a product I launch on AppSumo, I write FOUR headlines.

I also make THREE images for the product.

….those headlines and images then get split-tested in different variations.  The AppSumo “machine” shows each combination thousands of times, then picks the combination that works the best (a.k.a.  has the highest conversion rate).

FOR EXAMPLE:

The latest product I did called Hiring Sucks, has 4 headlines as follows:

  • HEADLINE 1: Hiring Sucks.  Let Craigslist do it for you….here’s the scripts to use.
  • HEADLINE 2: Hire Someone by tomorrow.  Use these Craigslist scripts…
  • HEADLINE 3: Craigslist hiring scripts.  This is the new way to hire.  No sifting through countless crappy candidates.
  • HEADLINE 4: Hire someone by tomorrow.  Use these Craigslist scripts…

 

I also made three different images in Photoshop (each needs to be exactly 440×248 pixels in size).  Here they are:

FIRST IMAGE: Simple visual and text.

 

 

SECOND IMAGE: Sumo with staggered words.  Weird to read.

 

 

THIRD IMAGE:  Plain sumo with hiring bling necklace.

So for everyone that looks at the deal today (it went live at Midnight this Thursday (9-20-2012), it might be a little different based on the split-test version you are seeing!  Cool huh?

Click and see which combination you are getting shown:
https://www.appsumo.com/craigslist-hiring-course/

I’m curious to see which combination eventually wins out (the “machine” always keeps testing, but the results are usually clear within the first 2 or 3 days of launch).

Pretty cool eh?  

I’ll update with which combination wins out.
My guess is the 1st image and the 1st headline.

Peace.
Neville Medhora

P.S.  Did you know I occasionally tweet?

@nevmed

How to think of which products to make

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People always ask me, “How do you come up with so many products to make?”

….well the answer is pretty simple.  And it’s NOT always simple as copying something you’ve seen done successfully by someone else.

Here’s the 5 minute video (excuse the sweat….I just came back from the gym)!

 

Basically this video boils down to the phrase:

“To make money, solve a problem.”

September 2012 Goals

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Oops….posted these a bit late.  Here are the September 2012 goals:

Can’t go into detail about either right now.

Have YOU got YOUR goals planned out for this month?

Just 10 More Minutes

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Here’s a video Noah and I did about putting forth “Just 10 More Minutes” on stuff you wanna make GREAT ….not just “good”.

The Ones to Watch Out For

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There’s a class of people you shouldn’t make fun of…..because it might bite you in the ass one day.

It’s the people that do stuff.

Here’s what I mean:

EVERY successful person I’ve ever met.
I mean EVERY SINGLE DAMN ONE….

…..has done a bunch of stuff.

This means they’ve created a lot of stupid little businesses.
This means they’ve tried a bunch of stupid money hustles.
This means they’ve repeatedly tried stuff and failed, or had crappy results.
This means they’ve done lots of dumb “side businesses”.
This means they’ve dreamt unrealistic dreams of running their own show.
This means they’ve tried businesses that “you told them so” would fail.

The people that do these things, are the ones I’ve seen become successful over and over and over and over over and over and over and over over and over and over and over over and over and over and over over and over and over and over.

When I was a bit younger I’d see people who talked a big game, got amazing grades, joined all the right clubs, and I always thought THEY would become the rich & famous ones.  But it never happened that way.  Haven’t seen it ONCE.  Nothing above average success.

But the people who were CONSTANTLY UP TO SOMETHING…. 
…Even if it was small and stupid.
…Even if they always failed.
…Even if in some sick way, I got some sick-satisfaction out of seeing them fail…..(trust me, when you try stupid businesses, there’s a lot of people who sub-consciously want you to fail).

…those were the people that made it BIG.

Now I call some of these things “stupid” or “dumb” when referring to these small “tryout” businesses…..because that’s exactly what A LOT OF PEOPLE think they are….STUPID.

In most successful people I’ve met, I’ve seen trace amounts of: 
…arrogance
…foolishness
…greed
…curiosity
…ignorance
…need to prove something

 

But ultimately I’ve seen the number one indicator of future success as being:

“ARE THEY TRYING A LOT OF STUFF?”

So next time you see a classmate, family member or colleague who is constantly trying out small businesses or side-hustles……you might wanna watch out.  That fucker might be your boss one day.    ;-)

 

 

SO…..what are YOU working on right now?