Newsletter ads sales experiment

I had a free spot in my No CS Degree newsletter yesterday. So I figured I would try something different to get some newsletter ad sales happening. I am in the middle of a 24 hour sale just now.

I have reduced my prices by a lot: the blog newsletter is down from $125 to $49 and the job board newsletter is down from $195 to $99. So far I've had 4 sales at $49 each so I've made $196 from this little sales experiment so far. True, I've lost a bit of money on future ad spots but I think it's better to have some money for sure rather than no money.

I've been reading a lot of the book Influence by Dr Cialdini recently and I've doubled down on some things he talks about.

Using scarcity

I have emphasised that this is a temporary sale and that I don't usually do this. People typically want things that are more scarce. We just value things more when they are fleeting. I also added a timer on the carrd site I made to show that the clock is ticking.

Social proof

I added to my sales page the number of newsletter ad slots sold. People also take their cues from what others do. We typically want things a lot more when other people want them. Witness scenes of people fighting over generic items in Black Friday sales.

Good value

People like a good deal. If you can give a discount it instantly seems a better deal because of the saving. Let's take an example:

• A pair of shoes cost $50.
• A pair of shoes are reduced from $100 to $50.

Which one seems the better deal?

If you'd like to book an ad slot in my newsletter, go to this link 😀