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Over the past couple years, Kate Bourgoin has:
- Built an email list of 62k subscribers
- Grown an audience of almost 200k (X & LinkedIn combined)
- And scaled her solopreneur business to $500,000 in revenue
In this week’s Funnel Breakdown, I’m going to share with you my best takeaways and highlights after spending several hours dissecting Kate’s newsletter funnel.
And by the end, you’re going to learn:
- How to boost your opt-in rates (by tapping into your reader’s ego)
- A powerful tactic to delight & turn new subscribers into loyal readers
- A simple way to differentiate your newsletter from everyone else in your niche or industry
- Plus tons more!
Ready?
Let’s dive in!
Funnel Piece #1: The Landing Page
First, let’s break down Kate’s newsletter landing page.
Her landing page is 10/10.
It has all the essentials:
- One clear CTA
- Tons of social proof
- A crystal clear headline and promise
Now, there are 2 few specific tactics working very well here that are definitely worth highlighting:
- Appealing to your reader’s ego. If you read the headline of the landing page closely, you’ll notice there’s a “whisper” blurb underneath it that says “And look like a genius.” Obviously, this exact tactic doesn’t work for every niche/industry. But depending on who your target reader is, you might be able to find a way to weave in a “status benefit” to your newsletter or lead magnet value proposition.
- The only > The best. Instead of saying her newsletter is “the best marketing newsletter,” she’s positioning it as “the only newsletter that makes buyer psychology fun.” This is a terrific way to differentiate from all the other marketing newsletters out there and create a category of her own.
As far as upgrades, here’s a few she could make to make this landing page even better:
- Adding a more compelling CTA to her “subscribe” button. For example, she could use the “Join 62k smart readers” blurb underneath the button as the button copy. Keep in mind, though, this is the type of thing you want to tinker with once you’ve nailed all the fundamentals.
- Adding another “sign-up” box at the bottom of the page. Some people will always scroll to the bottom of your landing page. And if you have a wall of testimonials below the fold (like Kate does), you should definitely include a sign-up box there to make it easier for them to join (instead of having to scroll all the way back up).
- Making it more clear how often/what day of the week you’ll get her newsletter. Even though the “value prop” of the newsletter is crystal clear (and super compelling), there’s a few “logistical” details she could share here to start to set expectations. Mainly, when (i.e. what day of the week) and how often you’ll get emails from her.
Funnel Piece #2: The Thank You Page
Now, let’s talk about Kate’s Thank You Page
Of course the first thing to flag here is that there’s no Thank You Page.
(Looks like Kate hasn’t read any of our previous Funnel Breakdown editions… yet!)
At this point, I’m sure you know how important this “puzzle piece” is in your funnel.
But…!
Even though she doesn’t have an actual Thank You page, she does something very interesting inside the “confirmation box” that shows up after you’ve opted in:
She lets you know that you’ve successfully subscribed and tells you she is sending you a “surprise welcome gift.”
Intriguing, huh? 👀
This is a very smart way to “bribe” people to both (a) surprise/delight new readers and (b) bribe them to open her welcome email.
Well played!
So let’s go ahead and check that out.
Funnel Piece #3: The Welcome Sequence
Alright, let’s dig into the first email of Kate’s welcome sequence:
The welcome email is short and sweet—and has no unnecessary fluff!
Here, she is:
- Building up the excitement & “training” you to open her emails (by reminding you of the present she’s about to send over)
- Giving you instructions for moving her email to your primary inbox (which will ensure you always receive her emails)
Now, there are a couple of upgrades she should make to this initial email:
- Adding some social proof or credibility. For example, she could’ve started the email with a blurb saying something like: “Welcome to Why We Buy! You just joined 63,000+ readers learning how to market smarter every week.” Way punchier than just “Thanks for signing up!”
- Setting clearer expectations. At this point, it’s still not clear when (or how often) you’ll be getting her newsletters, for example. And this is one of the things you always want to clarify and let new subscribers know about when they join your list.
- Reminding the reader of what’s in it for them. Inboxes are crowded these days. And if you want people to read your emails week after week, you need to constantly remind them of the value you’re providing them. This is especially true early on, when someone’s just joined your list.
Alright, let’s keep rolling and take a look at Kate’s special gift email…
Ngl… I’m excited to see the freebie!
There’s several things working well here.
In fact, remember the things I mentioned she was missing in her first email?
Well, she nails those here.
Now, besides the “essentials,” there’re a few other great tactics worth highlighting here:
- In this second email, she finally unveils her surprise welcome gift: A Buyer Psychology Cheatsheet. This resource contains a list of the most powerful psychology concepts she’s covered in previous editions of her newsletter. But she doesn’t just give you a link to download it—instead, she explains why this resource is so valuable, she mentions a few different situations where you could use it, and encourages you to use it as a wallpaper on your computer. Very smart.
- She appeals to her readers’ ego… again. When explaining the different ways you can use the cheatsheet, she says: “Every marketer knows that getting buy-in for new ideas can be an uphill battle. Use the principles on your cheatsheet to support your ideas and convince your team to take a calculated risk... and look like a boss while doing it.”
- She uses the P.S. of this email to tease another email she’s going to send you the next day answering one of the big questions of her niche—creating anticipation and curiosity. But then, she does another smart thing: she adds a P.P.S. with a link to “skip the wait” and get the answer right away. (And, of course, we’re going to check that out too!)
Funnel Piece #4→ The Funnel
Alright…
So after clicking on the P.P.S. link, you’re taken to this page:
At the top of the page, there’s a replay from a presentation where she explains why people really buy…
And she really delivers.
The presentation is super insightful and full of golden nuggets.
But that’s not it…
Underneath the video, she has another section where she tie the big takeaway from the presentation to one of her low-ticket products.
Now, even though I really like what she’s got going on here, there’s a few small upgrades that she could make:
- Adding some copy above the video providing some context on it. I don’t ‘bout you but I’m usually reluctant to watch a video unless I know (1) what I’m watching and (2) what I’m getting out of it (especially if it’s 18 minutes long!). So having some copy explaining what the video is and why it so valuable could help boost the “perceived value” of the resource and increase the number of people who actually watch it.
- Using an expiring “welcome discount” to create urgency and boost conversions. Even after watching the video at the top of the page, I’d bet most people don’t buy Kate’s low-ticket offer right away. Why do I think that? Because there isn’t enough urgency! To fix that issue, I’d offer a special “welcome discount” (that actually expires) using a tool like Deadline Funnel.
- Including her product “sales pitch” on this same page (instead of having a button linking out to a separate page). Lastly, I’d combine this page with Kate’s product sales page to reduce friction and make it easier for everyone who lands here to see the full breakdown of the offer. By doing this (plus offering the expiring “welcome discount” I mentioned earlier), she could get a nice boost in her conversion rates.
Recap
And that’s a wrap!
As usual, we covered a lot and there are a bunch of tactical golden nuggets in this Breakdown.
So I’m going to quickly recap them all below so you can get a quick refresher and decide which one of these nuggets you’re going implement in your own funnels this week.
Tactics Worth Stealing From Kate’s Funnel
- Use status to make your newsletter or lead magnet value proposition even more compelling.
- Surprise your new subscribers with a free “welcome gift” to delight & turn them into loyal readers.
- Create your own category by doubling down on what makes your offer unique (instead of trying to be the best at what everyone is doing).
Potential Upgrades She Could Make (That You Can Learn From)
- Constantly remind readers of the value they will get from reading your emails.
- When presenting new subscribers with a “tripwire offer,” make sure to create enough urgency for them to take action.
- Add more opt-in boxes at the bottom of your landing page to reduce friction for those who do scroll all the way down.
Boom—now the ball is on your court!
Which of these are you going to implement over the next week?
Let me know!
Also, if you have any follow-up questions after reading this issue, be sure to let me know too!
I’m here to help :-)
Until next week,
~The Email Marketing Ninja
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