Chris Mason is one of the best copywriters on the planet — with the results to back it up.
Unlike many so-called “entrepreneurs,” he’s started and grown multiple businesses to 6 and even 7 figures (including founding one of the leading WordPress software companies in the world).
What he’s done online needs no resume, but I didn’t invite him on the show to talk about any of that.
Instead, I wanted to talk about the insane results he’s been getting through direct mail.
Yes, direct mail.
It’s not news that the email inbox is more crowded than ever. And Facebook CPAs just keep creeping higher.
But instead of complaining, Chris found a new way forward. He says, “If you have an existing customer base, you need to be doing direct mail — yesterday.”
This interview had me taking notes the whole way and never wanting to get a direct mail campaign up and running more.
You’re going to want to devour the whole thing. But here are just a few highlights from what I learned:
Barriers can be good.
There’s an obsession in the online world with making everything as easy as possible. “Dumb it down! Make it easy enough that a drunk person could do it!” they say. And there is a time and place to make things easy, but Chris has found that introducing some barriers into his business can be a GOOD THING. Instead of dealing with a lot of people who buy something (and never use it), complain and get a refund, he’s found that intentional barriers can be a way to get the best customers. What’s teh barrier he introduced? They HAVE TO ORDER BY MAILING IN. I said, “You’re kidding right?” He wasn’t. The point is everything doesn’t have to be as easy and dumb as possible. You’re the CEO of your business and if you want to send people 10 pages of science-y articles, you can do that! You don’t have to attract everyone. Just the right people can be more than enought.
Sell people samples.
Chris built this business to $80,000 per month on the back of a $9.95 sample. It made it easy for people to try it out without a big commitment and made world of a difference on his conversion rates. Typically, a good response in direct mail is 1-2%. Chris’ offer is converting at 3%. Why because it’s a sample first. From there he’s able to convert about 12% of the sample buyers to the $20/month offer. If he lead with the monthly product and forced his customer to make a bigger decision upfront, his business wouldn’t be a fraction of where it is today.
Know when you can ignore ROI and when you can’t.
Everyone thinks about costs, but Chris has learned to think about value for his customers. He used to spend Fridays choosing customers at random to send handwritten thank you notes. To some, it seems excessive, but Chris sees it as one of the keys to his business growing over the years.
“The most dangerous number in business is 1.”
Chris says you should never build your business around any ONE thing. That’s a quick way to put yourself out of business fast. With one algorithm change, you’re gone. That’s why he went to direct mail in the first place — to diversify! Take this advice.
You can have an entirely different experience in the offline world.
So many advertisers think INSIDE the box of what you can do online. Their world is funnels and websites and opt ins. But the reality is there is a whole, bigger world you can play in when you open your mind to the physical world to. Think about the kinds of lumpy mail packages you could send to catch your customers attention. The reality online is powerful. But we should never feel trapped by what we can do online with building our businesses.
Resources Mentioned
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