Does Black Friday have you scared? Well, don’t be! Black Friday sales are a huge opportunity to get your offers in front of new people so you can help them achieve their health goals! If you are running a Black Friday special (or want to run one this year), this episode is for you!
Today, I have Michelle Ellis back on the show to help me talk about Black Friday and how health coaches can optimize this Big Sales Day to better reach and help more clients! Michelle and I are talking about what type of offers sell around black Friday, the importance of keeping your sale simple so you can avoid the overwhelm, and what your email marketing strategy should look like around Black Friday – plus so much more!
Connect with Michelle:
Michelle’s website: https://michelleellisco.showit.site/#/
Michelle’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theorganiccopywriter/
Rachel: We are back and I’ve asked my good friend Michelle, who is also my copywriter and she’s my right hand to come and have this amazing conversation. Because if you are running a Black Friday special, this is for you. Maybe you haven’t even thought about it. Maybe you’re saying, Oh, my God, in a month, I could be launching this. Well, that’s why we’re covering this in October to make sure that you are guaranteed for success in November.
All right, Michelle, let’s just dive right into this. You’ve done five figure launches, six figure launches multiple six, etc. What is the beauty of a Black Friday special?
Why Black Friday Specials Are A Big Deal
Michelle: The best part is that people are actually looking for a deal. All throughout the year, aside from the holiday season, people aren’t necessarily looking for certain things. We have to kind of push it like, oh, I have a special going on. But it’s like the one time of year that people will literally wait outside of a store for four hours in a line to get a good deal.
Rachel: You brought up such a great thing, because some of the best times to run your offers are when people expect it like Columbus Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right up there. And this is hands down the biggest of the year.
Michelle: What’s great about it, too, is that now it’s become a weekend. It used to be like, Oh, what are the Black Friday specials? Then maybe a decade later, they were like, Oh, we got Cyber Monday. And it just extended the whole weekend, which is great because it’s a weekend of fun shopping, and also a great time to really point out what people really need and give it to them either with a bonus or a discount or a combo of something a both, but something that they’re looking for that’s been on their wish list for a long time. Now they’re just looking to either be able to afford it or to get something extra with that purchase.
Rachel: One, people are always looking for a deal when it comes to this time of the year. And you want to price that low cost offer or that offer that you’re giving, and you want to increase the price before you go and add your discount to that because you might be in a breakeven situation.
Michelle: Exactly. A really common mistake that coaches make is when they set their prices, and then add a discount to it and they’re barely making a profit. In the marketing world, they always upsell the price before they discount it. That’s really important to do if you’re going to offer a 25% discount, then you should really increase the base price by 25%. Knock it down, and then you’re breaking even but it’s just positioned in the marketing world differently. I know that might feel weird for a lot of people who don’t like to sell or be salesy, but every business does this.
What Types Of Offers Work For Black Friday
Rachel: What are some different low cut or different types of offers that we can offer?
Michelle: Shorter term ones for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So 5 days, 10 days, 14 days, 21 days, even 30 days could really work. Something that’s like oh, I can do that in 30 days or less. I’m going to be able to get this exact result of whatever it is: reducing bloat or weight gain by X amount and then offering some additional bonuses.
My favorite in the coaching industry is a one to one short call combined with it because I like that call because it can actually be turned into more like another sales opportunity. What do they mean? And then what’s that next step? Because they only bought the first step. So it’s still an opportunity to go deeper, create a real personal connection and perhaps enroll them into something a little bit longer.
Rachel: You see most offers at this time. Are they self paced? What should coaches be thinking about doing a self paced offer?
Michelle: It’s easier. I would say self-care, any courses, anything like that, do it yourself. But also if you are running a group, let’s say that is very starting very quickly after that Black Friday, Cyber Monday, they can enroll right into and start within a week – no more than that. It would not then go past the holidays. We’re really thinking about that time commitment.
Rachel: Think of a 30 day program like our 30 Day Gut Fix, that would be amazing as a low cost offer with the self-love course, as a low cost offer, and then weight loss. You could have the 30 Day Metabolism program. Or you could sell the five day perimenopause plan, or the mastering menopause five day plan, things that are going to give somebody these instant wins.
And if you’re not doing a group program or something like that, you could still do access to a group masterclass. And then you give the plan after so it’s like a bundle that they’re accessing. Then you’ve still created that personal connection by being with them, whether it was an hour or two hour masterclass or something like that. There’s a lot of freebie bundles and workshop bundles on the site plus short term plans that can be paired with a bonus. A really great one would be if you took a workshop and did that as a masterclass on why gut matters as the signature workshop and then you get the gut protocol.
Michelle: Yeah exactly. Something that would make it a no brainer for that person to opt in.
The big thing too, is to do two things. Don’t just have the urgency of like, time’s running out but also have scarcity in there and limit spots, especially if you’re doing something group related, whether it’s masterclass or a program, I would definitely limit that. You could even still do it and put that on a course. Only for the first 10, 20, or 25 spots. That creates that FOMO fear of missing out plus the urgency of now or never, I don’t want to miss this.
Rachel: Would you say that most of these programs that people are looking at around that time are focusing a lot on weight? Or do you think that it’s general gut issues or hormone issues?
Michelle: Yeah the first thing that comes to mind is weight loss, because everyone’s New Year’s resolution most often is I want to lose at least x amount of pounds. That’s the biggest thing. People are also focused a little bit more on their health, starting the new year, whether they want to quit smoking, or quit eating junk food, or limit or reduce alcohol. They’re looking to get back on track, get rid of fast food, and eat healthy.
So all of it can play a role. You just have to know one, your ideal client, two, know their pain points, and three, make sure that’s all in your messaging, and that your offer is exactly what they’re looking for.
What Your Email Marketing Strategy Should Look Like
Rachel: Let’s talk about dates for emails, because you’re gonna have your Black Friday and Cyber Monday email sequence. Would you say doing that 72, 24, 12 hours? Six and two?
Michelle: Yes, those are the hours. It’s good to do teasers. Let them know what you’re working on and to stay tuned. Maybe on the Monday before Thanksgiving or Sunday. Saying, coming stay tuned.
All the stores do it. A lot of Ecommerce stores will drip out their sales, or they will give a preview. Let’s say it’s one thing, and then tell you to keep your eye on the email that’s coming to you on Friday, or even Thursday at midnight. A lot of times people are literally on their phone looking for a sale. This is also a great time to focus on list building and start emailing your list now so they start opening your emails.
Also, really honing in on what you’re going to offer, how you’re going to price it, how you’re going to tease it out. You can even start marketing that two weeks before, start teasing it out before Black Friday. Look what’s coming, sneak peeks, behind the scenes, doing a bunch of different kind of social media to get the person excited.
Their eyes are just open, they’re listening, they’re looking, they’re watching, and they’re waiting. It’s just the perfect time to have those conversations and to put the offer out there. There’s going to be a lot of offers out there that they’re going to see. So you really have to position your messaging and your copy to really just hit on what they want, how they are feeling right now, and how you can help them.
Rachel: It’s a great time to do your market research and start polling what people want. But also look at what has been proven in your own business and see if you have something you’ve already created. And if you haven’t, you need to stop right now and then go to our site.
Michelle: Yeah, because there’s a ton of money now. No matter what your niche is, there’s always an offer available on the website, because whether it’s a workshop bundle, or a masterclass, three months of recipes, I really love having those programs. The program can be a self paced offer, but I also love the workshop bundled with a few additional bonuses.
Rachel: It’s really low commitment, because what’s really nice about that is with a workshop, you’re still giving the coaching, whether it’s only two hours of your time and the rest is prepared, it’s all done. So they go and they purchase health coaches, a meal plan, or recipes or something like that, that’s all done, and then the rest is up to them. That’s when you still reach out to them. You can do your check-ins with them and still have that relationship. Don’t lose sight of that follow up, make sure that it’s like, Hey, how’s it going? I know you got this.
Michelle: You could even do Voxer support for one week.
Rachel: Exactly. Always just upleveling that offer and making it a no brainer.
Michelle: Yeah, give them a taste of what it’s like to have a health coach to support them so they know what that experience is like. And then they want to continue into something more of a deeper health coach client relationship.
Rachel: Have you ever seen somebody package their one on one package or their program and give a site?
Michelle: Yeah. What I’ve seen is buy X amount of sessions upfront, and then you get X amount of sessions, either at half cost or no cost. So what you’re really doing is like, usually, let’s say if you have a package of six you’re adding to or something like that and those that work as well.
The only thing that might be a little difficult is you might want to pre screen people to make sure that it’s a good fit. So they might be like they can secure their spot by filling out an application and they could make the purchase. But you might want to have a clause or something there that if it’s not the right fit, then something. But that’s the only thing.
Rachel: You have your contract. I actually just interviewed a woman yesterday, who is a lawyer for the podcast, and she was talking about these contracts. And she said make sure that when you’re doing a group or you’re working with somebody one on one that you have this in your contract, make it very simple. And that you’re doing a group program, you can always have at the checkout one of those I acknowledge, and I’ve read the following contract.
Michelle: Exactly. What you can do to minimize that a bit is to give that type of special to past clients. So you already know that you’ve worked with them, and maybe they have just fallen off their goals or whatever it is, but you can reach back out to them, offer them that deal and or email them only. And then that would secure the deal. And you’ve already worked with them. So you already know what it’s like.
Keep Your Black Friday Deals Simple So You Can Avoid The Overwhelm
Rachel: For that coach who’s never done this before, what are some of the things that they need to look out for?
Michelle: Keep it as simple as possible. The worst thing that I’ve seen is coaches sometimes get in their head like they have to create something themselves.They just think oh, I’m gonna try to launch this whole program at this exact time, but keep it simple for yourself. There are people who will buy something self paced, they will buy something that’s short term that doesn’t require all of you as a coach since it’s discounted. So can look at it through the lens of it’s the first step for them. And then you’re going to do a follow up session most likely with everyone and then you enroll them at a full price into that next phase.
Rachel: I love that. That’s such a beautiful flow. What would you say for the coach who is not overwhelmed by doing this, but they’re scared of sounding salesy?
Michelle: I hear this a lot. Honestly, I had to work through some stuff too transitioning from writing certain types of copy more website copy, and then going full blown sales copy and advertising and things like that. That was a difficult transition for me. And I had to really look at it through your, it’s a service that you’re providing, that’s life changing.
Even as a sales copywriter, I personally don’t work with people that I don’t believe in what they’re doing, because I’d be picky about it. So you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing no matter what as a coach. That what you’re doing is saving their life. And what you’re really doing is saving a person, it’s not really selling because they’re going to buy something anyway. If they’re not buying something healthy or they’re not buying from you, they’re going to be buying from somebody else.
Honestly, it could be something that could be really harmful. What if they’re going in buying diet pills to lose weight instead? Or they’re going in just spending six months nonstop trying to do it themselves with zero support for their gut, or their hormones, or something like that? So it’s really important to break through the mindset of sales is icky when you’re selling something that’s life saving.
Why You Need To Show Up In Their Inboxes
Rachel: I remember my big fear when I did a full email sequence, I was like, Oh, my God, I don’t want to be emailing just to recap on the email. So you can do a countdown, too. 72 hours would be your first email, then you have a 48 hour, then you have a 24, then you have a 12 hour, a 6 hour and a 2 hour. I was petrified to do that. But people need that reminder, just like a child needs to see a certain food put in front of them. So many times, we see the same thing: repetition to get somebody off the fence, especially.
Michelle: Exactly. Also just the way email inboxes work, there’s so much pouring into their emails already, that you have to position yourself at the top of their inbox as often as you can during that window, because then you’ll just get lost in emails. I think, on average, 100 emails are being delivered to every inbox every day. So whether you’re sending six, you’re still competing in a 24 hour window, or 72 hour window, you’re competing with a lot of other emails. So be sure to always try to show up at the top of their inbox.
Rachl: And that goes back to nailing down and making sure you’re in their inbox, make sure that you’re nurturing your list newsletters, videos, sending to your list to get them to feel nourished before going into a sale.
Michelle: Right. Now’s a great Prime Time to give something away whether it’s a little recipe series and you’re pairing a two minute video with a recipe once a week, something just for them to look forward to. Then they’ll be ready and in the habitual pattern of opening your emails, and then they’ll be guaranteed to open it come Black Friday special.
Rachel: I love that idea that you had about doing a preview email. Can you just go a little more into detail what that preview email would be?
Michelle: The cool thing about preview emails is you don’t have to drip out the whole special. You don’t even have to let them know what the discount actually is. But you can say it’s your biggest discount ever. If you’ve never done a special like this, you can drip out one of the bonuses and then say, stay tuned for bonus two and three or something like that. Curiosity killed the teaser, not the whole shebang with no link to buy. It should really be a teaser that they have to come back to and figure out what it will cost me and where’s the link to get it? So you don’t want to tell the whole thing.
Rachel: Would you suggest doing a preview email or a sneak peek?
Michelle: Sneak peeks and I do love videos. So I wouldn’t tease out the bonus in that. That should be the core whatever you’re going to offer. Let’s say, for example, it’s a 21 day Clean Eating program, you can totally do a video on some of the recipes or what it looks like and you’re finalizing it before Friday, sort of thing. Also use that opportunity to share some wins. So, if you’ve had any past clients, start with that. Go, I’m so excited! I’m finalizing these new recipes in my last 21 Day Program Sarah, or someone else lost X amount of weight or fix their gut issues, reduce bloating just just drip it out a little bit to provide proof. And then say stay tuned, because on Black Friday you’re gonna be able to save the biggest discount ever, and get three incredible bonuses to help you stay healthy for X amount of time.
Rachel: And really, if they’re thinking about list building right now, put out a signature freebie to get people on your list. Make sure that you’re nurturing them for the people that are already on your list. Because then we go into my favorite time, which is January, when everyone loves starring in a program. I feel like December is great for those seven day quick wins. November is great for that, December’s great for that. November, you could definitely do a 30 day program self-paced with some videos to help that person and a 20 minute discovery call.
Michelle: Yeah, that would be great. Just get the offer out there. Don’t be afraid to jump in, because I guarantee that if you’re not putting your offer out there, you’re probably gonna be spending the time shopping other people’s offers, because everyone is just shopping right now. So position it and put it out there and have everything scheduled. Don’t be too attached to the end result.
If you were to put a signature freebie out as a health coach, if you bought one of the done for you follow up sequences that are nurturing, you have enough time right now to throw that freebie out there and have the nurture sequence of automate. So you don’t really have to do anything. Then you just put the black friday promo out.
Rachel: And so many of our programs have the email sequences, so you can easily go in there and make some very simple edits to say Black Friday cyber.
Michelle: Yeah that’s true, too.
Rachel: Because I was thinking, if somebody has those done for you, and maybe don’t have the money to hire a copywriter, they can use that! When coaches are like, Oh my God, that’s so much money. I say to them, please go and price out somebody to do a sales page or a 6 email marketing sequence.
Michelle: Honestly, before investing, before I even work with the client as a copywriter, they should be making a decent amount of profit before investing in that. It’s really important. I would definitely say make sure you have your offer ready to go. And start tripping that out.
Rachel: Do you think we’ve left anything out?
Michelle: No, it’s prime time. Right now is the time to go and get the ideas together. Don’t spend too much time on it. Make sure the bonuses are nailed down when you’re doing your preview email. And if you’re missing anything or if you don’t have something then definitely shop the site for sure.
Rachel: For any of you who are sitting there and maybe this is your first time, don’t overthink it. Think about your bonuses. Think about what you’re offering. Think about those extra no brainer things like adding 20 minute strategy session to each which can be a great upsell to your higher ticket coaching to that next step with people.
And make sure you believe in yourself. You have to work on that mindset. You’re not being salesy. This is what you’re meant to do. This is your why. This is who you’re meant to serve. So just go out there and serve and have a great Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
