True story from my health files:
Over the past 6 weeks I’ve been following a very specific eating plan & taking a very specific regiment of supplements to get rid of something detected by a blood test I had done a couple months ago.
And one of the things I was told to expect is called a:
“Herxheimer reaction”
This is when your body rapidly detoxifies.
And, the result of this rapid detoxification is experiencing flu-like symptoms and/or a flare up of whatever symptoms you are already feeling caused by whatever you are trying to get rid of.
It can be quite hair-raising.
And in some cases, for some people, extremely painful.
It also happens with Email Players, too.
Yes, my pet, there are absolutely some short term “Herx” reactions new Email Players of the Horde experience when they start following my wily ways.
Not physical reactions.
But, some unpleasant side effects (usually short term) like:
1. A surge of opt outs
2. Some more spam complaints if you never mailed a lot before
3. Investing more time getting through the learning curve while not seeing some sales right away (sometimes it can take a couple weeks or longer, depending on your list and offer game)
4. A shrinking list from the opt-outs
5. People haunting your inbox complaining about too many emails
6. Sympathy trolling from bum armchair marketers on social media
7. Jealousy from competitors/peers who know they should be doing what you’re doing but are too lazy or too chicken shyt to do so (i.e., crabs in the bucket phenomenon)
8. Insecurity if you don’t see sales right away
9. Or getting a bunch of sales right away and then seeing them suddenly taper off (due to not adding new names to your list)
And the list goes on.
All to be expected before subscribing to Email Players.
The solution to any of the above?
Focus on the process, not the pain.
In fact, I got the email below a few weeks ago from an Email Players subscriber. And my answer is the exact advice I would give to you should you subscribe to get the same kind of email access to me with questions:
Hey Ben,
I’ve been following your advice on sending daily emails,
I have noticed that some emails make a lot of sales and some emails make 0 sales and most make a little sales.
My question to you is – how to better learn from those that did work? How do you reproduce success?
Any tips? (Besides re-reading several times what did work and what didn’t).
Thanks
My answer:
Focus on doing the work, writing every day, making yourself a little better today than you were the day before (1% better will do the trick — as your skills compound), crafting better offers, curating a higher quality list, etc.
i.e., all the things you can control.
Consistency is key.
Not every email is going to be a huge money maker.
And anyone telling you otherwise if lying through their teeth.
Copy is important. But I’d argue it ain’t nearly as important as list, offer, the strength of your relationship with your list, the status you’ve built (and are building) amongst your market, and timing. I’ve had emails that flopped the first time, reused them months later and killed it the next. Or emails that killed it the first time and flopped the next.
That’s simply how it goes.
The difference between winners and losers is and always has been:
Consistency.
Be more consistent than the other guy and you almost can’t lose.
Lazy bum copywriting fanboys don’t like hearing that.
But nobody cares what they think anyway.
All right enough of this.
For more info on the Email Players newsletter go here:
Ben Settle
