In this episode, Zach talks to John Ainsworth from Data Driven Marketing.

John Ainsworth is the CEO and founder of Data Driven Marketing. They help online course creators increase revenue by 4.86x on average.

With 20 years experience in building funnels and a degree in Mathematics, John has conducted extensive data analysis of hundreds of millions dollars of online business to create the field of Strategic Funnel Optimisation.

Data Driven Marketing has proven this process by helping dozens of online course creators 2x – 5x their revenue, and directly drives several million a year in revenue.

He’s a guest lecturer at Greenwich Business school and has been featured on Forbes.

He shared some amazing wisdom on the #1 thing all course creators should be doing that can literally 5x your revenue within the next couple months.

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Ask the AI coach questions on how to build up the funnel at:

datadrivenmarketing.ai

Follow John:

• Website — https://datadrivenmarketing.co/
• Twitter / X — https://twitter.com/DataDrivenMedia
• Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/datadrivenfunnels/
• YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxd52LxrzAREYgtDp8a7NuQ

AI-Generated Summary:

• 0:00 – 2:00 — Zach introduces Jon Ainsworth, CEO of Data Driven Marketing, and discusses the company’s role in boosting online course revenues.
• 2:00 – 4:00 — Zach highlights Jon’s podcast, “The Art of Selling Online Courses,” and references an episode on tripwire funnels.
• 4:00 – 6:00 — Jon shares a success story of increasing a client’s revenue significantly through funnel optimization and discusses his role as a guest lecturer and Forbes feature.
• 6:00 – 8:00 — The conversation shifts to Black Friday strategies, emphasizing the importance of not discounting all courses but instead creating specific bundles.
• 8:00 – 10:00 — Jon advises on pricing strategies for Black Friday, suggesting bundled offers instead of across-the-board discounts to avoid cannibalizing sales.
• 10:00 – 12:00 — Discussion on using advanced tactics in Black Friday promotions, including the concept of a down sell and structuring different offers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• 12:00 – 14:00 — John explains the importance of understanding different customer decision-making processes and addressing them through varied email marketing strategies.
• 14:00 – 16:00 — Zach and John discuss the challenges of segmentation in email marketing, particularly in relation to course levels and customer needs.
• 16:00 – 18:00 — Further elaboration on the limitations of segmentation, with examples of customers benefiting from courses they didn’t initially consider due to incorrect self-assessment of their level.
• 18:00 – 20:00 — John shares insights on the effectiveness of simpler front-end funnels over complex segmented funnels, emphasizing the importance of focusing on a single funnel for better results.
• 20:00 – 22:00 — John discusses the effectiveness of simplified promotion strategies over complex segmentation, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer behavior over theoretical models.
• 22:00 – 24:00 — Zach reflects on his tendency to overcomplicate promotions, realizing the need for simpler, more focused approaches.
• 24:00 – 26:00 — John shares the key elements of high-performing sales and checkout pages, advocating for a streamlined approach to promotions.
• 26:00 – 28:00 — Discussion on how regular promotions can reduce the impact of Black Friday spikes but result in consistent sales throughout the year.
• 28:00 – 30:00 — Advice on transitioning from reliance on major sales events like Black Friday to regular, simpler promotions for better overall sales.
• 30:00 – 32:00 — Zach expresses concern about frequent promotions causing subscriber fatigue. John suggests a monthly promotion cycle, focusing on different products each time.
• 32:00 – 34:00 — John explains the criteria for choosing a monthly versus bi-monthly promotion schedule based on product quantity, and the possibility of bundling or collaborating for more variety.
• 34:00 – 36:00 — Discussion on ideal content cadence for course creators, emphasizing a balance between valuable content and promotional emails.
• 36:00 – 38:00 — Introduction to the advanced “pain-agitation-solution” email sequence as part of the promotional strategy, enhancing customer understanding and interest.
• 38:00 – 40:00 — Explanation of the promotional email sequence structure, including gain, logic, and fear approaches to address different customer decision-making styles.
• 40:00 – 42:00 — John describes the final emails in a promotional series, emphasizing the importance of value in each email, including case studies and FAQs, to maintain subscriber engagement.
• 42:00 – 44:00 — Discussion on the effectiveness of countdown timers in emails and on sales pages, with John advocating their use throughout the promotion week for a significant boost in sales.
• 44:00 – 46:00 — John explains the structure of the pain email in a promotional series, emphasizing the importance of framing the problem and setting up the series context.
• 46:00 – 48:00 — Zach and John discuss the application of the promotional email strategy for Black Friday sales, considering the potential for a downsell following the main offer.
• 48:00 – 50:00 — Further discussion on the content and structure of the pain and agitation emails, with suggestions for personalizing them with customer stories or case studies.
• 50:00 – 52:00 — John explains how to craft an ‘agitation’ email, using language learning as an example, and suggests providing a useful tip related to the course topic.
• 52:00 – 54:00 — Further discussion on the ‘solution’ email, focusing on providing practical tips and introducing the course as a more comprehensive solution.
• 54:00 – 56:00 — John discusses the importance of a regular email schedule, advising one or two emails per week during non-promotional periods.
• 56:00 – 58:00 — Strategies for creating engaging content during non-promotional weeks and tips for re-engaging subscribers when returning to a product in the promotional cycle.
• 58:00 – 1:00:00 — John discusses two approaches for cycling through promotional content: reusing the same emails or finding new hooks for each campaign.
• 1:00:00 – 1:02:00 — John suggests that promotional email sequences can be reused annually, and Zach agrees, considering it a more efficient approach.
• 1:02:00 – 1:04:00 — Zach contemplates the effectiveness of re-engineering campaigns annually and decides to recycle existing campaigns with minor tweaks.
• 1:04:00 – 1:06:00 — Discussion about the high proportion of recent email list subscribers who make purchases, reinforcing the value of reusing campaigns.
• 1:06:00 – 1:08:00 — John and Zach discuss the simplicity of sending broadcasts to the entire email list, with exceptions for new subscribers and previous buyers of the promoted course.
• 1:08:00 – 1:10:00 — John shares benchmark metrics for email list conversion rates, sales page to checkout conversions, and upsell success rates.
• 1:10:00 – 1:13:29 — Zach wraps up the interview with John, who shares information about their AI coach tool based on chat GPT, available at Data Driven Marketing. Zach reflects on key takeaways and the value of the episode for course creators.