Emails That Sell #35: How To Sell Without Discounts (Blueprint)

Love him or hate him, one thing I respect about Bryan Johnson is his unapologetic nature of doing things differently.

His brand Blueprint’s email marketing strategy is no exception. While everyone else is busy living in Figma hell, designing 25% OFF billboards, Blueprint is out here sending emails like Bryan wrote them himself in between his infrared sauna sessions.

This email campaign specifically is a great example of how to sell without discounts. It’s a bit of a long one, but there are so many golden nuggets to take away here. 

Enjoy!

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Key takeaways:

• The subject line sells the click. It’s curiosity-based and makes the reader go “hmm… what drink are we talking about?”

• Everyone on Bryan Johnson’s email list wants to live “a longer life.” Adding this benefit to the subject line is smart.

• Educate, then sell. When you give value first, whether in the form of information or entertainment, your readers are more open to being sold to. This email specifically challenges the notion that “all matcha is healthy.”

• The best marketing doesn’t look like marketing. When you open the email, there’s no promos or “the best matcha ever” billboards in your face. It doesn’t read like a sales email at all (but it still links to the product multiple times). This breaks the conventional marketing pattern.

• The more links, the better. When you write longer emails, sprinkle in links in the middle. Don’t assume the reader will read all of it and then click at the end. 

• Scarcity creates desire and removes the need for any discounts. Most companies don’t test heavy metals in their matcha. Blueprint does, which immediately makes them the only credible option.

• Talk about the process. You might think all your customers have the same process, but none of them talk about it. This can easily 10x your selling point. 

• The social proof is the icing on the cake. The review tackles multiple sales objections a customer reading this would have. 

• And finally, the Rule of One is fully on display. Blueprint picked one product, and wrote a campaign around it. 

What’s next:

Pick one product you sell. Write an email campaign around the sourcing process. Then transition to the sale.