How To Run Email Marketing Sales That Actually Make Money

Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

Your customers are getting bored of your sales.

Every brand runs the same 20% off, 72-hour flash sale, countdown timer, same everything. Your customers have seen it a hundred times and they're not falling for it anymore.

So we started adding twists to our sales…

Here are a few that are working right now.

1. Store Credit

Give people “store credit” instead of a discount.

Economically and logistically, it's the same thing… a discount code.

But psychologically it hits different... it feels like money that's already theirs rather than a deal they have to think about.

Brez does this for almost every sale they run. Even their BOGO was framed as "place an order and we'll double it for free".

Same offer but different framing to help it stand out

2. First 100 Sale Instead Of 72 Hours

This one changed how I think about flash sales.

Instead of "72-hour flash sale" try "first 100 orders only."

When you say 72 hours, the customer thinks "I have time I’ll just buy later" and then forgets about it.

But when you say “first 100 only!”, they can't come back later. It's now or never for them.

Simple swap in the copy, but completely different conversion behavior.

3. Order Lottery

Not technically a discount… but it works better.

Would you rather have a measly 10% OFF or a chance at getting your order completely free?

This gamified approach gets people off the fence who were already thinking about buying but needed one more push.

Rips every single time we run it.

(Should be known that this is technically a form of gambling and sweepstakes so look into the legalities on your own).

4. Mystery Discount

Instead of telling them the discount upfront, make them click and add the code to checkout to reveal it.

Curiosity gets people to engage!

This works particularly well on abandonment flows when the offer is already in their cart and they just have to click.

5. The "U Up?" Sale

This one's fun. Send an email at 9 or 10 PM with the subject line: "u up?"

The whole email is 25% off but it's only live until midnight.

For anyone who opens it the next morning... you email them with "you snooze you lose, but here's 15% off since you missed the party."

Late-night crowd gets the better deal for acting fast. Morning crowd still gets something so they don't feel completely left out. And the whole thing feels like a text from a friend instead of another promo email.

Final Thoughts

Most of your calendar should still be non-discount content. But when you do run a sale, make it something people actually want to open. The offer usually isn't the problem… it’s just that you’re running boring shit!

If you want a team running creative campaigns like this for your brand, book a call with us here:, book a call with us here.

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand:
Luxury Life Butter

Email Design:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11UVkt8jH-9dYJFLuTw4_X7wIGdpw_QLD/view?usp=drive_link

Notes:
Luxury Life turned a testimonial email into a fake r/Fragrance Reddit thread with upvotes, comments, and a "join the conversation" button. Works because it borrows the credibility of the one platform people actually trust for unfiltered product reviews.

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max Sturtevant

P.S
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