7-Figure Case Studies: Promotional Strategies to 10x Sales & Double Revenue

0:00If you've been feeling stuck in your business and wondering if you're the reason it's not growing faster, I have something for you. I'm hosting a free, no-pitch, live class called Three Money Beliefs That Made Me Millions. And I'm sharing the exact mindset shifts that helped me go from million-dollar years to million-dollar months. This isn't fluff. It is a surprising strategy that changed everything for me, and I want to share it with you. Like I said, no pitch, no fluff, just you and me talking about how we shift our beliefs around money to make you millions. Save your seat now at jasminestar.com forward slash millions.

0:32I can't wait to see you there. Welcome to the Jasmine Starr Show, where today we're going to be doing something a little bit different. I'm going to be recording this podcast in two different timeframes. So you're going to hear this episode debut as one podcast. And if you're watching on YouTube, it will be one video, but we're going to be recording them at different times so that we actually get a full holistic look at what it means to have a series of tests and being okay as an entrepreneur. So with the permission of two phenomenal entrepreneurs, I'm going to be talking about their businesses as case studies.

1:06So we're going to have an inside look into a seven-figure entrepreneur creating a strategic test. Now, the goal for this podcast would be for you to learn how to create a strategic test and understand the best ways to grow for your business. Now, here again, we're getting super meta. We're going to test this type of show on the podcast the same way that entrepreneurs are going to be testing some of the ideas that we have laid out for them. If you don't like this test, let me know. If you like this test, let me know. We actually just use this feedback to gauge what you find the most valuable and what we can make more of.

1:40So on that note, let's dive in. Okay. So when we build our business, it is easy to think that we're doing it wrong. It's easy to think that we're going to make the wrong decision. And it's easy to think that there is a right way of doing it. Resist the temptation to think that something is easy or to think that somebody else has it different. They don't and we don't. And that just takes a mental mind space. Now, there is a difference between a theory and a test. So here's the exact definition of a theory. A theory is a systems of ideas to explain something. A theory is a systems of ideas to explain something.

2:23Now, here's the difference in definition of a test. A test is a procedure intended to establish the reliability of something, especially before widespread use. Establish the reliability. So in my mind, I believe entrepreneurs should be running a series of tests. Why? We want to know the reliability of something before widespread use. And widespread use is like a theory. Once we have a lot of tests, we're going to have a very strong theory. My belief in business is I want to do as many tests as possible before I have a theory. So when we started launching Social Curator, it was tempting to have a theory of how we should launch it.

3:05But instead, we decided to have this series of tests. And our test was, well, we can launch this by way of challenges, an email challenge, an in-app challenge. We can launch it by way of Evergreen. We can launch it by way of paid ads strictly to cold audiences. We can launch this by way of email funnels, by boot camps, by webinars. So what did we do? a series of tests, tests, tests, tests, tests, over years to figure out what is our theory of how we should best launch it. And so I work alongside seven-figure entrepreneurs, and there was a conversation that she had asked in the group, and she had said, what strategies have you implemented that has contributed to higher conversions?

3:43Now, instead of me telling her what to do, I said, well, tell me what your current ideas are. What are you currently doing right now? What is your mechanism? What is your mode? What is your launch strategy? What are you doing? And she said that right now, she will run ads to a free opt-in. And then number one, she has an order bump. Somebody can pay to have a transaction to add on something to that freebie. Number two is they will get another email with a 20-minute tripwire for a bigger discount to join her community. And then number three, if they don't during that 20-minute tripwire, they highlight an exclusive offer for members only that will drive somebody in during a seven-day cart promotion.

4:28So we went from ad to freebie to cart bump, small buy, to a 20-minute tripwire discount into the membership. And if they don't take that up, then they go into an exclusive offer. So that's what she explained to me, and then I asked her clarifying questions. So if you're following along, I would ask you, what is your current offer? Like what, how are you selling the thing that you're selling? And once you tell me, I'm probably going to ask the following questions. Number one, what have you sold in the past? Like, are you selling the same thing? Are we comparing apples to apples? Number two, is this a paid promotion only?

5:05Or are you going to add on any sort of education value add? Now, what she told me is there will be no education. There will be no challenge. There'll be no webinar. There'll be no bootcamp. There'll be no like warm Q &A, get to know you. No, it is literally an ad to freebie and then the rest of the funnel is fully automated. But I would ask you, are you running ads to conversion? Are you doing ads to a warmup, a get to know you, build know, like, and trust, then conversion? Question number three, three, what is one thing that you're paying customers are asking for? What is one thing that you're paying customers are asking for that you don't currently provide?

5:46And then number four, what do people wish you sold? So as you're going through and you're saying, hey, Jasmine, how do I increase my conversions? And I'm a seven-figure entrepreneur and I'm trying to scale to eight. I want you to answer those four questions after you told me how you sell. Okay, so these clarifying questions help me understand, number one, what was her prior test? I needed to understand what has she tried because I don't want to have a theory. I want to know what have all of your tests. Now let's add some more tests before we come up with theory. And number two, I wanted to know her prior test and I wanted to know her current theory.

6:21Her prior test was, this is how we've always done it. And my current theory is, I'm going to do it again, but I hope for higher conversions. And I thought to myself, we don't get higher conversions by doing the same thing if you're not happy with the current conversion. So let's go back through and I'm gonna give you how she answered those four questions. Question number one was, what did she sell in the past as a promotion to boost conversions? She wanted higher conversions. And so she says, okay, I offer a 20 % off the annual membership. So how do you get someone to buy? She says, well, I was offering a discount.

6:56Cool. Number two, is this a paid promotion only? And she said, yes. Like I said, it's paid ads to a freebie, then the tripwire. And if they don't take within that 20 minutes, then they're going to go into a discount into the annual offer. Number three. Oh, before I get to number three, she said, okay, this is how it currently is. Jasmine, do I hear you say to me that I should be having some sort of educational component, somewhere that people can get to know me or get to see like my point of view? And my answer was, generally speaking, yes. It's not a hard and fast rule, but if you want to increase your conversions and you're doing paid traffic to cold audiences, you will warm them up by them getting to know you, them getting your insights, them understanding you.

7:39Question number three, what is something that people are always asking for? And she said for her offer that people are always asking for gifting ideas. I was like, cool, made a little note. Question number four, what is something people wish you sold? And she said, very specific DIY projects. So now I said, okay, I have known your previous tests. I know your current theory and you want to boost conversions. So the original question was all about conversions, but I wanted to immediately compare results. I want to put a apples to apples comparison. I want to put a test versus a test. So I had said in the past, you have tried at least three times to do paid ads into an expiring tripwire.

8:26Cool. You have that data. What I'm inviting you to do is to do an educational offer. I want you to do a freebie to a live class or just run ads to a live class. Have them come in and have them see what you are about. And of course, she was like, okay, a little bit uncomfortable. This is a little bit different than what she's normally. And I said, fine, but everything's a test. Everything's a test before we build out a theory for then how you scale. So because this entrepreneur was willing to test, I wanted to know the conversion rate from her previous efforts. Because I said, after we tried this new thing, I want to compare.

9:02And here's the thing. Does it make me a little bit nervous to make this podcast into two parts? Yeah, because you're going to know if she succeeded or not. You're going to know if this test was assessed. You're going to know if like what I'm saying or my advice or my thoughts are worth their winning gold. Her previous conversion, when she was just doing paid ads, she would have a 10 % conversion. So people who she brought in from the freebie to the tripwire, she was having a 10 % conversion into the annual membership. And her cost per lead was$1.04. So we're just getting data. We're just going to come back and the next time I record this, we're going to come back and we're going to compare.

9:41Now, once I have those test one results, I now know what I need to see from test too for it to perform better. Now, what I want to do is I want to use the same process that I just went through with a service base. She has a membership and I want to use the same test and I want to optimize it for a product-based entrepreneur. Here is another entrepreneur who has a seven-figure business and she's trying to scale to eight and she says, I think I need to work in a slightly different way. How do I optimize for conversions? Now, not all businesses are the same, so my advice was shaped a little bit differently.

10:16So I was working with an amazing company and they were having, or they are having, because I'm recording this before Black Friday, they're having a holiday Black Friday and she's running ads. In the past, she has run ads on platforms like Etsy and Amazon. And I said, there's this huge opportunity for you to run meta ads and perhaps even TikTok ads. Now this entrepreneur wanted to run ideas on meta and she wanted to run them directly to her website. And I freaking love this idea because when you're running ads on Amazon or Etsy, you're running ads and those conversions happen on the platform. So Etsy and Amazon get to keep all of the customer data.

10:59They have all of that information and you as the business owner, well, you just become the supplier. But when you're running ads on Meta, Meta sends that customer to your website. When they get to your website, you have all of the customer data. You get to see how your products are converting because you're going to pixel every single one of those products and all of those pages. You're going to see how much cart sale is. You're going to have that customer information so that you have their data so that you can email them in the future or provide them with better ads or have a navigation where you can continuously follow up later on.

11:29So why I love this is the customer data is her own and she can build a newsletter database of customers who've already bought from her that on her website, when she's using Meta to go to her website, she can have bundling and upsells. So if you're on Amazon, there's not an ability for her to upsell within her own product suite. On her website, if somebody brought product X, she can say, well, would you like to buy product Y for a 10 % discount? Oh, bundling and upsells. I also like that if somebody went to her website and they filled up a cart, but they didn't buy, you can run retargeting ads to cart abandon.

12:03These are so effective during the holidays. You can also have retargeting ads. If somebody went to a product page and they didn't buy, you can follow them up and around on Meta to go back to those products before. And there is a difference on Meta. When you go to Etsy and when you go to Amazon, that's intent-based marketing. Somebody is going and looking for that particular product on Amazon, and then maybe your listing comes up. They know what they're looking for. But on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok, that's stumble-upon marketing, right? You have search-based marketing. I know what I'm looking for and stumble upon.

12:37Oh, I didn't know that I wanted this product. but Meta served it up to me. That's really, really powerful to get into an untapped market, which is why on Meta and on TikTok, you can run those ads directly to their website. So I was like, dude, let's try this. We're going to create a test. Maybe running ads on Amazon and Etsy is more beneficial, but we don't know until we try. So we needed to get the metrics from her previous test, the test that she ran on Etsy and Amazon. So the Etsy conversions from her ads were about 10%. Now her cost of customer acquisition was$9 and the average order on Etsy was$41.

13:15Now I'm sharing these stats because when I come back and I record this, I want to know, was our theory that we can have more opportunities to have a higher cart order from a meta ad? That's what my theory is. So I want to share a couple things that this entrepreneur had shared. I have almost zero control of the ads that they show on Etsy. Hmm. On Meta, you have a lot of control. On the old Etsy algorithm, she said, I ranked well on page one. I had good SEO. I had good photos. Now the new search algorithm on Etsy is personalized. So what I see on page one and what you see in page one and what she sees in page one, they're going to be all different.

13:54And that's really hurt the effectiveness of her ads. and the only thing that she can control on Etsy is she can control how much she spends per day and which listings that she can advertise. Great, now we have a data set. Now, the reason I'm walking through each of these entrepreneurs, we have a service-based entrepreneur with a membership and then we have a product-based business owner. I want to walk you through two different tests that we are applying to these businesses so that in the future, we take the lessons from these tests and we apply them in the future for better results. is she or any of these entrepreneurs taking a risk by testing something new?

14:33Yes. But is it such a risk that it's going to be damaging to what they had done previously? No, because they can still run those other tests. This entrepreneur is still going to run ads on Etsy and Amazon. Do your thing, honey. Give yourself a part of that budget to go towards meta and let them compete ad to ad. The other person who is doing cold audiences to a tripwire, hey, run that, go ahead, but also give them an offer to have a live training to see if that converts better. Now, going back in data and analytics to the product-based business owner on Amazon, her ads were converting on Amazon at 6.5%.

15:10Her cost of customer acquisition was$8, and the average order on Amazon was$36. Great. Now I have the data and analytics that I want to use to beat. If Meta can have a higher conversion than 10%, if Meta can have a lower cost of acquisition than$8, and if for the average cart order is over 41, boom, done. We found another avenue for this entrepreneur to really scale. So here's what happens when we test. This is what I told these two entrepreneurs. And as you're listening and watching this, this is what's going to happen. Number one, the logical part of your brain. Okay, you can tell yourself, oh, this test, this test is going to make me stronger.

15:54The logical part of your brain is, well, we're going to even get better in the future based on the results that we get from this test. The logical part of your brain is, oh, this is all part of the game. We're just learning how to become stronger players. That's the logical part. Now, let's talk about when you test the illogical part. This is actually called the amygdala. This is like where fear, when you want to know where does fear reside in my brain, it's dwelling in the amygdala. What it's going to be firing as you're making these tests, we can get worse results. The amygdala is telling you this could ruin our revenue goals.

16:26The fear is telling you Q4 funds, they're going to have to float us for Q1 and Q2 of next year. Are we going to pull through? The amygdala, your fear is telling you, does this put our business at risk. When you have two sides of your brain, the logical and the illogical part, I want you, if and when you experience this, I'm going to recommend to you Dr. Amen's framework to get rid of ANTS. ANTS is an acronym for Automatic Negative Thoughts. How do you get rid of those thoughts? When you're doing something really difficult in your business, when you're trying something new, I want you to ask yourself the four following questions to transform the way that you're thinking.

17:05When you're testing and you have negative thoughts, you're going to say, number one, is this true? Is this negative thought true? So let's go back to those negative thoughts. We could get worse results. Is that true? Like, is it positively true? No, it's not true because you don't actually have the results yet. Negative thought. This could ruin our revenue goals. But is that true? Is it positively true? If it's not true, we got to move on. Let's ask yourself no, it's true. No, you can't know if it's going to ruin your results. You can't know if you're going to get worse results. So let's move on to question number three to get rid of negative thoughts when you're testing.

17:46How do I react when I think this thought? When I am worried about getting worse results, when I'm worried about the income, when I'm worried about how things are going to fare, how do I act? Worried, stressed, overwhelmed? That is actually going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy to you not getting the things that you want. So if you don't like the way that you're acting when you think those thoughts and they're not true, then you have to move on to question number four. Who would I be without this thought? If I did not think I was going to get bad results, if I didn't think that we were going to be in financial ruin, who would I be?

18:21I would be confident. I would be pushing forward. I would feel that I knew the next best step to take. So as you and as these two entrepreneurs are working towards testing something into the holiday season, I, just like you, I'm going to be awaiting unbated breath. At the time of this recording, I have told these two entrepreneurs the very thing I just told you. We don't know what's going to happen. But guess what? Unless we know that for sure, we have a shadow of a doubt that it's going to be ruined and it's going to be terrible, then we're going to act like it's a success. Because how we act and how we show up in the middle of our business as we are testing and trying, as we apply to build a new theory, is going to determine its outcome.

19:09And I am not to say we're going to forsake all other avenues of previous promotions and lessons. Let them run. But give us time and space to test something new so that our theory of expansion and scaling becomes true and grows into fruition. So what we're going to do is we're going to cut this episode now. And when we come back, we're going to give all the results and we're going to tell you how the results fared. But let me just tell you that you and these entrepreneurs will have a decision on how you show up. I hope that you choose to step into the faith and the confidence it will take to turn your tests and buttress your theories.

19:46I'll see you guys again on the flip side. Welcome back. Y 'all, this is the first time I have ever recorded a two-part podcast episode. So we recorded part one. Y 'all know. You guys are listening and watching. I know. I don't have to explain this, right? Like, I was going to give a recap, but you guys are literally coming off the recap. We're months into this, y 'all. Okay. So let me know if you like this format. I had this idea that I kind of wanted to do a case study. No, I'm sorry. I'm going to correct myself. I just said I kind of had an idea. I did not kind of have an idea. I had an idea.

20:20I'm not going to diminutize or make small or apologize for an idea that I have that I am testing. I had an idea, period. I had an idea that I wanted to do a case study of sorts with mastermind members, but I also wanted to give you a sneak peek of a behind the scenes of a promotion. So y 'all know part one, it was all guesstimations, hope, you know, this is what we're going to do. And then there's reality. So I'm excited to share their outcomes, but please remember two things with what I'm about to share with you. Number one, promotions hardly ever go as planned. When you're in a promotion, it reveals systemic and systematic gaps in the business.

21:01It also showcases ways for you to grow, but that only happens when you are in it. And when you are in it, there will always be unexpected hurdles. So number one, promotions hardly ever go as planned. And number two, it ain't over till it's over. That's it. It is not over until it's over. And if you do not have the guts to play out until the final buzzer rings, don't start the game. Oh, why am I coming in with an attitude? Why? I think, y 'all, I just had too much caffeine this morning. We're going to start. What I want to do is I want to give a recap. I shared with you the stories from Amanda of Bloom Owl.

21:38and I shared the stories with Abby of Abby Kirsten Collections. So I want to be very, very clear here. I didn't use their names. And as I was going through and watching what they were doing, I said, ladies, can you please allow me to share what it is you are doing? Because there is no embarrassment or shame. There should just be sheer pride in how you guys are showing up. And they agreed. And so I want to say thank you to them. So I shared their stories in the past. And Amanda of Bloom L, she has a product-based business. So first part, we're going to focus on what happened with Amanda. Second part, we're going to be focusing on what happened with Abby.

22:17Now, I'm going to be sharing legitimately from their words. I was communicating with them in Slack and I was getting updates and we were kind of like pivoting and changing things on the go. So Amanda, Monday, November 25th, this is before Black Friday. She was like, here's a few key takeaways. Black Friday prep needs to be done way sooner and not on the fly. Number two, I need a more seasoned team to support the momentum because what was happening in her business right now, the momentum started picking up. So this was great until she realized, oh my God, I need a seasoned team and we don't actually have everybody that we need right now.

22:56But she said, lesson learned, I am building this into next year. Number three, the systems I'm putting in place are killer and are going to support in a bigger way and an easier way in 2025. But I'm touching the stove to figure out what systems I need. Like, when I read that, I was like, yes, but we all do that. We don't know the systems that we need until we have touched the stove. And I'm so happy that she's identifying this. And she says, it's always through fire that I figure out what works best. And then there's this different pressure that it becomes a must to find a better way. And the drastic changes have to happen overnight.

23:36She says that in the middle of her launch, it changed from we need to do this to we need to do this right now. Have you ever been there? I was reading this and I was like, Amanda, you got this. She's like, I don't think this is the update you were looking for. But there's just a few thoughts. This year, we just crossed the million dollar mark on Amazon only. and that's prior to this year's Christmas forecast. She does the vast amount of her business during Christmas. I feel like Black Friday 2024 prep is gonna be exponentially higher and it pays off this year, but what it's really doing is paying off for the groundwork to play at a different level next year.

24:12These results and what I'm learning now go beyond Black Friday. Saturday, November 30th, the day after Black Friday. Here's my quick update. Etsy stayed the same as last year, which is a win because we've been down significantly year over year on Etsy. And on Amazon, we did 10x. You guys, I literally, like, look at this on camera. I have chills. She 10x'd what she did on Amazon. That is mind-blowing. How many of us can say we had a 10x growth? She said, I hit my stretch projection for November yesterday. So anything that we do today is gravy on top. She was like, but here's what I didn't do. I did not get my website launched.

24:54I want to do a proper launch and I want to have it ready to go. So remember in part one, she had said she wants to get her website up and going because she wants to get that data analytics, that user, the retargeting. She can't do that on third-party sites like Etsy and Amazon. She's like, so this year I'm going to do it. She's like, I didn't. Okay, so I didn't have a strong enough team support to support all of the channels in the way that I wanted. She's like, I had to make that call. With that said, I am still going to be promoting on our website and packaging and laying the ground over for next year's.