An almost fascistic little email secret that steamrolls buyer indecision…

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ANGELA: If you were on death row and today’s the day of your execution… what would your last meal be?

T.L.: What the fuck kind of question is that?

ANGELA: I’m just trying to get to the bottom of your favourite meal. If I ask: “What is your favourite?” you’re gonna hem & haw about it. “Maybe it’s steak, but I sure love pizza, maybe it’s fajitas.” But when I cut it down to “you get one meal, and then you’re getting electrocuted?” People get real decisive.

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(The above is from an episode of Paramount’s “Landman”.)

Indeed, most people are chronically indecisive – reminds me of this Redditor’s anonymous confession I saw a while back:

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I’m a 26-year-old male and I have a problem with indecisiveness, a banal example: when I have a choice between two options and it doesn’t matter if it’s a small or big thing, I overanalyze both and then I end up undecided. I’m so sick of that.

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He struggles with analysis-paralysis with a mere two options…

His brain would probably explode if he saw the emails in this space.

The vast majority of supplement brands – at least in my 9+ years of experience – offer/promote multiple supplements in their emails.

I just went into my inbox and opened one randomly – I counted 7 CTAs/links for different supplements: 3 protein powders, 2 pre-workouts, 1 creatine and 1 fat-burner.

Asking people to rank a long list of options…

(And anything above one is long – for reasons I’ll cover in a second…)

…creates HEAPS of cognitive load.

Each new supplement you put in front of someone doesn’t create just one new comparison… It has to be compared with EVERY supplement already there.

• If you offer just one supplement to buy in your email? There’s nothing to compare.
• If you add supplement 2? That’s 1 new comparison.
• If you add supplement 3? That’s 2 new comparisons.
• If you add supplement 4? That’s 3 new comparisons.
• If you add supplement 5? That’s 4 new comparisons.

The number of comparisons someone has to make increases QUADRATICALLY – not linearly.

So in the case of that email where they offered me 7 different supplements to buy?

I’d have to make 21 comparisons!

“Is this cheaper than that one?” “Does this have more protein?” “Which flavour is better?” “Which one mixes better?” “Does this one cause bloating?” “Which one has fewer calories?”

Most people don’t want to strain their brain too much – EVEN around the things they love and/or are passionate about.

(The clinical term for this is “cognitive-demand avoidance”.)

So don’t go running around with the logic of: “They’re on my newsletter, which means they want some supplements, which means they’ll carefully pay attention to my email since they’re interested in it!”

That’ll get your conversions killed.

The sharper knife in the drawer – if it isn’t crystal clear by now – is to just offer them ONE supplement to buy per email.

i.e. remove the decision for them – inject a dash of benevolent fascism into their buying process.

(Never have I thought I’d write a sentence like that in my entire life, but here we are…)

That’s it.

It’s arguably the lowest-hanging email fruit since it doesn’t require you to learn and/or build something new.

Anywho:

If you want the more soup-to-nuts version behind this policy of selling one supplement per email…

Hurry over to the Blind Spot #6 chapter in my book – it’s one of the most vital cogs behind my Email Storyselling approach.

And when you also pair it with, for instance, what I covered in the Blind Spot #2 chapter?

Well…