An awesome website popped up while I was doom-scrolling on Facebook today.
It’s called The End of the World Reading Club.
They sell dystopian mystery book boxes. Each box has an apocalyptic or dystopian novel, 3 -5 surprise story gifts, and a bookish gift–like a bookmark, edible or educational item to help the reader survive an apocalypse.
I thought the whole concept was great.
It reminded me of how marketing guru Rich Schefren once used a mystery box upsell. An upsell, in case you’ve not heard of the term, is when someone buys something from your site and instead of sending them to a thank you page,
you immediately send them to another sales page.
That sales page has another offer on. Sometimes it’s a product with a heavy discount, or something that you can’t
buy elsewhere.
Rich Schefren offered the ‘mystery box’ upsell for $29. He didn’t tell anyone what was in the box, only that
the box was worth at least 10 times the asking price.
Rich’s upsell converted like crazy. He said it was something like 78% — which is 2x or 3x what you’d expect from
a typical upsell.
I think it’s such a cool idea for indie authors
Just imagine the buzz it could create for a book launch, promo, special offer only available on your website, or if you do in-person events.
Instead of just selling signed copies of books, you could provide an entire experience wrapped around the world you’ve created.
You could add stuff like character-inspired stuff, or even themed snacks – anything that adds value and enhances the reader’s experience of our work.
Curiosity is one of the biggest psychological triggers used in marketing.
There’s no denying that marketing can be tough, but this idea could be really interesting for readers.
If you want to check out the mystery box website, here’s the link: https://www.theendoftheworldreadingclub.com/.
Feel free to brainstorm some ideas and adapt this for your own promotions.
If you have questions or just wanna chat about it, I’d love to hear what you think.
Angie