Laura Belgray Made Me do This (Which Will Be Good For You in The End)…

I thought I was (all but) finished creating my new program, “Email Marketing Power.”

But I’m not. And I blame Laura Belgray. 

Here’s the story…

I recently saw Laura walk through the “thank you” emails she sends after people download a freebie. 

In one those emails she promotes a paid service — her 60-Minute Makeover. 

But she doesn’t want to include that promotion for those who previously purchased the Makeover. 

So she created different messages for different audiences — one for those who haven’t purchased the makeover and another for those who have. 

Makes sense. But it also seems like a time-consuming pain. 

Laura told us it’s not a pain for her because her email software has a feature called “conditional content.”

She creates a SINGLE email, adds a text block for those who haven’t bought the Makeover and adds a different block for those who have bought the Makeover.

Then she designates conditions for those blocks: Show the first block to those who don’t have the Makeover. Show the second block to those who do. 

When she presses “send,” the system automatically creates and delivers an email with the right message for each recipient. 

“This is something (our email marketing software) makes really easy, SUPER easy,” Laura said. “We do use conditional a lot. So one group sees one block of text, another group sees another block of text. It’s a great thing to be able to use rather than send separate emails to each one.”

Laura Belgray is one of the galaxy’s smartest and best email marketers. 

As she waxed lovingly about conditional content (and everyone in the Zoom room oohed and ahhed), I thought…

Hey! That was MY idea!

Around 2004, we introduced conditional content at MarketVolt, the email software company I founded in 2001. 

We competed with industry giants like Constant Contact and Mailchimp. And we were always looking for an edge. 

When we introduced the feature, I didn’t know of another company offering it. Mailchimp and Constant Contact didn’t have it. Infusionsoft didn’t have it. ClickFunnels and HubSpot didn’t even exist. 

I don’t want this to be one of those “Al-Gore-Invented-the-Internet” moments. 

I don’t claim to have invented conditional content. Someone probably came up with the idea before I did.

But when I designed the feature for MarketVolt, I didn’t know of anyone else who had it. 

Fast-forward 10 years to the day when MarketVolt prospect Jane cried happy tears because our software was going to make her life so much easier (I told that story in yesterday’s email). 

Conditional content was one of the features that made her cry. 

Even then, very few email engines offered the feature. Even today, it’s rare.

Laura told us she has many complaints about her email marketing software. But she loves that one feature…

…that feature I added to my email engine almost 20 years ago. 

So Laura got me thinking…

…about all the software features I designed, clients, I served, email campaigns I managed, and messages I sent…

…in the 22+ years since I founded MarketVolt. And…

I panicked. 

Right there, in Laura Belgray’s Zoom room, I got short of breath. My temperature began to rise. My heart began to pound, and I thought…

“I’ve left too much out of Email Marketing Power.” 

Email Marketing Power is my new, everything-you-need-to-know program to help you become an email marketing, client-attracting master. 

I thought I was 95% finished when I showed up in Laura’s Zoom room. 

But when Laura gushed about conditional content, I began thinking about all I’d done and all I know regarding email marketing, and I realized…

I’ve left too much out. There’s more to share. 

So I’m going to spend the next few weeks reworking the program…

…adding things I left out…

…including a bunch of stuff about how ChatGPT (and other AI technology) can help you save time, spark ideas, overcome writer’s block, and generally help you with all things marketing — including email. 

I previously mentioned I would release Email Marketing Power this month. And I was on track to do that…

…until I went to Laura’s Zoom room. 

So, I’ll speak for Laura and say: We apologize. Email Marketing Power will not launch this month. 

But you’ll thank us later because when it launches, it will be the biggest, bestest, everything-you-need-to-knowest email marketing program in the galaxy. 

(When it comes to email marketing, I should know.) 

Good things come to those who wait. 

Stay tuned.