My hair’s gone and it’s never coming back

Last Saturday, something happened that I’ve been dreading:

I visited my barber for the first time in a loooooong time.

She expertly wrangled my 16-inch long hair into 5 ponytails (boy, did that look silly in the mirror) and unceremoniously chopped them off at the base. Then I took that severed hair and stuffed it into an envelope, along with a single slip of paper, and sent it off to a mysterious processing facility in Hereford, England.

Why?

Well, for the last 2.5 years, I’ve been carefully growing my hair out with the goal of giving it to charity. You see, there’s an organisation called ‘The Little Princess Trust’, and they will take your hair and turn it into a wig for a kid who’s lost their own hair to cancer or alopecia or something.

To be honest, I’m sitting here feeling a little naked without my locks...

But until a few years ago, I never realised just how much effort long-haired creatures (or as some call them, women) have to put into conditioning, trimming, and brushing their hair to stop it from looking awful. It's exhausting. And I’ve decided I definitely don’t want to ever grow it out again.

Anyway...

I’m telling you about my hair-gain and hair-loss journey not to brag about how I’m super amazing and generous (although I am)...

But because something interesting happened during all this that could be highly useful for you and your pet business.

You see, when I first had the idea to give my hair to charity, I figured I’d just grow it out for a year or so and send it in with a small donation of 50 pounds or so. Job done.

But then The Little Princess Trust sent me a large envelope in the mail.

And inside was a bunch of material that nudged me into changing my plans.

First, they told me how they get lots of hair sent to them which is 7-12 inches long. And, while that's appreciated, they’re really more desperate for longer hair, so those sweet little girls with cancer can enjoy having long hair like their friends. That was Nudge #1 – which made me decide to grow my hair for a much longer period.

Then, they educated me about the true cost of making a professional-grade wig. It’s a highly skilled job, and takes a long time. My planned donation of 50 pounds wouldn’t even get them 1/10th of the way there. That was Nudge #2 – which led to me asking some of my friends and family for help.

Nothing they sent me in that envelope was “expertly-persuasive copywriting”. And it didn’t need to be.

It just told me a few facts, a few stories of people they’d helped in the past, and nudged me in a direction. And so I said “okay” and decided to do more for them.

It worked because, once someone has committed to opening their wallet for you, it often only takes a little nudge for them to happily open it even wider.

Can you think of any ways you can use this same “nudge principle” in your pet business?

Here’s a few examples to get your noodle cookin’...

If you sell water fountains for cats, you could offer them a little 6-pack of water filters in the checkout cart. Even small upsells can add up fast.

Or, if you sell someone a dog training course, you could have an automated email ask them if they’d like to upgrade their order to a deluxe bundle of courses, or your 1-to-1 coaching program.

A certain percentage of people will say yes to these nudges, for no other reason than because you asked.

These little nudges are easy to put in place, and they can (with not a word of exaggeration) multiply your bottom line.

And then the world’s your mollusc.

Anyway, that's enough for today. If you want to learn more email secrets, then sign up for my newsletter by clicking the button below.