Headline: 45 pt, color #0F0F0F, line-height 1.05; add an odd digit and a punchy verb ("swap", "triple", "slice").
Sub-head: 22 px, ≤35 chars, repeats the numeric gain to create semantic consistency; place 25 px below headline to stay inside the seven-degree foveal zone.
Hero visual: 580 × 420 px, left-aligned, 0.18-s lazy; eye-tracking shows three-quarters of testers look here before scrolling.
First micro-proof: one-line review, 14 px, 87 % contrast, positioned 85 px from the top to intercept the natural Z-pattern drop.
Price anchor: show the crossed-out figure in #555, new figure in 24 px heavy; keep both on the same baseline to slash cognitive drift to 0.4 s.
Button: 45 px high, red #F33, slight 2-px round, label ≤
Show a trio of plans, but color the centerpiece the identical shade to the checkout bar and pin a "Most Popular" ribbon tilted 15 degrees. Stripe data from 50 k subscriptions reveal 64 % grab the anchored middle, pushing ARPU 31 % above the baseline.
Fire up a 15-minute Google Drive Direct Link Generator sprint each morning: pick the bottom-dwelling card, craft a 24-hour experiment that costs <$50 and needs ≤5 testers. Tape the experiment protocol on the back of the card; hang the card under the grid so the front stays visible. Record outcome data directly on the front with a red Sharpie: "0/5 agree" or "3/5 paid". When a card collects 5 valid data points, move it to the "finished" ribbon: lime if validated, red if killed.
Constraints force clarity: three words squeeze into the 1.3-second window the MIT Media Lab caught for first-impression formation. Delete articles, auxiliary verbs, and proper names; cortex activity jumps 22 % when a micro-story skips predictable grammar, UCLA fMRI scans show.
Burn a 3-Word Micro-Story on Your First Hello
Kick off with a 3-word sentence that packs a verb, a noun, and a twist. Data from 1,200 elevator pitches at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 show introductions framed this way tripled follow-up contacts versus plain name-plus-title leads.
Set up a 50/50 Google Optimize variant for each SKU group; run until 95 % significance or 1,000 conversions. Export the click-to-checkout funnel; keep the verb only if step-2 rate lifts ≥8 %. Rotate monthly–fatigue appears at 38 days on average.
Body length: 412–437 words. Reddit algorithm buries longer entries.
Kick off with two numbers: subs gained + hours sunk. Example: "1,847 fresh readers. 11 logged hours."
Paste a dash grab of the Substack stats (blur revenue, leave the cohort chart). Album link, cap of two images, PNG below 300 KB so Apollo browsers don’t peace-out.
Next paragraph: bullet the three steps. Step 2 must contain the anchor "squeeze URL" clickable to your lander. Skip bit.ly—Reddit kills them.
Wrap the post with a 5-word CTA: "Claim the same PDF here" pointing again to the squeeze page. Repeat link = 19 % click bump from an April 2024 test.
Day before: feed the text to AmputatorBot to strip AMP, slipping past auto-mod flag.
Schedule via Later for Reddit; set it for Monday 09:00 EST. Data says: 1.4 k online at that slot, 68 % US, 11 % UK—fits the buyer persona.
Right after publishing, drop once with the template URL on a public Notion page (indexes faster than Drive and bypasses mega-thread spam).
20 min later, tackle the first three questions; each reply grabs 3–5 upvotes from your Slack pod (5 members, 3 accounts each, rotate weekly). Keeps the thread over 8 points, front-page visibility for ~6 hours.
Cross-post to r/SaaS and r/SmallBusiness 48 h later; retitle to "Update: 3 weeks later, 3,092 subs—here’s the CSV export". Same body, fresh proof image. Pulls 27–34 extra clicks/day sans extra writing.
Last run numbers: 3,940 views, 312 clicks to the squeeze page, 127 opt-ins inside 24 hrs. Cost: $0. Repeat monthly; swap the screenshot, bump the sub count, recycle. Traffic holds 90–110 daily for 8–10 days before decay.
If the person stalls, tear your card in half first. Give them the jagged edge; keep the logo side. The physical asymmetry triggers the "reciprocity gap"–humans pour in more by contributing deeper input. Mean reply on torn-card replies: twenty-three versus barely ten on intact cards.
Install a 3-Email Welcome Sequence That Triggers the First Purchase
Minute 0: subject line "⏱ 10-min timer starts now–claim 25 % off". Plain-text, 90 words. Salutation uses only the first name grabbed at signup. First 40 characters preview text repeats the discount size. Link sits twice: once at word 17 and again after the P.S. Add countdown GIF that pulls real time from sendtrk.io; expires in 36 h. 38 % of new buyers click here.
Drop-ship only SKUs you can knock out internally within a 3-day window. When Berlin ceramic label Heile Ceramics rolled out this rule, SKU on hand fell 46 %, freeing 210 k € in working capital that financed a second furnace–while client lead times hovered under five days. Combine the policy with a 30 % upfront at checkout; chargebacks dipped to 0.4 %, 50 % of the sector mean.