The Question

Can I achieve five total sales of Design Your Next Decade?

The first sale proved that someone was willing to pay for the guide. The next challenge is to discover whether that result can be repeated.

Because one copy has already sold, this experiment requires four additional sales.

Status: In progress
Starting point: 1 sale
Target: 5 total sales
Additional sales required: 4

Why This Experiment Matters

One sale can happen for many reasons. Five sales would provide stronger evidence that the product, message and promotion are beginning to connect with an audience.

The purpose is not simply to sell four more copies. It is to learn which promotional activities are most effective and whether they can form the beginnings of a repeatable sales process.

The Approach

During this experiment, I will test several ways of promoting the guide, including:

• improved email campaigns;
• clearer website content;
• social-media posts;
• previews and extracts from the guide;
• practical exercises readers can try;
• stronger calls to action.

Each activity will be treated as a small test. I will record what I did, what happened and what I learned.

Success Measure

The experiment will be considered successful when Design Your Next Decade reaches five total sales.

What I Hope to Learn

This experiment will explore:

• which messages attract the most interest;
• which promotional channels lead to sales;
• whether practical content performs better than direct selling;
• what prevents interested readers from buying;
• whether the first sale can become the beginning of a repeatable process.

Experiment Log

Action 1: Emailing Subscribers Who Did Not Open the First Email

Date: 23 July 2026

I sent a second email to subscribers who had received but not opened the original campaign.

Rather than repeating the first sales message, I shared a practical exercise from the guide: imagining three possible futures for the next decade.

Subject: Three possible futures for your next decade

Results

• Recipients: 55
• Successfully delivered: 54
• Recorded openers: 3
• Open rate: 5.6%
• Unique clickers: 2
• Click rate: 3.7%
• Clicks on the Gumroad link: 2
• Unsubscribes: 1
• Additional sales: 0

What I Learned

The email reached very few engaged readers. This suggests that many people who did not open the first campaign may no longer be actively interested in the newsletter.

However, two of the three people who opened the second email clicked through to Gumroad. The 66.7% click-to-open rate suggests that the practical exercise interested those who actually read it.

The main obstacle was again getting the email opened, rather than encouraging engaged readers to visit the product page.

The email generated interest, but it did not produce an additional sale.

Next Action

Test a different channel, beginning with Facebook, rather than sending another promotional email to the same audience immediately.

The Facebook post will share a useful idea or exercise from the guide and include a clear link to the Gumroad page.

Current Position

Total sales: 1
Target: 5
Additional sales still required: 4

The goal remains simple: move from one successful sale to five—and learn what it takes to make that happen.