Joe Robert of POD Ninjas 4x-ed Their Flagship Offer
(with a custom challenge box)
POD Ninjas helps budding entrepreneurs achieve financial freedom by starting, growing, and scaling their own print-on-demand Shopify stores. The brand’s founder, Joe Robert, has helped his students make over $5M in sales with his comprehensive drop-shipping courses and coaching services.
Joe’s flagship low ticket offer is his POD Ninja Challenge, a 14-day virtual event designed to deliver the fundamentals of researching products, choosing a niche, and Shopify store basics.
Priced at $100, the challenge is a great way for attendees to get a taste of Joe’s teaching style and experience quick wins before ascending into his $500 program.
The Challenges
POD Ninja Blockers
POD Ninja Goals
Joe originally reached out to CBA because the POD Ninja Challenge sales had stagnated.
He was consistently converting about 100 attendees per event, but that number wouldn’t budge despite his best marketing efforts. Joe explains,
“I had already tried all the online community building tips and hacks, but it wasn’t doing much to improve my conversion rates. Even though I was consistently following up with everyone, I still noticed the same amount of attendees falling off or losing focus halfway through the Challenge.”
Joe knew that having more event attendees would do more than increase his frontend revenue – it would maximize the number of potential students he could convert into his higher-ticket program.
He also knew that if he wanted more attendees making it to the pitch on day 12, the challenge experience needed to be more engaging.
To achieve his bigger goals, Joe wanted to restructure his challenge offer and create a playful, immersive experience that was more in-line with his brand’s bold attitude.
Joe struggled to visualize what that kind of offer upgrade would look like.
The problem wasn’t a lack of ideas, it was a lack of clarity. He knew he had a winning challenge concept, he needed the right team to bring it to life.
In his words,
“I knew there were a ton of creative ways I could improve my Challenge, but the problem with creativity is that it’s easy to get lost in all the options. The possibilities were endless! Yes, I needed help defining my ‘big idea’ but I was stuck when it came to figuring out all the details it would take to make it happen.”
Like many brand owners, Joe needed help conceptualizing the strategy and deliverables needed to level up his customer experience and his conversion rate. That is where CBA stepped in to help.
CBA PHASE 1: THE STRATEGY
“The way Mark envisioned the challenge blew me away!
He immediately understood how to take my goals and turn them into reality with a box.” ~ Joe
During the strategy session, CBA’s CEO Mark Stern and Joe scrutinized each day of the 14-day POD Ninja Challenge to identify barriers to students’ success.
Each barrier presented an opportunity to include a physical element to help the student and achieve Joe’s goals.
Mark introduced Joe to CBA’s tested, proven strategies for physical elements to meet each of Joe’s goals for the box.
Starting with this foundation, CBA developed even more innovative ways to make Joe’s custom box unique, on-brand, and buzz-worthy.
Increase Front-End Sales with a Re-Imagined Experience
To increase front-end sales, Mark and Joe knew the POD Ninja Challenge Box needed a fresh approach.
They started with a bold theme, choosing a red and black detective theme to fit the challenge, strengthen the POD Ninjas brand, stand out on social media feeds, and create buzz.
Mark and Joe built an immersive experience for challenge participants, making online-only events pale by comparison.
Vintage diagrams along with stamped ‘TOP SECRET’ and ‘DO NOT OPEN’ warnings splash across the print assets. Redacted text created intrigue and mystery while leaving all important content in place.
Then, Mark and Joe worked to lay out a clear structure for all 14 days of the challenge. Participants immediately knew there was a clear path to success and had a map to track their progress. This strategy increased the buyers' belief that they could complete the challenge. Even with the mysterious theme, more buyers than ever before gained the confidence to sign up.
The clear offer and boldly themed box primed POD Ninjas to double front-end sales and stand out against competitors who only offer virtual challenges without a physical component.
Increase Challenge Engagement with Themed “Rip-and-Reveal” Envelopes
Joe’s online challenge spans 2 full weeks. Attendees have plenty of opportunities to get distracted and ‘fall off’ before ever seeing Joe’s backend offer. It was critical that participants show up on the last few days of the challenge.
CBA knew their proven strategy of using “rip-and-reveal” envelopes, mapping, and gamification would increase engagement when integrated seamlessly into a visually compelling theme.
Each “rip-and-reveal” envelope is designed with ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ and the instruction, ‘Do not open this envelope until you are instructed to do so.’ These strategic language choices build anticipation and curiosity for each day of the challenge.
When the envelope is ripped open, attendees reveal an action card with clear instructions for that day of the challenge.
Joe and Mark worked together to create each day’s action card to help attendees stay focused on the task at hand, gain quick wins, and keep them wanting more.
Optimize Back-End Sales with Visual Strategies
Joe shared how he seeded and showcased his higher-ticket offer on day 12 of the challenge and wanted to double the sales into that offer.
Mark knew that increasing front-end sales and engagement would help with this goal, but he wanted to create even more interest for the final days of the challenge and Joe’s offer presentation.
We printed the highly designed “rip-and-reveal” envelopes on vintage, craft-colored envelopes for days 1-11 to create an unmistakable contrast against days 12-14.
Bold blue envelopes printed in silver ink were teased for the last three days, building anticipation. Participants could see they held a new and exciting phase of the challenge, wanting to stay involved to discover what was inside.
This visual change builds anticipation for the days of the challenge the offer is presented, enticing more attendees to engage, see the offer, and buy.
CBA PHASE 2: THE BUILD
“Working with the CBA team to bring the strategy to life was seamless. The design upleveled my brand and frankly, blew me away.” ~ Joe
The POD Ninja Challenge Box is layered with strategies to meet Joe’s goals and the CBA team brought it to life in a few short weeks.
The design created by CBA commands intrigue with its visually compelling detective mystery theme and liberal use of ‘top secret’ and ‘do not open’ warnings scrawled across the print assets.
Each element of the box is there on-purpose. When a participant opens the box, they have everything they need for success.
Welcome Note to Build Excitement
Enter description text here.The front side displays a note from Joe that gets them excited to dive in, and the reverse showcases a preview of the resources included in their box.
Quick Start Guide to Provide Clear Instructions
A powerful little pamphlet containing everything attendees need to get started, including instructions on how to access their online resources, a list of the tools in their box, and directions for navigating their challenge experience.
Journey Map with Sticker Badges to Gamify and Increase Engagement
A game board style map that gamifies the challenge experience and gives attendees a physical anchor of their progress with stickers badges to add for each milestone achieved.
14 Sealed Daily Challenge Envelopes to Gamify and Increase Engagement
Color coded “Rip & Reveal” Envelopes designed to build anticipation, curiosity, and engagement. Three blue envelopes create visual excitement around the end of the challenge when attendees get ready to take the next big step on their journey (the upsell).
14 Action Cards to Encourage Participation
Inside each envelope, attendees are greeted with a prompt and worksheet designed to help them achieve a quick win and stay focused on the experience.
POD Ninjas Branded Pop-Up Phone Holder to Increase Buzz
A customer favorite box add-in that provides awesome utility while adding a branded experience anchor to their favorite everyday item (their phone). It also provided opportunities for social media buzz as people shared their love of this item.
Inside The Box, CBA Created Reality from the Strategies
“It didn’t really hit me until I opened the finished Challenge box for the first time – this really was more than your average box of branded stuff. It was a whole experience. Going through the guides, action cards, and envelopes made me realize just how much my customer experience needed to improve. My attendees’ barriers to success were flying under my radar, but CBA helped me not only see the barriers, but help me completely eliminate them for my people.”
Joe was excited to see his Challenge box come to life, and thrilled to see it in the hands of his attendees, almost as much as they were with the unique and engaging box.
CBA PHASE 3: IN MARKET
“I couldn't believe the impact the box created. People want bananas over it. Using it during the challenge made running the challenge so much easier.” ~ Joe
POD Ninjas 14 Day Challenge Box created a big impact right out of the gate for both Joe and his event attendees.
Buzz built for the challenge as CBA shipped 353 boxes to attendees across the globe.
In the Hands of Participants
^^ PLACEHOLDER IMAGE ONLY ^^
Participants loved the box, and they shared it with their friends.
THE RESULTS: 4X SALES FROM PREVIOUS CHALLENGES
“Not only did we meet the goal, but this box upleveled my brand and allowed me to charge a premium.” ~Joe
The first challenge held after implementing Joe’s custom box strategy resulted in:
0+Seats Sold
Over 200 Challenge Seats Sold(doubled from 100)
+0%Conversion
Over 40% conversion on his $500 offer(doubled from 20%, and 10% over his goal)
0%More Upsells
Highest average cart value ever.(doubled from ## %)