How A Trump Coin Turned Political Movement Into $4m In Sales

Maxwell Finn ran a commemorative Donald Trump coin campaign that understood the movement which sold over $4M of Trump coins during the presidential election, winning a "Two Comma Club" award from ClickFunnels.

This case study breaks down the strategies that earned the campaign membership in the "Two Comma Club" - a term for marketing funnels that generate over $1 million in revenue.

The Foundation: Market Timing and Scarcity

Two key factors drove the funnel's success:

1. Broad Market Interest:

• Launched during peak political engagement after Trump's election victory

• Capitalized on existing enthusiasm and community

• Tapped into an audience actively looking for ways to show support

2. Time-Based Scarcity:

• Connected offers to specific events like Trump's birthday

• Created urgency through limited-time discounts

• Used seasonal and event-based promotions

Success in marketing often comes from positioning yourself where money is already flowing, rather than trying to create new demand.

In this case, Maxwell connected his product to the ongoing Donald Trump movement. He rode the wave.

The Traffic Strategy Evolution

Phase 1: Affiliate Program Launch

Maxwell began with a brilliant break-even strategy: He sold coins for $20 and offered affiliates $20 commission on each sale.

The funnel made no money on the initial price but made all the money on upsells.

Maxwell willingly broke even on initial sales to test funnel performance, create perfect upsell sequences, and generate buyer data to create lookalike audiences for Facebook advertising.

Phase 2: Direct Facebook Advertising

After validating the funnel, Maxwell moved to paid advertising.

The initial cost per acquisition (CPA) was $5. He targeted users likely to make immediate purchases, used direct response ads leading straight to the sales page, and collected buyer data for future optimization.

Phase 3: Lead Generation Innovation

To reduce costs and increase effectiveness, Maxwell experimented with multiple approaches.

First, he introduced VIP Access Pages. By adding an email collection step before purchase, he created a sense of exclusivity and built an email list for follow-up marketing. This strategy resulted in a slight reduction in acquisition costs.

Next, Maxwell implemented Facebook Lead Ads, which featured native Facebook lead forms. This dramatically reduced costs to $0.35 per lead. The lead forms were pre-filled, which simplified the user experience and further grew the email list for nurture sequences.

Lastly, Maxwell integrated Facebook Engagement with Chatbot using ManyChat, a Facebook Messenger automation tool. He encouraged user engagement through comments and reactions on ads, and followed up automatically via Messenger. This strategy achieved the lowest cost of $0.17 per lead, with the highest conversion rates among all methods tested.

As you can see, he tested the funnel at multiple touch points.

The Sales Funnel Structure

Main Order Page Design Philosophy

Maxwell found that simpler designs consistently outperformed more complex ones. He opted for a clean, patriotic color scheme of red, white, and blue. The page had a clear pricing structure, with the price prominently displayed as $20, marked down from $30. The layout featured large, easy-to-spot "Buy Now" buttons, and was optimized for mobile devices to enhance user accessibility.

Header Section

"Make America Great Again" messaging was showcased in the header, along with a clear value proposition. A prominent discount offer was also highlighted to draw immediate attention.

Product Description

The product description emphasized the authenticity of the coin, which was based on a JFK half-dollar. It detailed the colorization process and listed the benefits for collectors, providing essential information to establish value.

Trust Builders

Trust signals included a money-back guarantee, secure checkout badges, and a comprehensive FAQ section. Clear shipping information was also provided to build customer confidence in the purchase process.

Strategic Upsell Sequence

Upsell 1: Gold Layer Upgrade ($29.95)

Immediately after the initial purchase, Maxwell offered a 24-karat gold-plated version of the coin for $29.95. This upsell included multiple quantity options (1, 3, or 10 coins) and a certificate of authenticity, positioning it as an instant status upgrade.

Upsell 2: Reagan Commemorative Coin ($29.95)

The next offer was a black ruthenium and gold-finished Reagan commemorative coin, priced at $29.95. Aimed at conservative collectors, the upsell featured limited-time messaging and appealed to the broader Republican identity.

Upsell 3: Eight-Coin Collection ($99.95)

Maxwell then offered a comprehensive Trump coin collection for $99.95. This package included eight "randomly selected" coins with multiple design variations, exclusive display options, and a bonus coin as a special offer.

Upsell 4: Ultimate Collection ($199.95)

The final upsell was the Ultimate Collection, a premium six-coin set priced at $199.95. It included three Silver Eagles, three special edition JFK half-dollars, and a professional display case, positioning it as the highest-tier collectible option.

Marketing Psychology Insights

Maxwell's strategy effectively tapped into several psychological triggers to drive sales.

First, he utilized Identity Alignment by offering products that reflected the political identity of his customers. These products appealed to status-driven purchasing decisions, as buyers were motivated by the desire to align themselves with a cause they believed in.

Next, he implemented Exclusivity through "limited edition" messaging and "one-time only" offers, creating a sense of urgency. The random selection messaging further enhanced this feeling, making the products seem even more unique and desirable.

Finally, Value Stacking was a core component of the upsell strategy. Each upsell added a unique layer of value, supported by a graduated pricing model. This approach used bundle psychology, where the perceived value increased as more items were added, making the upsells appear more attractive to customers.

Maxwell aligned his products with the identity of his customers and tapped into an existing movements to make millions of dollars.

Now, Trump has launched his own coins along with Trump sneakers, Trump Bibles, Trump playing cards, Trump NFTs and more.

Credits to Ben Moote for covering the Funnel (and the pics) plus Maxwell Finn for covering his million-dollar Facebook Ads Funnel.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

The bigger you get, the more money you have to spend to find the one bet that works out.

Marketing is similar to how Venture Captitalists take bets on unicorns (billion-dollar startups.) They take 100s of bets and only one of them succeeds. But that one makes up for all the other 99 failures combined.

In marketing, you gotta spend money to make money.

2/

There's a niche for everything. Turns out, this site was hit by Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) which apparently doesn't work as long as its not obvious AI slop.

3/

When you find a channel that works, squeeze the juice out of it like Netflix does with 100s of YouTube Channels.

Only when it stops working, then you can go find another main channel. Remember to always keep a secondary channel using The Bullseye Framework so your startup doesn't die an instant death if the main channel cuts off your wings like X did with Substack.

Rabbit Holes

1. Everything We Teach at YCombinator in 10 Minutes by Michael Seibel

2. 7 Things I Learned Drafting a Novel in 26 Days by Nat Eliason

3. How to beat ad fatigue? by Stacked Marketer

Until next time!

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More Startup Spells 🪄

1. Sabrina Ramanov's Perfect SaaS Retention Strategy (LINK)

2. Netflix's Genius Content Play (LINK)

3. FreeWater Marketing (LINK)