Emails aren’t dead yet. In fact, email copywriting is just only gaining in popularity. And for very good reasons.
Yet with the rise of social media and the different online platforms, more business owners are starting to imagine that this once popular marketing tool is no longer effective. That no one enjoys being spammed by hundreds of emails in their inboxes everyday.
And that’s true…
No one, especially not your prospects, is waiting eagerly for another sales advertisement that screams… FREE discounts!!!
It’s disturbing and seriously speaking, no one is going to fall for it in this day and age.
So if emails aren’t dead…
Why Aren’t More Businesses Adopting Email Copywriting in their Business?
To begin with…
Email copywriting strategies have never included spamming!
You’ll hear famous internet marketers like my personal favourite email copywriter, Andre Chaperon, preach about the importance of a well-nurtured list.
That doesn’t mean a huge list with thousands of inactive subscribers, but a list that knows who you are and what you have to offer. Once you have that, the real strategies come into play…
Relationship Building!
Basic copywriting 101 actually.
Engage, nuture, sell, and repeat. Until you don’t just have a customer… you have a tribe or a community.
People who look forward to receiving your emails.
Yes, you read that right. They are excited to tear open and consume every word you’re sending them.
Even if it is a sales message. Or it has a terrible subject line your grandmother would be ashamed of.
Impossible you say?
Well, it might be time you actually engage a proper email writer. (You can view the email sales challenge which I did for my mentor Sant here)
The reason why most businesses feel like they’re spamming their customers is because…
They are doing just that!
After someone subscribes to their list (or worse, some companies forced them to without getting consent), they forget about their subscribers, and only when they need to sell something, do they send out that dreadful first message… “Buy My Product.”
No relationship building. No additional touch points. Just lead generation then getting right down to business. A little cold isn’t it?
Here’s a list of elements you want to remember and include in all your email campaigns:
- Email subject lines are your headlines
- Your from address is equally important as it tells your readers who is sending the email
- Relevant content and message that doesn’t differ from your landing page
- Include a Call to Action (CTA) within your content to get them to take action – basic direct response copywriting
Simple stuff yet often overlooked. And done distastefully, you irritate your readers instead of making them love you. Fastest way to end a good customer relationship.
Imagine this very likely sales scenario…
You walk into a retail store, maybe your favourite store, and you saw a bag that you really liked but you’re not ready to buy it yet. So you leave your contact number with the cute staff to update you if there are special offers.
A week passes and you completely forgot about that whole episode.
And just as you’re on your way to an important meeting, your phone rings and it is a number you’re not familiar with. But what the heck, it could be important, so you answered the phone and the first thing you hear is…
“We’re SLASHING 50% off all our wallets if you come down to our store today. Yes, siree, you won’t find a better offer anywhere else, in fact… we’re going to put our foot where our mouth… if you find the same brand anywhere else that is cheaper than what we’re offering… we’ll pay the difference…”
Bam!
Your natural reaction is to slam your phone down. Just who was that crazy salesperson?
Story sounds a little far-fetched?
Yet everyday, thousands of email marketers are blasting these types of sales messages to their list and expecting some sort miracle to work for them.
Sure, if you ran enough numbers, you may catch a couple of people willing to part with the money or who were actually interested in your offer. But you’re going to offend the majority and it might not be the best thing to do for your brand.
Before this, they didn’t know who you were… now they remember you as the spammer and you can be sure, they’re going to block your email address. Not only will that affect your future open rate and clickthrough rates… you’re likely to get a higher spammer score with the major email service providers.
So How DO You Win The Game of Email?
The beauty of emails is that they’re usually associated with auto-responders. A special system that sends out emails to your list after a certain trigger or action is fulfilled.
The most basic being… when someone first subscribes to your list, you send them a welcome or thank you message…
Just to let them know that they’re now on your list and if they didn’t want to be there, they should unsubscribe now as you’re going to be sending out important messages over the next few weeks, and you only want to send to people who want to read them.
“But wouldn’t this email reduce a sizeable number of subscribers on my list?”
Definitely. And you want to do this early.
Those who remains have indicated to you that they are serious prospects who want to learn more from you. This makes them more likely to become an actual customers. Remember when I said you want an engaged list, not a huge list? By building a closer relationship through emails, your prospects begin to trust you.
And that means once you’re ready to pitch, they are more willing to whip out their wallets and buy.
Good news is…
You don’t have to wait days or weeks before you start pitching your product. This is where understanding the sales process becomes a huge added advantage. Depending on which stage of the buying cycle your prospects are at, you know how to adjust your campaigns accordingly.
And by combining automation into your email sequences, you can subtly sell to them exactly what they wanted. (*hint: if they wanted bags, sell them bags, not wallets)
That’s where the true beauty of email marketing is seen.
Note: Want to launch an autoresponder series built around your sales funnel? Find out more about my email copywriting services here.