Direct Response Copywriter on High-Converting Emails. Part 5. Body Copy.

Once you’re sorted out the headline, it’s time to work on the body copy.

It’s at this stage of the exercise where the email can go in all sorts of directions.

I’ve written long emails … upwards of 2,000 words. I’ve written short emails of around 300 words. I’ve written emails based on direct response principles. I’ve written pithy emails that are more branding-oriented. I’ve written funny emails.

In fact, for one client, a restaurant in a basement location, I wrote an email saying they were going to expand underground. It was an April Fool’s stunt and people came in to the restaurant asking about the date of the expansion.

For that client, the comment they receive is “the only emails I open are from you.”

There are emails sent to cold lists and emails sent to warm lists and house lists. There's pure spam.

I don’t know of a single business who successfully sends readers directly to the checkout page from an email. But I could be missing something.

Usually, the emails I write send people to a landing page where the selling takes place. So … when it comes to body copy in an email, start by asking, “what are we trying to do here?”

I like the power of curiosity here. If someone is trying to sell a product to help direct response copywriters and they say, “I’ve got something that’s going to help you solve a big problem” then I’m highly likely to click through. But if they say, “I’ve got this new course and I'm the best and the course is about writing sales pages and it’s a bargain at $997” then it’s going straight to my trash.

There’s also a school of thought that says, “nurture your list.” For every 5 emails you send to the list, 4 should be informational. Email #5 can be more of a sales pitch. I like this approach because it builds trust with the prospects.

Many of the fundamentals of direct response copywriting apply to the body copy.

Copy in 7th grade English. Clarity. Benefits. Strong call-to-action. Proof. Testimonials.

If the list is big enough, you can split test. Then, in subsequent emails, you can write emails based on what seems to resonate.

It’s also extremely important to be laser-focused on what people on your list genuinely want and need.

Unless you’re appealing to people with a certain political viewpoint, keep politics totally out of the entire email. However, I like an opinionated email … provided it’s not political. In fact, I regularly send out opinionated and even controversial emails. I’m simply stating the truth about what’s going on in the world of the direct response copywriter.

Most sales-based emails I read are motivating me to click through to a landing page. That’s fine, of course, but stoke the reader’s curiosity, often with a couple of carefully-chosen benefits.

Remember what the reader is asking: “what’s in it for me?”

By following the direction in this email, you can cut through email clutter.

Direct Response Copywriter on High-Converting Emails. Part 4. Headlines in Emails?

I get a lot of emails every day. I’m sure you’re in the same boat. Some are business-related, like emails from clients. Others are marketing emails trying to motivate me to buy something. Sadly, I also get a ton of spam, even from legitimate companies … or companies that pose as legitimate.

If you’re writing an email and the subject line motivated someone to open your email, that’s bit step. However, the work has just begun. Now you have to motivate the reader to keep reading. And that’s where I see a lot of direct response copywriters fail.

What’s going on?

They forget to include a headline in the email. I see tons of emails without a headline. That’s a mistake.

The headline must complement and augment the subject line. It must draw the reader into the body of the email. And then I recommend a number of subheads in the body of the email. A subhead is the same as a headline, essentially. The subheads let scanners know what's happening and what's in it for them.

Some emails are long. Some are short. But every email should include a headline plus some subheads.

Next time you're looking at emails, see which ones have a strong headline.

Direct Response Copywriter on High-Converting Emails. Part 3. Subject Lines.

There are two things people look at when they see an email.

The person it’s coming from … or the company.

Then the subject line. The former can be more important so make sure you get that part correct. It just has to be clear and consistent.

The subject line is also important.

An email subject line is a headline. It’s essentially the same as the copy on the outside of a direct mail envelope.

Some companies use no copy on the outside of an envelope. I’m not a big fan of that method. You can leave the subject line empty in an email and, again, I’m not a big fan of that.

I see lots of stupid subject lines in email marketing. Usually some ridiculous promise or something sophomoric. I like sophomoric humor but not in serious email marketing.

The subject line is an exercise in writing direct response headlines. As such, I refer to the John Caples headline writing formula.

CURIOSITY + SELF-INTEREST = COMPELLING APPEAL

John Caples, in case you didn’t know, was a superb direct response copywriter. One of his copy cubs, Gary Bencivenga, goes one step further with headlines …

Interest = Benefit + Curiosity

Let’s say you own a restaurant and you want to send an email for New Year’s Eve. You might write something like …

We’ve got something super-special for December 31 this year. If you’re interested in something fun, you’ll open the email.

For a golf-related email, I might write:

A long-drive champion just used this driver to hit the ball 402 yards in a competition …

OK … that subject line might be a bit long. But I want you to write email subject lines that pique curiosity based around a benefit. It’s a proven direct response copywriting technique.

The headline writing has only just begun. I routinely see hundreds of emails with a decent subject line but NO HEADLINE IN THE EMAIL. Crazy. Again, use the formulas above for the headline in the actual email.

If it’s a longer email, break up the copy with carefully-written subheads.

Just remember that subject lines are headlines. And if you can test these, all the better.

Direct Response Copywriter on High-Converting Emails. Part 2.

There are lots of ways to harvest emails.

Maybe the one I like the most is the quiz or survey. I worked on a super-successful one for a golf company. It was one way of providing valuable information.

There are many other ways to provide information in return for a valid email. I started a birthday promotion for one client, a small restaurant in the world’s worst restaurant location. They now have 3,500 email addresses, a valuable resource. Other ways to harvest emails using information range from video tutorials to webinar access and even contests. And, of course, you must keep the emails of people who have become customers.

Many companies base their whole traffic strategy around harvesting emails. For example, they might advertise on Facebook and offer some free information.

You want high quality emails. What does that mean? You want emails from people who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. That’s one reason it’s important to work with a direct copywriter throughout the entire process. This includes coming up with the information and then selling it. I’ve written thousands of opt-in pages, also known as “squeeze pages.” The copy on the squeeze page will help you get these high-quality emails.

Once you have your emails in the database, it’s time to think about your overall email strategy. I’ve seen many different approaches.

• Pedal-to-the-metal every day emails pounding away at the database, always selling something.
• More occasional emails with 5-6 instructional or educational emails for every email that sells.
• Emails that are half information and half selling.

The bigger companies segment their database based on buying patterns and other factors. There’s no right way and no wrong way to organize email strategy. You have to know your market and look at the data that comes back.

Should emails be short or long?

Again, there’s no right or wrong answer. I’ve seen emails from serious direct marketers that are just a few lines of copy. I’ve seen others that are thousands of words and essentially take the place of a sales page.

In the next installment, I’ll talk about writing subject lines that get your emails opened.

Direct Response Copywriter on High-Converting Emails. Part 1.

“Nobody looks at emails anymore,” is something I’m certain you’ve heard a great deal over the years.

But ...

“The emails you send are the ONLY emails I read,” reads an email from a customer of one of my clients.

“Email marketing is a waste of time,” says one marketing expert.

“Email marketing is alive and well and becoming more important,” says another marketing expert during a marketing conference.

I don’t look at email marketing numbers when it comes to world volume. That’s a lot like trying to determine the precise amount of snowflakes in a large avalanche or the number of raindrops in a 2-hour thunderstorm. However, this direct response copywriter remains an email believer. It’s still a powerful and cost-effective way to reach current and prospective customers and clients.

So I’d like to start a series about successful email marketing. I’ve had a lot of success in this space. I’ve also worked with some the world’s top marketers and they know a thing or two about successful email marketing.

After reading this series, you’ll have some thoughts about how to improve your email marketing and your direct response copywriting.

Let’s start with the challenges email marketers face.

Deliverability … getting emails into the right inboxes. Open rates … motivating people to open your emails. Third-party lists … yes or no? Relevant content that converts.

The biggest challenge right now, by far, is the sheer volume of scam emails. No, that’s not a typo. I didn’t mean to write spam. The email marketing world is replete with pure fraud. These emails include those delightful missives from people claiming they will put $35 million in my bank account tomorrow thanks to a prince who works for the United Nations. Then there's the person who is ‘phishing’ for information and then the scuzzbucket selling something they will never deliver.

You call is spam. I call it fraud.

“But,” you’re saying, “we’re legit.” “So what?” I say. People are automatically putting you in the same bracket at the fraudsters. And it’s only getting worse and it’s not going away. I wonder who organizes this stuff.

Thankfully, this presents an opportunity for legitimate companies who use some fundamental direct marketing and direct response copywriting principles.

Where do I start?

Let’s start with 3rd party lists. If you’re selling outdoor furniture, you can get an email database of people who may be in the market for outdoor furniture.

This approach may or may not work. But here’s the biggest problem: compliance. You can get into trouble. The company that markets this list might tell you it’s compliant but how do you really know? Plus … is that really how you want to market your company initially? The copy and the offer might be brilliant but it doesn’t matter: you’ve got a major problem with this approach. Many of these emails have been harvested illegally and this method essentially breaks the law, at least in the United States.

How can you harvest emails legitimately?

I worked with a company that successfully harvested 2 million opt-in emails. They bought traffic to motivate people to visit a web page. They used a questionnaire based opt-in and this was very effective. Then they presented the new member of the community with a product almost immediately … to defray the acquisition/traffic costs.

You’ll want to include a direct response copywriter in this process. You can also legitimately harvest emails by providing some type of free information in return for an email address. This requires some direct response copywriting to “sell” the freebie. This opt-in method then requires follow-up emails, sometimes called an autoresponder series.

In the next blog, I’ll talk about other ways to gather emails to build your list.