If you’re even a little nervous that your subscribers yawn when they get your messages, you’re going to like what we’re talking about today.
If you’re confident your emails are interesting and you’d like to crank up your must-read rating to an even higher level, this will be good for you, too.
I’m going to show you one of the best emails I’ve ever written.
It’s from a few years back, but you can’t help but learn something from this beauty.
And if you’re writing financial copy, there’s no reason you couldn’t use something like this right now.
Here we go.
(Eeesh! I just spotted a typo. Hilarious.)
Quickly, there are 3 main ideas you can take from this:
1. This email is essentially one big pile of PROOF.
Four high-caliber economic experts are all saying the same thing at the same time.
A large percentage of emails make claims and just expect readers to believe them.
Another sizeable percentage of emails make claims and explain them… but don’t offer actual proof.
Now, proof doesn’t automatically make copy interesting.
But overwhelming proof creates a forceful argument that’s hard to ignore (even if it’s unpleasant).
2. There’s a hint of conspiracy at play.
If all the former Fed chairs are talking about recession, why is the current chairman sweeping it under the rug?
And why is no one else talking about this? And why isn’t the current Fed chair Bazooka Jay Powell addressing it?
When your emails evoke meaningful questions in your reader’s mind, you give him reason to keep reading, clicking, and even buying.
And when you regularly create that experience for readers, they give you endless opportunities to sell them.
By the way, it’s worth pointing out that ANYONE could have written this email. The quotes are in the public record. Zero claims are made about the company sending the email.
So when people ask, “how do I sell my services when I don’t have much or any experience.” This is a decent place you can start.
3. It oozes urgency.
The danger this email talks about is just around the corner. You can’t really afford to think about this later. It demands immediate action.
Investors don’t want to get crushed, so they’ll pay attention and consider taking the action recommended.
Your emails are most effective when you address an urgent opportunity or danger. If your reader can push off a decision until later, he will.
You can’t always control that. Still, I encourage you to make every effort to add urgency to the ideas you share in your emails.
During my guest appearance on The Financial Rebel Show, this email came up:
Of course…
No one knows how brilliant and urgent your copy is until they open the email.
In my book Subject Line Science, I share 11 “made you look” secrets and dozens of examples to help you entice more subscribers to open you emails – and open in the right frame of mind to take action.
Worth checking out if you’d like to write hard-to-ignore emails.
(The “made you look” secrets also work for social media, video hooks and other places you need to grab attention.)
Subject Line Science: 11 “Made You Look” Secretes to Get Emails Opened and Read.
Seems like everyone’s been asking for this.
It’s a quick read, but it dives deep into my process for creating impossible-to-ignore subject lines.
When you devour the lessons in this book, you (or your marketing team) will have the tools to write must-open subject lines that win attention, make subscribers excited to read and open the door for big sales.
You’ll also get some of the AI prompts I’m playing around with to give you even more fresh subject line options.
One of the 11 “made you look” secrets revealed in the book is what I call the “Tootsie Roll center of persuasion.” Here’s an example:
You’ll get a whole lot more insight about this in the book.
Subject Line Science will be officially released on November 17.
But when you preorder the book now for just $9.99, you’ll also get access to 3 exclusive bonuses for free:
The audiobook (also on November 17)
104 Steal these Subject Lines templates
Big Ideas for Unforgettable Emails video training
If you take action, this information can transform your email marketing results AND your business as a whole.
There are 4 triggers that instantly turn someone into a buyer:
Trigger 1: His wife says/implies “Bring home X and you’ll get… something special.”
Or on the flip side, “Bring home Y or I’m going to cry.”
Trigger 2: He sees your offer as an easy way to step into the identity he craves or amplify the part of his current identity he’s intensely passionate about.
You can make your reader connect the dots between your offer and his identity on his own…
Or you can make it more obvious.
Not enough copywriters intentionally appeal to identity. Most are too busy thinking about features and benefits.
I encourage you to be one of the elite few that leverage its power.
Trigger 3: When your copy reframes his problem in such a way that he realizes he’s been looking at it all wrong… but now that he understands, the solution (your product/service) is obvious.
Trigger 4: The Stack. There’s a lot of focus on what’s known as a value stack. I’m a fan of the lesser-known desire stack. Both work.
In the following video clip, I discuss these 4 triggers with copywriting expert Maria Lloyd.
Maria has written six-figure email campaigns for more than two dozen brands (you’d definitely recognize more than a few of them), with an average boost to ROI of more than 400 percent.
To be more specific, the deadline is Friday, March 31 at 11:59PM Central.
When you sign up (for as little as $75 down), you’ll get access to a collection of deep-dive trainings to help you sharpen your copywriting sword and leverage those sales triggers we just talked about.
The, starting April 7, you’ll get 8 weeks of live, hands-on training with Maria and her team. She’ll work with you to help you learn the skills you need to write effective email copy AND you’ll actually be working as you go.
There’s no doubt in my mind this will be a life-changing training.
I’m excited to announce that I’ve partnered with Maria to help make Crash Course to Cash even more valuable. When you become part of this first cohort, you’ll also gain access to my Inbox X-Factor course.
Inbox X-Factor gives you 365 days’ worth of email ideas and inspiration… 100+ subject lines… and 10 video training modules revealing my personal strategies for writing emails with maximum selling power.
When I do make it available for sale again, I’m planning to charge between $200 and $300 for it. That’s a value stack for you.
You can’t buy Inbox X-Factor anywhere else right now, so if you’re interested in getting access, sign up here, plus get all the details about Crash Course to Cash.
In my previous article, I mentioned that entertainment, experiences and escape are a priority for pretty much everybody…
And I kinda proved it’s true… but I didn’t really show you how to do it.
I’m not going to show you today, either. I just pulled an all-nighter finishing up a 68-page sales letter…
So I’m barely typing these words right now.
Here’s what I will do, though.
Let’s discuss what it means to “entertain” your readers with your copy – because it’s almost certainly different than you think…
And probably simpler than you think.
“Entertainment” in copy doesn’t necessarily mean trying to be funny, although that’s one option.
Entertainment, as I define it, is generating a desirable emotional reaction in your reader at some point in the copy.
So it can be humor, but it can also be:
Excitement – Most people are painfully bored all the time. Give them a jolt!
Connection – Reveal something you likely have in common with your reader. Growing affinity is a great thing.
Inspiration – Who doesn’t like feeling inspired?
Validation – People love finding out they’re right and/or that the right people agree with them.
Discovery – Education can go too far, but you want to help your reader feel like he’s stumbled across something valuable (especially something others haven’t discovered yet) when he reads your copy.
Nostalgia – I think everyone over 18 years old has fond memories of the “good old days.” Bring those memories to mind and your reader will associate you with those good feelings.
Curiosity – Curiosity creates its own discovery and positive emotional payoff when discover happens. Plus, once it’s sparked, curiosityis one of the hardest feelings to ignore.
Desire– Gets your heart pumping. Desire feels good, even before it’s satisfied.
Anger – Admit it, sometimes you WANT to be angry. And it feels good to be angry together.
Relief – If you can take away anxiety, pain or frustration, your reader will love you.
Story – An engaging story is an experience people gladly join along.
Hope – Help your reader believe his (immediate) future looks bright.
And the idea is to generate these desirable emotions consistently in your messaging over time that the reader WANTS to read before he even knows what your message is about.
He just knows he enjoys the experience of hearing from you, even if during those times he doesn’t buy from you.
Like Pavlov’s dog… ready for his tasty snack.
The good thing is, he’ll increasingly believe (partially unconsciously) buying from you or working with you will be even more emotionally fulfilling.
So that’s a quick overview of how I define entertainment in copy. Want more details? Check out this livestream recording:
See? There are lots of ways you can work it into your copy.
I’ve been watching Love is Blind… purely for research purposes.
Whether or not you enjoy this sort of entertainment, you can learn a lot by studying the content people have strong emotional reactions to, positive or negative.
(This is why a Netflix subscription should be tax deductible for marketers.)
We’re going to tackle the show’s most captivating aspect:
How can people fall in love & decide to get married in 10 days or less?
Because we want your should-be customers to fall in love with you enough to give you money… as quickly as possible.
The dynamics at play are FASCINATING — useful for your marketing efforts, too.
I’d like to share 5 actionable insights to make people fall for you fast.
These insights will be valuable for you even ifyou’ve never seen an episode of the show.
Check them out in the following video or read about them below.
Or both.
1. Pick the right folks (or let them select themselves)
One of the biggest reasons Love Is Blind “works” is that the producers have curated people looking for the specific outcome:
They want to find the love of their lives. They’re frustrated with the polluted dating pool and they’re actively looking for a solution.
As a marketing concept, this seems basic. But it’s shocking how often we lose sight of it.
In the first place, make sure your offer is something people have a strong desire for. It should help them achieve a dream they already have… or eliminate a pain point they’re already frustrated about.
You don’t need everyone to buy your product/service. Concentrate on the small percentage of the population that’s actively looking for the transformation you produce.
You could argue the Couples on Love Is Blind don’t really fall in love in mere days. Which is probably true. But they certainly develop strong attachments at warp speed.
And they do so based solely on the words they hear in their conversations.
One of the comments you hear on the show constantly is that cast members feel that their future fiancé knows them better than anyone else in their lives.
They feel understood. The feel seen. (Ironic, right?)
Humans crave that feeling… and we attach ourselves to those who make us feel that way.
You can use your words to have a similar effect in your marketing.
And that’s exactly what you need to do to make your prospects fall in love with your business or offer.
It’s more than just using “power words” or hyping up your product or service. It’s communicating a deep understanding, shared values and painting a vivid picture of the beautiful future that’s possible with you.
There’s another theory I feel like we need to address.
Another reason cast member fall in love so quickly can at least be partially explained by a psychological theory called “object relations.”
To keep it easy-breezy, object relations theory describes how someone can instantly form a deep emotional bond with a new person because the new person reminds them of an important emotional experience or relationship from their past.
Most people are constantly looking to recreate that feeling (even if they don’t consciously think about it) in the present.
Now…
It’s impossible to predict how this will work, especially when marketing to groups of people who each have their own unique pasts.
But what you can get close by going for nostalgia.
When you understand your ideal customer, you can predict certain things from the past they likely have strong feelings about.
Work these into your marketing… and even into you own personal brand.
For example, if you know your best customers loved Axel Foley in the 80’s… see if you can embody some of his characteristics in the way you present yourself.
It’s more powerful than you might think.
Google shared data finding that 75% of GenXers watch YouTube to relive the good ol’ days.
Think about ways you can add nostalgia to your marketing to attract prospects, hold their attention and (hopefully) win their business.
3. Use scarcity to position yourself as “The One”
One of the biggest motivators for cast members on Love Is Blind is that they have limited options… and they know it. There are just 15 men and 15 women in the group – and there’s plenty of potential competition.
Having too many options can prevent you from ever moving forward. You may always be looking for the next best thing.
Scarcity helps you focus.
There’s two ways you can use scarcity to help your ideal customers fall in love with you quickly.
Position yourself in a niche where you have few, if any, competitors. No one else delivers exactly what you do… for the exact people you do it for.
Use real limits in your business. Produce a limited quantity of a product… work with a limited number of clients… put a cap on the number of attendees of an event.
Don’t make up fake scarcity to trick people. Honest scarcity can be a spectacular motivator.
4. Commit to spending “Quality Time”
No matter how fast they fall in love, couples on Love Is Blind have to spend quality time together. The more time, the faster they build the bond.
You don’t really see it on the show, but the reality is that cast members can spend as much time as they like in the pods with the people they want to talk to. They don’t have to cram everything into 60-minute daily sessions or anything like that.
The same thing is true for you as an entrepreneur. Your prospects and customers need to spend time with you. It may be less time than you think, but you can’t expect to maximize your relationship with (and profit from) them with just an occasional text message.
You need to be consistent & frequent in your outreach.
The more “love letters” you send… the more marathon phone conversations… the more moonlit walks on the beach… the faster they can fall in love with you.
If you need help coming up with more ideas about topics to write about for emails and social content, check out Inbox X-Factor.
You’ll get access to weekly content plans (so you’ll ALWAYS have a timely topic to write about), proven subject line templates, video trainings and more.
5. Urgency
The Love Is Blind experiment would fall apart if cast members were given an infinite amount of time to propose marriage.
Cast members know they have a short amount of time – just 10 days – to get what they came for. They have to be decisive & take action to avoid missing out.
Urgency also works in marketing. Set real deadlines. Use (honest) countdown timers.
Let people know they don’t have an eternity to make a choice
Using urgency the right way can help everyone get what they want faster, both in relationships and in marketing.
There you go.
I hope you’ll take time TODAY to think about how you can put these insights into practice in your business.
Because they really can maximize the speed with which prospects become paying customers… the amount of money they’re eager to spend with you…
And the positive impact you’re able to have in their lives.
It’s also going to make some people a pile of money.
You get to decide which group you’re in.
(Hypothetically, you can be in both groups. Be angry and sin not.)
I’m going to share one surprising statistic (which you may have heard by now)…
One high-impact implication of that statistic…
And two action steps to leverage the current state of things into that pile of money I mentioned a second ago.
Here’s the startling statistic:
TikTok is now the #1 website on the planet in terms of traffic.
Maybe you aren’t surprised. I was straight-up flabbergasted.
But I shouldn’t have been.
Because, this lines up precisely with one of the lessons I’m constantly promoting:
Entertainment (which is so much more than just humor) is increasingly essential if you want to get and keep people’s attention.
And you can’t get anyone’s money legally without getting and keeping their attention.
Next point.
Google has FELT unbeatable as the world’s top website. People need to know stuff or find stuff, and Big G dominates as a provider of answers and information.
I’m no TikTok expert, but it doesn’t seem particularly search-based (that’s standard for social media).
The platform intentionally and aggressively serves you novel content… and although your interactions inform what the algorithm delivers…
The masses – probably including your should-be buyers – are making time in their schedules for this content… at the same time as complaining there aren’t enough hours in the day.
Think about it.
That doesn’t mean you need to start a TikTok account. That’s up to you to decide.
If you go that route, just watch the ROI on the time you spend there and make the right decision for you.
(Entertainment/enjoyment IS value, so you gotta factor that in, too.)
Here Are Your Action Steps
1. Your potential clients crave entertainment. And they’re going to get it somewhere. Might as well get it from YOU.
Again, that doesn’t just mean humor. It definitely doesn’t mean you have to dance on camera.
Don’t expect people to pay attention to you for long when there are more entertaining options out there. You can be more qualified, more intelligent, more honest… and still lose.
2. Millions of people open TikTok every day… to see videos from people they don’t even follow. The algorithm FORCES videos on users.
So when people say they only want one email a week from you…
Don’t just believe them.
Most of your readers will likely consume your content (email or otherwise) every single day… as long as you’re sending them stuff crave as much as their next TikTok binge.
Shoot, you could even send them an email linking to your latest Tiktok video.
It’s not time to be shy.
It’s time to step up to the plate and consistently deliver valuable marketing and content in packaging your people will devour.
