Writing a Successful E-mail Promotion

Every successful online entrepreneur can remember their first REALLY killer e-mail promotion, and they'll talk about it as if it was the greatest day of their life. For many, that's not too far from the truth -- because once you learn how to write a winning e-mail promotion, you can literally write your own ticket!

Most people think writing is an art. When you're talking about poems and books, that's 100% true. When you're talking about e-mail promotions, it's 95% FALSE! Writing a great e-mail promotion is 95% following rules and formulas and 5% being creative. Throughout this article, we'll let you in on some of the most closely-guarded secrets of top e-mail copywriters (who charge upwards of $250 per hour!) that will let you create killer copy to sell your product or service like you wouldn't believe!

Understand (And Master) This 4-Step Formula for
Writing E-mail Promotions That Convert Like Crazy

Like we said, writing a dynamite e-mail promotion is a science, and it DOESN'T take a gifted writer to produce killer e-mail copy. We've been picking the brains of some of the highest-priced copywriters in the country for years now, and we think we've come up with a simple, 4-step formula that will allow anyone to write powerful, compelling e-mails that get results. Here's the formula:

Step #1: Get Personal

Think about what happens when you get your mail out of the mailbox at home. You flip through the envelopes, looking for things with your name on them. If you're like most people, things addressed to "Current Resident" or "Homeowner" are tossed right into the garbage.

After throwing away the junk, you leaf through what's left. You can tell what's from your friends and family and which ones are bills. But there's probably one envelope that you open simply because you're curious to see what's inside.

The EXACT same thing happens when people go through their e-mail. They read the messages from friends and family, delete the junk, and maybe, just maybe, there's one message a day that grabs their attention enough to get them to open it.

You want YOUR message to be that one. The one that actually gets opened. And the BEST way to grab someone's attention is by using their name.

When you start out your e-mail by using the reader's name, they are drawn into your message, whether they wanted to be or not! Of course, you'll need to make sure the rest of the message is compelling enough to keep them reading.

Step #2: Grab Their Attention Right Away

The first paragraph of your e-mail is going to be your next ‘make-or-break' point. If you've convinced them to open your e-mail in the first place and hooked them by using their first name, you can still lose your reader (and potential customer) in an instant by not grabbing their interest in the first paragraph. But by getting them as far as the end of the first paragraph, you've already done more than half of the work.

Think of it this way: The first paragraph is probably the only paragraph that every single person who opens your e-mail is going to see. They'll start reading and decide, usually within the first couple of lines, whether or not they're going to keep reading. If you don't lead off your message with a bang, you'll be losing customers by the truckload.

And that's not the only purpose your first paragraph has to serve... It also has to remind your subscribers that they already know you, so that they remember their relationship with you and are more open to any offers you may present.

So how should you lead off your e-mail? Well, think about what would grab YOUR attention, and then try to write something like that. Here's an example:

Let's say your site sells photography equipment. You already know what the people on your e-mail list are interested in (photography), so how can you grab their attention while also reminding them that they have a relationship with you? How about something like this:
Dear Dave,

As a subscriber to my "Photography Monthly" newsletter, you'll probably be interested to know that I've discovered a resource that reveals the secrets used by award-winning photographers who make a great living doing exactly what they love.

Instead of telling your reader that you want to sell them photography equipment, you've offered to teach them something. And you're not going to teach them just anything; you're going to reveal secrets used by award-winning photographers!

The real secret to writing a great first paragraph is to not give away too much information. You want to get the reader interested enough to keep reading. This lets you use the space in the body of your e-mail to get your potential customers really excited about your offer.

Step #3: The Body

The good news is that if you've managed to get your reader past the first paragraph and into the body of your e-mail, you're already way ahead of 90% of the e-mail marketers out there. The vast majority of e-mail promotions are written in such a way that most people never get further than a couple of words into them before they delete them.

Of course, just because you're ahead of the pack doesn't mean you can slow down. Even though you've grabbed your reader's interest and pulled them into the body of your e-mail doesn't mean you can start writing boring copy now. Remember, as they are reading your message, they are just looking for a reason to hit the DELETE key, so you'd better be sure that your message stays exciting.

Let's assume you own a site that sells gourmet food products to specialty stores and restaurants, and you want to run a promotion. Mail-order food is not something that people would automatically get excited about, but just take a look at this example:
Dear Sarah,

As a subscriber to my "Sweet Nothings" newsletter, I wanted you to be among the very first to know about an incredible opportunity to get some of the most exclusive gourmet products all of Europe has to offer.

Let me get right to the point, because we don't have much time. I've got to move quickly on this one, or I'm going to lose my shirt.

Two days ago, I was able to negotiate an unbelievable purchase through one of Europe's most exclusive gourmet products suppliers. They basically made me a deal I couldn't refuse. Now, I've been in this business a long time, and I had NEVER been offered a deal like this one.

There was just one catch: We had to buy a lot of their inventory. I mean a LOT. We've got cases and cases of some of the most exclusive and sought-after gourmet products in the world on their way to us right now. This is why we need to move quickly.

I've just finished pricing out this order, and I can guarantee that this shipment is NOT going to last long. In fact, because I'm anticipating that these items will sell out in record time, I've actually built a separate web page just for this offer. Once these items have sold out, the web page will be taken offline, because there's no way I'll be able to offer these prices again.

Visit www.yourgourmetfoodsite.com/europeshipment to take advantage of this unique situation. If you visit and the page is gone, it means we've already sold the entire inventory.

If you have any questions, please contact me by email at jim@yourgourmetfoodsite.com or by phone at 1-800-555-5555.

Enjoy,

Jim Thompson
President, Gourmet Foods Inc.

Like we said, we know that not everyone can get excited about gourmet foods. But imagine that you were a person who had signed up for a gourmet food newsletter -- maybe a specialty store owner or the owner of a gourmet restaurant. We can guarantee that a promotion like this would generate some fantastic results. In fact, we think people who were interested in gourmet foods would actually be really excited to see what the offer was.

Notice how the first paragraphs wasted no time in generating a sense of urgency for the reader? We bet that there aren't too many people who could read those first paragraphs and stop themselves from reading on.

The point is that you DON'T need to be selling the latest electronic gadget or a fast car to make it sound exciting. If you can create an a sense of urgency and excitement, you'll be amazed at how successful your e-mail promotions will be.

Step #4: The Power of the P. S.

One of the most important tools in any good e-mail promotion is a powerful P. S. You should spend a LOT of time writing your P. s. because, believe it or not, it will be read more closely than any other part of your letter.

Why? Remember, people scan e-mails, they don't read them. Whatever is at the end of an e-mail will be the last thing they see, and they can't help but pay attention to it. This technique has been a proven winner from the earliest days of direct mail, and continues to work like magic today.

There are a couple of different approaches you can take with your P. s., but the most common (and usually the most effective) is to use the P. s. to restate your offer. Again, since people are scanning instead of reading your e-mail, you need to find a way to MAKE SURE that you grab their attention.

Let's go back to the example we were just using of the gourmet foods web site. That was a pretty good e-mail promotion, but think how much better it would be if we added this killer P. s. to the end of it:P. s. I'm serious when I say that I've never been offered a deal like this on gourmet products like these, and I honestly doubt I'll be able to offer these prices again. Check it out while you can at www.yourgourmetfoodsite.com/europeshipment

Just by adding a P. s., you pack a lot of extra punch into your e-mail. People who are just scanning your e-mail will have read your entire offer in just a couple of lines, and people who have actually read your message will have the most exciting part of your message reinforced one more time.

Another powerful way to capitalize on the power of the P. s. is to offer an extra incentive for your readers to click through to your web page. It can be a free bonus offer, an additional discount, or the promise of important information. Remember, the only goal your e-mail should have is to generate a click-through to your site. Anything you can do to increase the number of click-through's will increase your sales.

Tips From Our Team Of Hot-Shot Copywriters

Now that we've talked about how to structure your e-mail promotion, you'll need to know how to actually do the writing. Creating killer copy is a great talent to have, and it doesn't actually take long to get the hang of it. And like we said before, copy writing is 95% science, which means if you follow the right instructions, literally anyone can do it!

Now, we've worked very closely with some of the most expensive copywriters in the world. These guys charge well over $10,000 to write a sales letter (and then they get a cut of your profits on top of that!). Don't get us wrong -- they're worth every penny, but until you can afford to hire them, you're probably going to need to do it yourself.

Here are the seven most important things we've been able to learn from the copywriters we've worked with. Follow this advice and you'll be writing like a pro before you know it. And just wait until you see what a well-written e-mail promotion will do for your sales!

Killer Copy Tactic #1: Emphasize Benefits, Not Features

Okay, okay… You've heard this one a million times before, but there's a good reason why this is the Number 1 Rule of Copy writing If you don't focus on how your product will benefit your potential customer, you don't stand a chance.

A feature is a simple fact about your product. If you sell cellular phones, "Clear Reception" is a feature. Of course, EVERY cellular phone provider advertises "clear reception," so how can you set yours apart?

People want things that will make them happy. Offer someone the opportunity to have more money, be healthier, be more popular, or make their life easier and they will act on it every time.

So you need to show your customer how clear cell phone reception will actually make their life easier:
Never again face the frustration of losing a single important call to poor cell phone reception.

See the difference? Of course, just about everyone with a cell phone has lost a call because of bad reception. What you've just done is made them relive that moment when they lost that important call. They remember how it felt, and keep reading to find out how they can make sure it never happens again.

Every feature of your product has at least a couple of benefits. Spend a few minutes figuring out what they are. When you are finished, you'll have a gold mine of great product copy.

Killer Copy Tactic #2: Tell, Don't Sell

Nine times out of ten, if you try to sell people something directly in an e-mail, they'll delete your message. Not necessarily because they don't want or need what you're selling, but because you've told them, right up front, that you want them to give you their money.

People rarely open their e-mail so that they can find things to buy. They use e-mail to keep in touch with friends and family, to deal with their work and finances, or to keep up on topics that interest them.

Always remember that people are going to scan your e-mail before they read it. If they see things like order forms, prices, dollar signs, or those little pictures of the credit cards you accept, they'll know right away that you want them to give you their money. And most people will stop reading right there.

So, if you're not going to sell them anything in this e-mail, then what the heck is the point? Well, instead of trying to sell to them, you should be convincing the reader to click through to your web site. That's all. Remember, that should be the ONLY job of your e-mail promotion.

We've learned that the secret to getting people to click through from an email to a web site is painting a picture. You want to get the reader so intrigued by the benefits that they literally CAN'T WAIT to visit your site -- where they'll learn the rest of the story.

Killer Copy Tactic #3: The Fear of Loss

Even more powerful than desire for gain is the fear of loss. The strategy behind this technique is to present people with a situation which threatens to take away something they already have.

It can actually be quite difficult for people to imagine exactly what it would feel like to have 10 times more money than they have right now. Show them how they could lose some of the money they already have, on the other hand, and you'll see just how fast they sit up and take action!

Imagine how this could work with the cell phone example:If you're missing calls -- or being cut off off -- every time it gets a little windy, you may be setting yourself up for big trouble. What if it was your boss on the phone? Or even your wife? Depending on an unreliable cell phone means your most important calls might never get through.

Killer Copy Tactic #4: Be Clear and Concise

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they first start writing copy for promotions is trying to be impressive with big words and long, complicated sentences. Doing this will, in reality, impress nobody; in fact, it will drive people away in droves.

Long sentences and big words are for college term papers, not copy writing You want to write an e-mail promotion that could be easily understood by a sixth-grader. Not because your customers aren't intelligent, but because they don't want to have to think too much about your message.

A great way to make sure your e-mail is readable is to make sure that you are writing as though you are talking to a friend. Be informal. Use contractions (words like "you'll," " we're," "I've") whenever you can. And don't be scared to start a sentence with "and" or "but." Sure, this will get you kicked out of grammar class. But let's face it. That's the way people talk.

If you're ever in doubt about whether your writing sounds natural enough, have someone read it out loud to you. If it DOESN'T sound like they are reading something to you, then you've done a great job.

Killer Copy Tactic #5: Transfer of Ownership

This is another tactic that great marketers have been using for decades, and it's still selling products like crazy! Transfer of ownership simply means that you always assume that the reader is going to take you up on the offer in your e-mail. It puts the idea in your reader's mind that they already own whatever you're selling. It's another incredibly powerful technique.
Your guitar will be delivered to you within 3 days of ordering, carefully packed and shipped via priority courier. And don't worry about paying for it right away.

See how this works? The reader of this e-mail can actually picture herself playing her new guitar… by this weekend, no less! It's an incredibly powerful technique that works like a charm every time.

Here's a quick way to see if your e-mail is making use of this technique. Count the number of times you use the words "you" and "your" in the e-mail. Now count the number of times it uses the words "our," "we," and "I." You should have AT LEAST twice as many instances of "you" and "your" as "I," "me," and "we."

Killer Copy Tactic #6: The Power of Questions

Questions are probably one of the best ways to get people to pay attention to what you're saying. Don't believe me? Think back to when you were a teenager in school. You're sitting in class. You haven't heard a word the teacher has said for the past twenty minutes. And then she says, "What do you think, John?"

NOW the teacher has John's attention! The reason a question is so powerful is because it forces us to think. And in e-mail marketing, this is especially important, because people are trying to get through as much of their e-mail as they can without thinking about it. By asking a question, you force the reader to actually pay attention to your message, instead of mindlessly skimming through it.

The great part is that it doesn't really matter how you word your question. Any of these examples would work:
Can you make $100 - $200 an hour working from home?

Who's making $100 - $200 an hour working from home?

You can make $100 - $200 an hour working from home, right?

Why aren't you making $100 - $200 an hour working from home?

Why shouldn't YOU be making $100 - $200 an hour working from home?

Definitely try this technique out in an upcoming promotion. You'll be surprised at how much you'll be able to boost your response rate. And bigger response rates lead to bigger profits. Don't they?

Killer Copy Tactic #7: Use Bullet Points

We've been talking a lot about how people scan e-mails rather than read them. Well, here's one technique that takes full advantage of this fact. Using bullet points in your e-mail promotion lets people easily scan the most compelling points of your offer without having to read the entire email.

When using bullet points, try to keep each one to just one or two short sentences. These are supposed to be very easy to read, and anything over a couple of sentences is going to look like too much text.

Remember, you'll want to put the most exciting and intriguing parts of your offer into your bullet points. That way, you can ensure that even the people who are just skimming and scanning your message are exposed to the most powerful part of your offer.

Final Thoughts:

Writing a successful e-mail promotion -- and then watching the sales come rolling in as a result -- is a great feeling. It's like the old saying goes: There's nothing more satisfying than the feeling of a job well done!

The real key to generating the kind of results you can be proud of with your e-mail promotions is writing powerful, compelling, and easy-to-read copy. It won't matter one bit how big your list is, or how wonderful your products are, or how great your prices are if you can't get people to read -- and get excited about -- what you have to offer.

The secret to writing e-mail promotions that have the ability to drive people to your site is to simply follow the 4-step formula we've given you in this article. Don't believe it? Still think you need to be born with a gift for writing? Challenge yourself to spend an evening writing an e-mail promotion using the information you've just been given.

We think you'll be very pleased with the results!