How To Write Killer Subject Lines And Email Copy
If you send out promotional emails, you know how important it is to have an exciting subject line to get maximum opening rates. And after you email gets opened, you want them to click on your links, so you also have present them with a motivational call to action.
So you need to give them a REASON to open you email and also a REASON to click your link. People don’t buy based on features, they buy based on the benefits they get from those featured.
For example: You don’t buy an Audi R8 just because it has 500HP, you buy it because you want to feel the thrill of those 500HP when you step on the gas.
See the difference in feature and benefit?Ok cool so in this guide I’m going to show you how to write killer subject lines that will boost your opening rates and also how to write email copy that will make your subscribers click your links.
Mindset on benefits
First you should get into the mindset of “What's in it for them” as in how will your subs benefit from the email you’re going to send them. This should be your mindset for every email.
Make them like and trust you
This is the basis for your relationship with your list. When someone joins your list, put yourself in their position. How would you feel if you got bombarded with promo’s from the get go? Not so good right? This is rule number one: don’t be spammy!
Build a nice foundation first and load up your autoresponder with some awesome free content before you start sending out promo’s.
Get some nice PLR stuff that you can give away and send them to some really good articles/YouTube videos about your niche.
This gives them the impression that they joined something valuable, builds trust and essentially a relationship. Remember to always keep things personal.
If you don’t want to write tons of content I recommend sending at LEAST two free content emails after they join your list. First a nice welcome email with something cool and the day after some more free content. Just set it up in autoresponder and if you have some spare time you can always add more content emails.
After this you can start sending your first promo’s but remember to mix it up and also send some free stuff every now and then, so the trust and value are maintained. A good ratio is 1 in every 7 emails, so 6 promo’s and 1 content email.
Sorry for the long ass intro, but like building a house it’s good to have a solid foundation.
Boring emails
First thing you should do before you start writing your email is think of an angle. I get loads of promo emails and a most of them are extremely boring. Going on and on about what the product can do and how awesome it’s supposed to be. And all I can think is “What’s in it for me?”
Personally I like to use the The Single Feature And Benefit Angle
With this angle you’ll just write about the most important feature and benefit. So if you were to promote a binary options broker, you would (for example) only talk about their high payouts. Tip: If possible pick a feature or benefit that makes it stand out from competitors.
In your promo you will only focus on this one feature and explain what’s in it for them (benefit). Don’t try to sell them on every single feature/benefit, just one. This will make your email stand out.
You can apply this to any feature, just make sure you explain the benefit:
- If you focus on speed, tell them about the time they will save and what they can do with that time
- If you focus on low pricing, tell them how much money they will save and what they can do with that money
- Etc.
But you can test different angels like:
- The Personal Success Story
- The Authority Approach
- The Winner Of The Review
- Exclusive Offer
- Etc.
So first start by picking your angle. After that it’s time to write the body content and call to action and last but not least write the subject line. I find it easier to write the subject line after I write the email content.
Promo content
For the content of the promo email we want to be different from other email marketers. Because you already picked an angle and thought things through, you’re already ahead of the pack.
So let’s say you’re promoting Mobile Immersion and you use the Personal Succes Story angle, you should start with a short story about how the product owner helped you overcome certain problems you were having with mobile marketing, changed your life, make more money etc. by answering your questions on the forum.
After that short introduction you start selling:
… and my buddy Tai just released his awesome coaching program. Off course I bought it right away and I’m overwhelmed by the amazing and powerful content. I’m already implementing tons of stuff.
If you want to succeed in mobile marketing, this is where it’s at. I highly recommend you pick this up today.
There’s a couple of things you can take away from this. First as you can see I mention that I bought the product myself and I'm already benefiting from it. With this approach I’m not really selling or promoting, but recommending something that I use and believe in. This also gives credibility.
Make 'em click
First you should focus the attention of the reader on your call to action. This is easy to do by making the letters in your call to action in bold and adding a few special characters.
Here are some examples:
>> Grab Your Copy HERE
=> Watch This FREE Video
>> See Proof here…
Or:
>>> Take A Look Right NOW
==> Get All The Details HERE
You can get creative with this and test what works best.
Make 'em open it
So now you have your email body copy and call to action all done, but it’s pretty useless if your promo doesn’t get opened. So we need an exciting and appealing subject line.
Angles for Subject lines that convert
Curiosity - This is a great weapon IF used correctly. Some examples I used for my binary options promo’s:
- Cool update - you're going to love this
- Here's WHY you've failed before
- How to beat Binary Options (trick)
Interest - This is where you use the benefit you focus on in your promo and turn it into an attractive headline. How will this email help them to get what they want?
Urgency - Motivate your subs to take action right away. You can do this by limiting time or number available, etc. Just like Curiosity you should not use this every time.
Proof - People love results. Tease them in the subject line with your awesome results and show them how to get the same result in your copy.
Numbers - Same as with proof, people love numbers an statistics. Like:
- X amount of money in x amount of days
- X people are using this exact product and see results in x weeks
- X year old lost x amount of weight in x months
Always check the offers sales page or affiliate page for inspiration for you email copy. They probably tested out the copy on their sales page so use it to your advantage. Remember to keep you subject lines short and snappy.
The Pick-up Line
A lot of email marketers underestimate this, but the first sentence of your body copy is often the second thing a subscriber sees in the preview of their email client before they open the email. So make sure this first sentence counts. Think of it as a good pick-up line when you try to flirt with someone.
Examples:
- These 2 guys have finally cracked the holy grail!
- Wish I would have know this before now...
- Very interesting video that you simply must watch...
- Your life has been UPGRADED!
- It's finally here. I can proudly announce…
- Can it really be this simple?
So now you have everything you need for your promo email. Last thing to do is sign off. A good tip is to sign off with something unique of specific to your niche and add your website or brand name to your own name.
Examples:
If you’re in the beauty niche you could sign off with:
Stay sexy!
John Doe - Author of 6 Weeks To Sexy Abs
If you’re in the make money online niche:
To you wealth and success,
Jane Doe - yourdomain.com
Now to add one more call to action or sence of urgency you could include a P.S. at the very end of your email to give them a final push. This is something you see on a lot of sales pages as well.
Examples:
- P.S. Watch the video now before it gets taken down
- P.S. Only 22 spots left so hurry
- P.S. Claim your early bird discount here
Most email marketers send 1 email per promo and leave it at that. I’ve discovered that with certain offers it’s a good idea to build a mini-funnel that has a sequence of three emails:
First email - Warm up the crowd with an email thats all about curiosity. Tell your subs that you’re about to unveil something really special, but you have to test it first or negotiate a good deal for them. Hype it up. Sign off with something like stay tuned…
Second email - This is the actual promo. Send this the next day.
Third email - This is friendly reminder. Send this the third or fourth day. Tell them you’ve had great response to the promo email and everyone’s going crazy over it. Ask them what’s holding them back and offer to answer any questions about the offer.
This method has boosted my conversion significantly for certain offers!
What’s working?
Always keep track of what’s going on. Analyze the data in your tracking software or in your autoresponder. Split test subject lines to see which have the best opening rate. Check which email formats work for your list and which offers convert etc. Use this data to improve your promos.
Final Thoughts
The email game can be very lucrative if you play it well. I hope this guide will help you to take things to the next level. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to post them.
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