Sell Like Crazy

by Sabri Suby

  click rates, and click-to-open rates.

  In summary: Test short and sweet subject lines against super long subject

  lines and see where you have the most success. But whatever you do, don’t

  get caught up in between, in the death zone.

  Assess the Terrain

  Inboxes are busy and crowded places. Most of your audience is on multiple

  lists. Your direct competitors. Non-direct competitors. The works.

  In order to write emails that get opened, you should know how your emails

  stack up and stand out against those you’re battling against for your reader’s

  attention.

  Sign up for every email and/or newsletter from people in your industry. See

  what these people are sending out, how frequently they’re emailing, what

  their subject lines are, what type of content and CTAs they’re using in their

  emails.

  That’s right: You need to see every email your competitors are sending.

  Then start what’s called an ‘email swipe file’, which I recommend you divide

  into folders in Gmail, Outlook, or whatever you use. This allows you to take

  a panoramic view of the market and the landscape you’re fighting for

  attention in.

  Look, even though the subject line is one of the shortest elements of your

  email, it’s the one part you should be willing to spend the most time on. It’s

  the key to sucking people into your email. Get it wrong and almost

  everything else doesn’t matter. Get it right and watch sales go through the

  roof.

  Preheader Text That Burns With Intrigue

  The preheader is the short summary text that follows the subject line when an

  email is viewed in the inbox. Many mobile, desktop, and web email clients

  use preheader text to give the reader a preview of the email’s content before

  they open it. Here’s an example in Gmail:

  Preheader text is what I call the ‘sniff test’ used by subscribers as a pre-

  screening tool along with the subject line, because it’s the second thing a

  subscriber sees when they get your email.

  It’s these two elements they use to decide whether or not this email belongs

  to the ‘P’ group or the ‘C’ group, and whether or not they should open your

  email.

  As we’ve already covered, if your emails don’t get opened it’s impossible to

  get people to click-through and take your desired conversion action, like

  making a purchase or an enquiry.

  People are time-poor and looking for any excuse to deem your email

  irrelevant so they can delete it. Preheader text makes it easy for them to do

  this without even clicking into the email.

  This means the copy here must be on point. The key with preheader text is

  not to tell the whole story and to have it burning with intrigue. Think of this

  section as the headlines and blurbs you see on the cover of the trashy

  magazines we’ve talked about – the ones that use intrigue to entice readers to

  pick them up and find out more.

  Be careful. If you tell the reader everything, it removes all the intrigue

  enticing them to click open and find out more.

  I’ve found it’s generally best to take some of your email body copy, ideally

  mid-sentence, and modify it to make it work as the preheader text.

  It’s also great to use a ‘cliff-hanger’ or the ‘open loop’ copywriting technique

  where you leave the reader wanting more.

  A cliff-hanger is a scene in a movie, book, newspaper story, or TV show that

  holds something back from the reader or viewer.

  The promise is that if you keep reading or watching, you’ll eventually be

  rewarded with what you want to know.

  Suspense and intrigue are the main ingredients of a good cliff-hanger.

  Using curiosity as the hook in preheader text keeps things sort of vague, yet

  gives the reader just enough to make them want to know more. Nothing is

  more effective for raw clicking power.

  Examples:

  ‘Man showers in lemon juice, you won’t believe what happens next.

  Find out here >>’

  ‘Leading cardiologist says carbs are not the problem (this is)’

  ‘I walked into my manager’s office and said these 3 simple words…’

  ‘Cat comes face-to-face with a rhino and both creatures’ instincts just

  take over’.

  With that said, you don’t have to use pure suspense or intrigue to create a

  great cliff-hanger. There are other approaches including:

  Humour

  Amazement

  Doubt

  Challenges

  And while the most effective cliff-hangers are unique and personal to you

  and your audience, you can also think of cliff-hangers as common phrases

  like these:

  For example

  Let me explain

  Here’s what I mean

  Here’s why

  Sound silly? It’s not

  Case in point

  This is how

  If you can’t think of a unique and personal cliff-hanger, then go with one of

  the above. Using preheader text in your emails will get you more opens, more

  clicks, and more sales!

  Email Timing: The Best Day to Send Email

  According to research by CoSchedule, for maximum inbox deliverability and

  open rates, you should prioritise your send days in this order:

  Tuesday: This is hands down the #1 best day to send emails,

  according to the majority of the data from these studies.

  Thursday: If you send two emails a week, choose Thursday for your

  second day.

  Wednesday: While no single study showed that Wednesday was the

  most popular, it came in second place several times.

  The Best Time to Send Email

  CoSchedule found that while many of the studies returned varying results,

  here’s how you can prioritise your send times based on data:

  10 am: While late-morning send times were the most popular in

  general, several concluded the best time to send emails is at 10am

  Another notable time is 11am.

  8 pm-midnight: I bet you didn’t expect that one. It looks like emails

  generally receive more opens and clicks later in the evening. This is

  likely due to people checking their email before going to bed.

  2 pm: It looks like you might be successful by sending your emails

  later in the day as people are checking out of work mode or looking

  for distractions.

  6 am: This makes complete sense given that research from the Center

  for Creative Leadership shows that 50% of you begin your day by

  emailing in bed. Bingo! Before you even stand up, you’re opening

  emails. Good morning!

  The Winners Are…

  This list combines the best days with the best time of day to send out emails,

  in descending order:

  Tuesday at 10 am

  Thursday at 8 pm

  Wednesday at 2 pm

  Tuesday at 6 am

  Thursday at 10 am

  Wednesday at 8 pm

  Tuesday at 2 pm

  Thursday at 6 am

  Wednesday at 10 am

  Tuesday at 8 pm

  Thursday at 2 pm

  Wednesday 6 am

  Test Everything!

  Everyone is wrong until proven otherwise – that’s my motto. With this said,

  you’ll need to test these days and times agai
nst your own list. Send out your

  emails at the best days and times as suggested above. Then analyse the data

  from your tests to see when you got not only the best open rates, but also the

  most traffic and conversions.

  Step 3: Getting It Clicked

  Ok, now it’s time to whip your emails into shape. In this is section we’ll dive

  into the anatomy of high converting emails. What works and what doesn’t.

  Step-by-step, you’ll learn how write and design emails that actually make

  you money.

  First up, tone is everything. Unlike a classic novel, where you know what

  tone to expect, writing for email is different. It’s much more personal and

  conversational. People are really good at detecting if pieces of writing on the

  Internet – be they emails, blog posts, Facebook updates or tweets, Google

  ads, YouTube comment threads – are meant for them or not. And the key

  signal is how you put the words together. The tone tells you a lot about

  whether an email is worth your attention or not. And it’s your tone that will

  help people answer their eternal question – ‘In an inbox of infinite options,

  should I read this email?’

  The number one thing that determines this is not your grammar. It’s not the

  length of your email, or how beautifully styled it is (quite the contrary

  actually) …You see, the number one thing that determines this is this:

  Is it entertaining?

  As I mentioned earlier, my number one fear when writing an email is that it

  will be boring.

  It doesn’t matter how valuable your content is. If your tone is dry and boring,

  it’s an effort for your subscribers to read it, and they’re met with resistance at

  every line. Let’s face it: If they’re reading your email, they’re on the Internet,

  meaning they’re just two clicks away from super-models in bikinis on

  Instagram, funny cat videos, or what their friends are up to on Facebook.

  Therefore, your emails must entertain! Don’t write limp, boring, dull emails

  that lull your readers into a coma.

  Be that adventurous person in their life who brings them some spice,

  entertainment, and excitement to their vanilla existence.

  Be controversial, funny, and exciting. Hit them with that ‘happy shot’, make

  them smile and want to read your emails.

  I don’t care if your market consists of lawyers, financial planners,

  neuroscientists, architects, or a member of the royal family... they will never

  be ‘bored into buying’. They will only respond to passion and entertainment.

  Passion, entertainment, and showmanship are the missing ingredients in copy

  and advertising today.

  In today’s digital age, everybody seems to be more concerned about

  offending a few losers than they are about selling to a multitude of winners.

  Whom will I offend? Who will unsubscribe from my list? Will I be stoned in

  the streets? Who the hell cares about that small percentage of cowards who

  have nothing but time on their hands, people who will hide behind their

  keyboards and write scathing comments in response to almost every

  solicitation they receive?

  I know I certainly don’t. But I see countless companies give up millions of

  dollars in sales every year just so they won’t offend a small percentage of

  complainers who’ll never buy from them anyway.

  Listen: When you write email copy, you should never lie, never cheat, never

  use poor taste, never use trickery, never be crass, and never insult your

  reader’s intelligence.

  However, you absolutely must stop watering down your copy, playing it safe,

  and making it lifeless, boring, and lacking in passion, all in the hopes of not

  offending those who’ll never do business with you anyway.

  Instead you must entertain, excite, and spark passion in your readers. Be

  polarising. This will enable you to form a friend-like bond with your

  audience by being ‘real’ and levelling with them and not trying to be some

  uptight prude.

  And don’t just talk about business. Tell them about your personal life, what

  you got up to on the weekend, what you do for fun, about your crazy ex-

  mother-in-law who’s like a fire-breathing Godzilla. Let them see your

  blemishes. Engage in casual banter like you do with friends. Tell them stories

  and then, and only then, hit them with your valuable ideas, strategies, and

  tactics on how to help them achieve their desired outcome.

  As a result, like me, you’ll get countless emails just like the one below, in

  this instance the subscriber had completely forgotten how he got on my list:

  This email is just one example of many.

  I’ve personally sold millions and millions of dollars’ worth of goods and

  services through email. And it’s one of the most powerful, most highly

  leveraged tool for business growth that exists.

  Anatomy of a High-Converting Email

  Every element of your email has one primary goal: to get the reader to take

  the next step. Every line of copy should keep their eyes glued to their screen,

  sliding down the slippery slope.

  Your reader starts at the top of the slope, reading the subject line, and then

  immediately slipping down to the preheader text, and then they open your

  email and slide into the opening line of your copy and then immediately slip

  down to the next line, slipping to the next line and so on and so forth.

  In this sequence:

  Subject line/Preheader: Grabs your reader by the throat and forces

  them to keep reading. After reading your subject line, their brain

  should be burning with intrigue to find out more.

  Lead: Drag them into your copy by captivating them with an

  interesting statement or ‘pattern interrupt’ that jolts them to attention.

  Body: Fascinate them with a gripping or unusual story or example.

  Call To Action: Get them to click, share, buy or do whatever the

  primary call to action of your email is.

  Once you’ve gotten your email opened, how do you get your readers to

  actually click to go and see your offer or whatever it is you want them to do?

  First up, if they’re ever going to click and do what you want them to do,

  people must ‘consume’ and read your email. The very first element of this is

  design.

  1. Email design: how your email looks is as important as what it says!

  While your email subject line is one of the primary ways to get email opened,

  the design of your email is how you get it read.

  As I mentioned previously, you might think that beautifully designed emails

  with lots of images, animated-buttons and a HTML-enhanced responsive

  theme would increase the amount of people that read your emails and then

  click. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

  Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look. When you quickly scan this email,

  what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

  Ok, stop. Let me guess. Immediately you knew it was from a business. You

  knew it had commercial intent. Therefore immediately it goes into the ‘C’

  group of emails. Consequently, you knew it wasn’t important or didn’t

  require an action from you, and then you deleted it.

  What’s the very first thing that tipped
you off? Let me guess – it was

  probably the subject line with each and every word capitalised (when was the

  last time a friend sent you an email with letter case in the subject line?) Then,

  once we do open it, there’s a logo at the top in the header. Your friends

  would never send you an email with the logo in the header, so don’t do it.

  Instead, put your logo in the signature.

  This is not just common sense. It’s backed up by research and data. Digital

  marketing behemoth HubSpot researched the idea of HTML versus plain text

  emails. To summarise their findings, they too found that HTML emails

  actually decreased both their open and clickthrough rates.

  Aside from proper list segmentation, nothing boosts opens and clicks as well

  as an old school, plain-text email.

  Why? It’s simple. Plain text emails look more authentic and less commercial

  than HTML-enhanced emails. In addition, email filters are smart enough to

  weed out over-enhanced emails from plain text emails – so it helps with your

  deliverability too.

  People see email as a one-to-one communication tool, and when was the last

  time you got a beautifully designed HTML-enhanced email from a friend

  about something important? Simple plain text emails seem to reflect the

  personal nature of email, while HTML-enhanced emails scream ‘commercial

  mass marketing’.

  Check out this example from an email I received about business lending:

  This is the perfect example of what not to do. It’s completely over designed,

  there’s no copy, and the images are completely unrelated. I’m sure the creator

  would be saying to their manager, ‘How great does this email look?’

  Unfortunately for them, the design and polish of your emails doesn’t make

  people trip over themselves to buy, in fact, it does quite the opposite.

  No one wants to feel like you’re marketing to them. They’d rather feel like

  they’ve opted in to receive information that will help them reach their desired

  outcome. Email is a way to get your list to know, like, and trust you, which is

  the number one way you convert subscribers into paying customers.

  Takeaway: Send plain text emails rather than HTML-enhanced emails.

  2. Talk to them like a friend

  So, how do you cut through, get noticed, and eventually sell to your list? First

  up, write conversationally and don’t try to sell them straight out of the gate.