November 2017

Want a perfect description of the ideal email?

Check out this survey response… from one of my client’s readers. Talking about the emails I write for my client:

“Looking forward to your emails. I savor them like an after dinner cookie because they give so much inspiration.” 

Mmm.

Honestly…

Some of the best copy that’s ever been written… was written by “plain old Joes” who weren’t trying to write copy. But were just telling the truth in the way they tell it.

What a great, vivid analogy…

Good emails are like after-dinner cookies…

Delicious…

Bite-size…

They make you crave more with each savory bite…

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Are YOUR emails so delicious, bite-size, and savory… that – whenever someone opens them & reads them – it makes them want MORE of your emails?

Yes?

You’re doin’ it right.

No?

Go make them more delicious, bite-size, and savory. 🙂

From a reader:

“How does one determine what style & vocabulary to use when writing to one’s customers?” 

To determine this…

Answer 2 questions:

(1) Who are the people in your audience?
(2) Who are you?

…and then also note this general principle:

(3) What you talk about – is much more important than how you talk about it.

So let’s go through those 3 things in order…

(1) Think about your audience. How do they talk – when talking with their friends? What do they talk about? What do they think about? What sorts of things do they find interesting? Funny? Inspiring? Infuriating? Answer these questions. And then try to talk how they talk – while ALSO lowering the “complexity bar” a couple notches. From how your market normally talks. Even in a market where people talk with very sophisticated language… you should strive to be simple. i.e. don’t use more words just to use more words. Keep sentences short. To the point.

Then…

(2) Think about YOU. Especially when you’re writing for *your own* products… doing *your own* marketing… in *your own* voice. It’s important that you bring YOUR personality into your writing. And don’t just try to say whatever you think your audience wants you to say… in exactly the way you think they’d want you to say it. That’s being a sellout. And it makes for bland copy. Personality-less copy. See what I just did there? I made up a word. “Personality-less.” Because that’s just how I speech. I make up words. And use words like “speech” as a verb. And it makes my copy more interesting. At least, in theory.

Write with the enthusiasm, or the calculated-ness, or the humour, or the bouncy-ness… that you normally talk with.

…and use your common sense. Maybe you’ll find yourself writing an Ad in a market that would hate and distrust your WILD ENTHUSIASM!!!… because they’re all data scientists who live by numbers, and run 15+ calculations before they make any decision. In which case, you should probably tone down your enthusiasm for that ad.

But finally…

(3) Worry more about what you talk about… and less about how you talk about it. I can’t stress this enough. Great copy is much more about nailing what you say. Getting the underlying ideas right. It’s not about using a few magical “trigger” words that push your readers’ buttons… and magically cast a spell on them so they buy your stuff.

It’s about doing the basics in a way that’s suited to your audience – the basics being:

Reminding your audience that they have a problem…
Promising a solution…
Proving that your solution works, and then…
Creating a killer offer. And asking for the sale.

Style can make a big difference in your copy (and with that in mind, refer to my first 2 points about writing with proper style).

But it won’t affect your bottom-line conversion rate nearly as much… as your execution of the fundamentals.

Some people put a Call To Action after every other word in their copy.

They pitch their stuff. And they pitch it again. And then they give you an option to click here to see their stuff.

And then as they’re talking, they slide in another CTA.

And then they do this:

>>Check out my cool product thing<<

And then they end their piece.

-Sam

P.S. JUST KIDDING check out my cool stuff in my PS section

…

You get the point.

Some people pitch a LOT in their copy.

And then there’s that other breed of copywriter/marketer…

Who only has a single pitch in his emails. And his sales pages. If that.

So how much should YOU pitch?

Short, sweet, mostly-true, & mostly-unhelpful answer: 

It doesn’t *really* matter. 

Longer, complex-er, more-complete, & more-helpful answer: 

(1) It depends on your selling style. You want to write copy that matches your personality. So if you’re a super enthusiastic, hype-y, JUST DO IT sort of a guy or gal… pitch more often. If you’re a more laid back, calculated, quietly-build-build-build sort of a seller… do a lot of building. Then channel all the energy and emotion of the reader into a single CTA at the end. That can be done VERY effectively.

So ask yourself: “what’s my style of selling? Does my style of selling lend itself to more pitches… or less pitches?”

Then act accordingly.

(2) In general, you want to have a CTA whenever your reader might be ready to take action. Depending on what you’re offering… 1-15% of the people who open your emails will be ready to take action the second they open the email. So have a CTA right at the beginning. But another 10-20% of the people who open your emails will require some persuading before they’re ready. So do that. Persuade them. Then add another CTA, right when you pass that “persuasive tipping point”… where you give a really compelling reason to buy, or where your reader is at a peak emotional state… add your CTA there. And then if your email/sales pages goes on after that… wait for the next “persuasive tipping point” in your copy. And add another CTA after it.

Writing is a highly creative process.

It happens best when you’re most alert.

When you’re tired, you’re NOT alert.

So never write while tired. It’s just not worth it.

Go to sleep. Get up early if you have to. Whatever you do, don’t try to pull an overnighter while writing copy. Or do ANYTHING in that ‘overnighter’ spirit. You just can’t “muscle through” a big copy project while there’s a 10lb weight hanging on your eyelids…. AND do a good job. You could do a mediocre job. But even that happens much more slowly & inefficiently when you’re tired.

So my advice to you?

My plea to you?

STOP.

Sleep.

THEN write.

If you get in the habit of doing this, you’ll write better copy, get more affirmation, get more motivation, be able to write faster… which means you’ll producing more copy overall… which will only make your copy better. Which will get you more affirmation, motivation, speed, and ability – and round and round it goes. Up up up.

No sleep, worse copy. Less affirmation, less motivation, slower writing. And down and down it goes.

So sleep.

If you do what I’m about to suggest, you’ll discover an “invisible guide”… who will lead you towards more targeted, interesting, profitable copy.

Do what?

These 9 steps:

(1) Mine your personal network of friends
(2) Find someone who counts as being “in your target audience” (if no one comes to mind, post on Facebook)
(3) Offer to buy her a meal
(4) Set a time & location
(5) Eat meal with her
(6) Ask her lots of questions about what it’s like being her. Best if you come up with a list of targeted questions beforehand – that will help you go deep into her psychology. So you can understand *why* she does what she does. What *really* motivates her. What fears she has. Objections she has. Etc.
(7) Take copious notes
(8) Thank her
(9) Repeat 1-2 times

These sorts of interactions give you invaluable “tacit knowledge” – i.e. knowledge that – often unconsciously – shapes how you do your work in helpful ways. Strengthening your intuition. Helping you make better writing decisions. Serving as an “invisible guide” towards more targeted, interesting, profitable copy.

So go talk to your friends.

Fuel up on tacit knowledge about your target audience.

It’ll make your copy feel more “tailored” to your audience.

One of the biggest differences between good copywriters and bad ones is that good copywriters *know* what their readers want… and bad copywriters *guess* what their readers want.

Don’t take guesses.

Not even educated ones.

No need.

Figure out what your readers actually want.

One way to do this?

Find where they go online. The discussion forums. The online communities. Go to *those* places… and read everything you can find on those forums. Listen to your audience in their “natural habitat”… talking like they normally do. And it will do magical things to your understanding of your audience. And your copy. You’ll get much better at addressing your audience’s actual concerns.

Finally…

There are many more ways of doing this – of figuring out what your audience really wants.

But what I shared is good for now.

More soon.

Sometimes I see people who write emails or letters addressed to a bunch of people:

“Dear friends,”

“Dear operation managers,”

“I’m writing to you all to inform you that”

…etc.

Don’t do that.

Always write to one person. And one person alone.

…because if I start reading an email addressed to “you all,” it may or may not be relevant to me. The reader may or may not intend to address me. It’s unclear. But if the email is written to “you” singular… I know he’s addressing me. It’s clear. He’s talking to me directly. He’s ‘looking me in the eyes’ throughout his email. And I’ll listen to that email.

Make sense?

Only ever address one person at a time!

Makes your stuff more personal, clear & compelling.

Your brain likes patterns.

When your brain starts to detect a pattern… it starts making predictions about the future. And if the pattern holds true, it boosts your brain’s processing speed. Because the future is aligning with your brain’s expectations. Which helps your brain process things faster.

And yes, that’s all very abstract.

But it’s super powerful.

And you should use it to your advantage when writing copy.

So let’s look at example – of a particular kind of pattern you can put in your copy: parallelism. 

Consider the following section of copy:

“In 2018 maybe you want to…

• Author your first book
• Speak at your first event
• Walk away from your corporate job
• Create passive income streams that free up your schedule and create margin in your life… so you can spend it doing the things you LOVE doing

And yes, that’s a great first step! Figuring out what you want.

However…

Just naming your goals isn’t enough. Not if you want to actually ACHIEVE them, that is.”

Nice copy. Nothing wrong with it. BUT. Watch how the last couple lines read smoother when I add a bit of parallelism:

In 2018 maybe you want to…

• Author your first book
• Speak at your first event
• Walk away from your corporate job
• Create passive income streams that free up your schedule and create margin in your life… so you can spend it doing the things you LOVE doing

And yes, that’s a great first step! Naming your goals.

But no, it’s not enough!—if you want to ACHIEVE your goals.

See what I did?

In those last 2 lines?

I used the same sentence structure for both lines.

“And yes” –corresponds with–> “But no”

“that’s a great first step!” –corresponds with–> “it’s not enough!”

“Naming your goals” –corresponds with–> “ACHIEVE your goals”

See?

Parallelism.

And my example is just one way of doing it – among many.

And parallelism is just one kind of pattern – among hundreds.

…meaning there are lots of ways to make your copy easier on the eyes – so go find them!

(See what I did there? More parallelism in the last 3 lines! Hurrah!)

Enough.

Go write something.

If you (truly) grasp what I’m about to tell you… there will be no end to the success of your sales copy.

…because one of THE most important skills you can master as a copywriter is the ability to really GRAB your reader’s attention, and then to never let go. And I’m about to tell you how to do this in your very first line. And if you take this advice to heart, and apply it… and master it… well… you’ll have arrived.

So are you ready?

To have one of the copy-cosmos’s greatest secrets revealed to you?

Here it is:

Use your first line to open as many “loops” in your reader’s brain as possible. 

“…the heck?”

Yea. True.

I guess this one will take a lil e’splanation.

So let’s talk about “loops.”

(btw, I’ve already opened a couple loops in your brain)

“Loops” are just a way of talking about human desires. When you “open a loop,” you make a person aware that they don’t have something. Like an answer to a question. Or a “secret” piece of information. Or a physical object… that’ll make them more happy. Or more productive. And whenever you open a new loop in someone… an invisible force starts ‘tugging’ that person in a particular direction.

Think about it this way:

At any given moment, we all have millions and millions of “sleeping desires” tucked away in our being. Napping.

And at certain moments…

Those desires get “awakened.”

And then we start to feel their pull on us. In a very real way.

Well, “opening a loop” is simply the act of doing something… that makes a desire go from “asleep” to “awake.”

…from “having no effect on you” to “pulling you in a felt way.”

So when I say the key to nailing your opening line is “opening as many loops in your reader’s brain as you can”… I’m saying, “awaken as many sleeping desires in your reader as you can.”

Make sense?

Great.

Though now you may be wondering…

HOW do you do this???

So many ways. And your job as a copywriter is to learn as many ways of “opening loops” in people as you can… and to refine your ability to this with fewer and fewer words. Until you can open 2-3 STRONG loops with a STRONG pull on your reader… in a single line.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Here are a few ways you can open loops in your reader:

(1) Immediately start telling a story. Because we all want to hear the end of a story once we’ve heard the beginning. It’s a human thing. And so beginning your copy with a story is a great way to “open loops” and grab your reader’s attention… in that very first line. Bonus: even better if you can introduce a WEIRD element at the beginning of your story: “When I was 8 years old, I met a man who could supposedly could tell how old you were just by looking at the wrinkles on your neck.” That would be a great opening line. Because it (1) awakens your desire to hear the end of the story… but it ALSO (2) awakens your desire to wrap your mind around weird things that don’t make sense(i.e. “a man who could tell how old you were… just by looking at the wrinkles on your NECK? What on earth…? Can people do that? Or maybe this guy was a hoax…?”)

(2) Make a big, juicy promise. Because when you start talking about something that your reader WANTS, and telling them that you can give it to them… it opens up all sorts of loops. Like their desire for the thing. And their desire to know HOW you’re going to give them the thing. NOTE: this is the approach I took in the first line of *this* blog post. Go look at it again. I promised a “secret” piece of information… that, if you understand it, will give you the persuasive power you WANT as a copywriter. I “opened a loop”… by awakening your desire for improving your copywriting-capabilities. And I also opened the loop of, “HOW is he gonna make good on this huge promise?” (i.e. your curiosity loop) And these 2 things together (presumably) ‘grabbed’ your attention… and made you keep reading ’til now.

(3) Ask a compelling question. Because if you’re faced with an interesting question that you don’t know the answer to… you start WANTING to know the answer to that question. And so a loop gets opened. And so you start your quest to find the answer. Which is why compelling questions are great ways to start copy. Emphasis on *compelling.* (More on what makes a compelling question in a future post)

There are so many ways you can employ these 3 “loop-opening” tactics.

And there are so many more “loop-opening” tactics.

But the point is…

Open as many loops as you can in your first line.

And also:

Aim to open loops that have a STRONG pull on your reader. Because there’s definitely a spectrum. Some opened-loops have a stronger ‘pull’ on you than others. Which means you should…

Make JUICY promises… not ‘dime-a-dozen’ ones.

Ask COMPELLING questions… not boring ones.

Tell STRANGE stories… not commonplace ones.

And with that…

Onward, reader! To better copywriting!

-Sam

P.S. I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you… that the battle for your reader’s attention is won or lost LONG BEFORE your first line.

…because it all STARTS with your headline.

Open loops in your headline. Use the “I = B + C” formula I talked about in an earlier post. Your headline and your first line MUST work hand-in-hand to open those loops… and carry your reader towards her destination(i.e. the CTA).

Or she’ll never get there.