This is the second-to-last installment of this posting series. I decided to extend past the three parts I originally promised because there’s just too much detail to talk about in one final post, and you love my incessant rambling, so I figured what the heck!
If you haven’t read part one or two yet, please do so now, and remember that this information is presented in the context of a “sales email newsletter” and not a general update/news type newsletter.
I’ll be talking about how to write your email newsletters to increase its “button-pushing” potential, so you can reach your reader on an emotional level, and not turn them off straight out of the gates. Unless you’ve built up the kind of trust that people reserve only for their family and friends, you’re always facing an uphill battle when trying to reach prospects through media-based methods (i.e., newsletter, website, video, etc.)
Some of you thrive on face-to-face sales; others (like me) are better at communicating through the written word. The same criteria applies to both, but selling someone with writing is more difficult – you can’t see how the reader’s responding to you, and therefore have to attempt to quench any and all objections you can think of in one single correspondence, with zero available feedback until testing starts. Here’s an interesting related article from Forbes about traditional selling vs. modern email/ website/social media methods.
It would take a small ebook to tell you everything I’ve learned through my years of writing sales letter emails, and there’s plenty of information on the Internet, some of which I’ll link to at the end of this post. What I’m going to outline is a few of the more fundamental mistakes that I see from the rookies and so-called “seasoned” sellers out there.
Once you know the fundamentals – even if you’re not a good salesman – your email newsletters will perform better. It’s easy to push a customer away without even realizing it.
Write more than one email:
In fact, you should have at least a few letters and/or writers at your disposal. The more contrast in style there is, the better you can “test” to find what factors are giving you the best response, and “target” to the customer – both now and in the future. The first newsletter is the hardest, and it won’t get easier if you just keep putting on the same old raggedy running shoes for this race. If you test, you might just have a chance to make it to the finish line.
Don’t use “I” and “We” more than once (max twice) in a paragraph:
Everyone in the marketing game knows this, but how often can anyone resist talking about themselves or their organization when given the chance? Truthfully, “We” is far worse than “I” in my book. Somewhere along the line someone decided that it was far better to appear as a team than an individual, and in many cases, prospects can see right through this deception – don’t try to be someone or something you’re not and if you are a team, don’t ram it down the reader’s throat.
Unless you’re running an auto service department, nobody cares if you have a “team” backing you. They care about the immediate and/or long term benefit you can provide them with. It doesn’t matter if you are one, or many people, speak to the prospect in “You” language. Always be closing them by telling them what the product or service does for them. You will have to use “I” or “We” occasionally, but be mindful and stop yourself when you start writing them at the beginning of each sentence!
With all that said: a really good writer can break this rule, IF they can weave a good story around how a product or service changed theirs or someone elses life. This is best left to the people who know what they’re doing (i.e., professionals). You have to be able to transition back and forth between the past tense narrative of the “story”, then back to the present tense, where the letter is once again talking to the reader as a prospect and laying out the benefits of what’s being sold – it’s very easy to lose someone if you don’t know what you’re doing here!
The next post will continue where this one left off. I’ll include a lot more details, promise!
