How to write an effective email (with example)

I hate how most people do email “newsletters.” They suck for the readers as they don’t provide value… and they don’t make any sales so they suck for the business as well. Today I want to give you some quick tips on making your emails work.

Here’s a quick email I had someone send out to promote my event that got some good responses. So here’s the email and then I’ll break down the lessons for you in a second:

Sender: Craig Dewe
Subject: Want to be like Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki?

Tony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki and all top internet marketers
are able to make such a difference in the world (and rake in
the big bucks too) because they’re experts at selling their
information. And the best part is you can join them.

If you’re an author, speaker, coach, trainer or consultant (or just
have knowledge to share) then web marketing was basically built
for you. Selling your own knowledge in the form of information
products is one of the most lucrative and high leverage ways to
make money.

Not to mention how it supports and builds all the aspects of your
current business. More authority and credibility, more followers
and most importantly… more loyal clients.

And the best part is you can find out exactly how to do it here…

http://www.webmarketingoutlaw.com/knowledge

Talk soon,

Craig

Keep it personal

Let’s start with the email from field. I use my name Craig Dewe because I want to have a personal relationship with you. If I wrote my email from some random company name you’d probably file me away with all the junk newsletters you get.

I also write in a very personal way. I don’t want to appear like a big faceless company (I’m not one) because most big companies
are boring. Think of all the company newsletters you’ve subscribed to in the past… we’re they fascinating reading or a snore fest?

With this goes my feeling that your emails should be plain text or at least look like plain text. I laugh at companies that create email templates with pretty images and fancy designs. First off most email programs have images turned off so they just leave big holes in the email and second it’s like waving a big giant flag that says “This is NOT a personal email!”

Sorry! No one cares about your business…

The next thing is the subject line. If you have a boring subject no one is going to read your email. Included in this are subjects like “XYZ Business Newsletter” as no one cares about your business’ news… they want to know what’s in it for them. Always focus on creating value for your subscribers at all times.

The job of the subject line, the from name and the first few lines of the email (as displayed in a preview pane) are to get the email
read. In this email I got attention by mentioning names that 99% of my market know… and hopefully created a little curiosity as well. Remember that your lovely email is useless if nobody bothers to read it.

Make sure you get your message across

I then tied this message to how people can become just like Tony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki by becoming information marketers. Now many people might not know what information marketing is (and it may sound a little boring) but by explaining it in a different way more people should understand it. It also becomes a lot more interesting with a frame of reference people can relate to.

Part of your job as an authority in your market is to simplify the process for others. No one is impressed by your big fancy words or ability to sound intelligent. They want value and that means giving them information they can use.

Don’t get ahead of yourself

Once the email is opened the next step is to get someone to take action. I like to give them a link to click and that’s there action step. So all the email has to do is get them to click the link inside.

I don’t try to sell my products and services via email. I don’t confuse people with endlessly long emails (this started as an email and then moved over here as it got too big). All I want to do is give people enough information so they can decide if they want to click the link.

Be clear about what they do next

If I want you to click a link I want to make it plainly obvious and easy to do. That’s why most email newsletters fall down… they confuse the reader with too much stuff. I usually have one link and I repeat it twice if not three times so it’s always easy to click on.

The best places are the first time you mention the action you want them to take, then maybe further down the email after another call to action and finally right at the end of the email so if they read all the way to the bottom they don’t have to scroll back up to find the link.

Note: The email above was a short one so I only put one link… there’s a balance between making it easy to find and slamming them over the head with it.

Help keep them focused

Once they click the link they’re taken to a page about my event: http://www.webmarketingoutlaw.com/knowledge

The job of this page is then to show them my event is valuable and that they should attend. Notice that I have an entire webpage to now explain and sell the value of the event. Imagine trying to do all that in an email! Or worse just giving them a random event name and a price without explaining what they’ll get out of it.

The page (known as a sales page) also has one focus and that’s for them to sign up or leave. There’s no other menu navigation for them to start browsing. There are no other distractions… just a simple yes or no decision.

Bonus lesson in selling

You’ve probably heard that you need to sell the benefits… not the features. But still a lot of people don’t understand what a benefit is. Here’s an example:

Feature: Learn how to build an information marketing business
Benefit: Make money online by selling information products

See why this can be a confusing distinction? The benefit isn’t that they’ll learn something… it’s what they can do with that knowledge. And it’s very important to describe what true benefits your business is offering.

Want to learn more stuff like this?

This is exactly the type of thing I’ll be teaching at my workshop so you can see that it’s more than just for potential information marketers. All business owners can do with having a more responsive email list. It’s nice when you can send an email and know sales are going to come in.

Some of the other things I’m going to cover are:

• Why most websites are built backwards and what to do about it
• The 2 big questions that will decide your success or failure online
• How to build a following of people who love what you do
• How to know exactly what your market wants to buy… every time
• Techniques to create information products that anyone can do (and I do mean anyone)
  
• My simple 6 step formula for selling online
• Why most people think about traffic in completely the wrong way
• How to ensure your website always has a steady stream of new visitors
• And how to convert those visitors into lifelong clients

Or as one big benefit: How to make more money from your website

Anyway… you can find out more here: http://www.webmarketingoutlaw.com/knowledge

You can also drop me an email if you want to know if this is right for your business. Remember – I’m a real person – and not some faceless company

P.S. If you’re not in the area and want me to turn this into an online presentation then also drop me a line. The more interest people show the more likely it’ll happen.

Click here for more about the workshop