Mementum

(My point is that the easiest way to start is to do so with one nugget of intention and build out from there.)

You sit at your desk, staring at the blank page and wondering what to write.

Before the deafening nothingness of the page consumes you, ask yourself, “What’s the point?”

What point are you trying to make with this email?

Write that down and start there.

Usain Bolt runs fast because he does a lot of squats. Therefore if you want to dominate, you should do squats… and I can teach you.

That’s off the top of my head. Here are 3 reasons I’m already pumped about this email:

1. The Olympics just finished and are still in everyone’s head - grabs attention.
2. Usain was everywhere in the news and it is human nature to want to dominate just like he did.
3. His success and derived inspiration easily lends itself to the importance of doing squats, which my product shows you how to do.

And from here, I could easily draw the reader into my reality with a short story, inspire them through Bolt’s dominance, and then tie in my (fake) Squat System and how it will help them do the same.

And that would probably pull very well for me.

When you start, break it down: what’s my main point in this email? Then expand from there. 

(The sentence I started with for this blog post is at the top.)

This little nugget gets little air time, but its importance is paramount as more and more copywriters continue to not understand email.

Many (if not all) of the popular email programs now show your readers not only the subject line, but also the 1st line or so of your body text.

This places even more importance on that 1st line of your copy, and gives you more opportunity to draw the reader in. I recommend a short and intriguing statement, either setting the scene or opening a story.

For example:

• I almost died yesterday.
• I was in the darkest corner of the theater…
• It didn’t end the way I’d of guessed…

If you’re using html email you might be boring your readers with “to view images in this email…” statements that automatically show in Gmail (unsure of the others) or other boring, unremarkable drudgery. If you’re using images at the top I hope your alt text is interesting.

Use that 1st line to start the story. It’s human nature to want to finish it, and that means more people reading and more people clicking to your sales page.

The 1st step to your savagely successful email campaign is understanding you can do it the right way.

“Right way”?

Yes. That means your email is appreciated by all, even those who don’t buy from the link you’ve inserted one or more times casually and logically into your story.

I found it ironic that I would receive the following email last night, as I set up this blog. Hailing from Exabytes a hosting company in one of the most unsexy and bland industries out there, it shows that anyone can do this.

It went like this:

Subject: Exabytes - A Simple ‘s’ That Costs Thousands of Dollars.

One day I met my client, Ben to do a presentation for my company products. It was a successful presentation and Ben was showing great interest in the products. Before I left, Ben asked for my name card so he could contact me through email tomorrow. I took out one name card from my name card holder and passed it to Ben before I hastily rushed to another appointment.

2 days later, I checked my mailbox. There was still no feedback from Ben. Wondering the situation, I gave Ben a call.

Me: Hello Mr Ben. It′s xxx from Example Pvt. Ltd. May I know how’s your decision? Would you like to order the product?

Ben: I have ordered it from another company.

Me: Huh!? Aren′t you interested in our product? Is there anything wrong?

Ben: I did send an order request to your email sales@example.com, but I never get any response from you. That′s why I have bought a same product from another company because I am in kind of a hurry to use it, although their price is much more expensive than yours. Even when I tried to browse your website example.com, it was empty.

Me: Mr Ben, my company email address is sales@example.com, example without ′s′, not sales@examples.com. My website is www.example.com, not www.examples.com…

At that moment, I felt like falling down a deep deep pit as I realize that I had just lost a big business which cost me thousands of dollar. I just wish I could get the Ben′s email even if he had sent it to sales@examples.com! closed

This issue could occur not only due to such ’singular’ or ‘plural’ confusion in domain. Similar situation could happen to differences between domain extensions. For instance, sender might send email to recipient@mydomain.net when suppose to send it to recipient @mydomain.com, or send email to recipient @mydomain.com when by right it should be sent to recipient@mydomain.com.my.

The good news is, this issue could be prevented, if you have Domain Aliases.

If you have a primary domain like “mydomain.com” in your Windows Shared Hosting Plan, you could register and define a new domain name “mydomain.net” as an alias to it. As a result, the email sent to the accounts defined on “mydomain.net” will be managed as if it was sent to a “mydomain.com” mail account type. You can manage the emails from two separate domains mail accounts in the same inbox.

Due to the fact that domain names are cheap, it is recommended to buy more TLD (Top Level Domain) types like .net, .org or .info alongside .com and redirect them as domain aliases. With only a few clicks in Windows or Linux Shared Hosting Plan, you can easily create domain aliases which allow your visitors to access the same web site through a number of different addresses!

Also when you get popular over the Internet through a domain name or a trademark reflected in a domain name, the possibility appears that other people take advantage of your popularity benefits too by cyber squatting.

For instance, they can register a domain name similar to yours with the only difference in the TLD type. Then, they could sell it to you with an enormous high price. Or the cyber squatters could gain certain traffic for their websites based on a similar domain name with yours.

A wide selection of domain names from only USD 14.65 / yr !

Exabytes offers Domain Registration service with wide selection of domain extensions to choose, ranging from .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .my, and much more, at lowest at only USD 14.65/year!

Register today and add domain aliases to your primary domain!

Not bad!

I stared at this email several different silent moments throughout the day… and eventually succumbed to the intrigue. To my surprise, I found myself drawn into a glorious story of battle, near-death, and finally triumph. I nearly bought another domain right then.

Although this email could have unleashed a stronger close and been better formatted for my non-html desires, this is by far the best pitch I’ve ever received from a technology company.

If someone can pitch domains this creatively and entertainingly, you can probably do the same for your product.

One of the unwritten, unadvertised “benefits” to tooling around Asia, like I just did for 7 weeks, is subjecting yourself to the most relentless marketing effort you’ve ever received.

Thank the cunning entrepreneurs some call “tuk tuk drivers.”

Of the many merchants/fuckers I ran into, these are my favorite. Because they’re all about effort.

It doesn’t matter if he’s seen you turn down the previous 4 drivers sitting in front of him, he’s still going to insist you take a ride. To where? No one knows. It’s kind of a shotgun approach: shoot into a big enough crowd and you don’t need to aim.

After a few days of incessantly rejecting such offers, I began wondering if anyone was using a better approach than simply repeating “Tuk tuk?” to every single passerby.

That’s gotta get boring.

On one particularly sunny day in Bangkok I found my man…

Staring at a map while walking down the street, my Argentine friend and I were trying to find the elusive Grand Palace (worth a visit, FTR). As I was about to declare our “lost as hell” status, we walked by a small monument and, pointing to the map, she quipped, “There! Here this is on the map and up right ahead should be the tourist information booth.”

At the mention of this, the tuk tuk driver to our side perked up and insisted, “Information booth? I take you very quick. Very fast. Low price.”

It was about 50 yards to that booth.

But I swear to God I almost took him. Finally, an offer that fits into the context of my life! And not to mention the exceptionally precarious position of a 50 yard walk!

Using his astute observation of our conversation, he fit his offer into my present needs. Had it been further, I would have been compelled to buy.

(Plus, he differentiated himself as well:by pitching a useful destination, not just a ride.)

So…

In what context do your customer avatars exist and what is their major 50 yard problem RIGHT NOW?

How can your next email offer fit into that context and rock their world?

Not sure? Here’s a decent starting point: Kenneth’s USA Today method.