The Easiest (And Laziest) Way To Write Emails People Love To Read
Photo by Stephen Andrews on Unsplash
If you have an email list and you routinely find yourself thinking…
“I have no idea what to send these people!”
… then you are 100%, without a doubt, overcomplicating it.
But this is also a good sign, for 2 reasons:
First, it means that you are respecting your list and taking their time and attention seriously. This is worthy of applause.
Second, it means that you are not so self-centered to think that all the mundane details of your life need to be shared with your email list.
However…
I think that second point is where things might need to shift a bit. And here’s why:
Your Life Is (Probably) More Interesting Than You Think
Last week, I was at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving.
One day, my sister put on a YouTube video of a woman cooking a crockpot meal.
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with what “cooking” a crockpot meal looks like, but here’s the gist:
You pour the ingredients into a crockpot and that’s it.
(Apparently, these are called “Dump & Go” meals, which sounds like a case of drive-by diarrhea to me, but that’s beside the point.)
I will admit that there was a little pre-cooking and prep work involved. But let me ask:
The last time you cooked a meal in the crockpot, did you think “I bet thousands of people will want to watch this!?”
No. Probably not.
But that video my sister was watching?
At the time I’m writing this, it was posted 2 days ago, and it now has 11,193 views.
The woman who posted it has 124,000 YouTube subscribers.
My point?
For 2 days in a row…
5,000+ PEOPLE WATCHED A VIDEO OF A WOMAN POURING INGREDIENTS INTO A CROCKPOT.
If we live in a world where that is possible — I can almost guarantee that people will find your life more interesting than you might think.
And while we’re at it, I should probably also let you know that I think…
“Providing Value” (In The Classic Sense) Is Overrated.
If Moses were given the 10 Personal Branding Commandments instead of the normal 10 Commandments, I bet Commandment #1 would be:
Thou shalt provide value to thy audience.
And I agree with you, Personal Branding Moses, but I’d add a caveat:
“Providing value” does NOT always mean “teaching.”
Providing value can also be telling a story about your day…
Sharing your thoughts on a random topic…
Or anything that entertains your readers.
Now, don’t get me wrong — I love a good “value bomb” every now and then, but if the only thing you are doing with your email list is teaching…
I think you’re missing a huge opportunity.
The truth is that there’s a shit-ton of information on the internet. And, as an old client of mine used to say, “there is nothing new under the sun.”
No matter what you’re “teaching,” somebody has already taught it before. So, while I believe that information is the most valuable product you can sell…
People are not going to stick around just for the information you have…
They’re going to stick around if they connect with you.
Yes, that includes the information you present and the way you present it…
But it also includes your personality.
And if you want to share your personality with your audience and create a better connection with them…
You’ll need to quit dropping “value bombs” and start talking to them like a normal person.
So How Do You Do That?
The easiest way is to start telling stories from your life.
This is a concept that Russell Brunson talks about in Dotcom Secrets. He calls these types of emails “Seinfeld Emails.”
In the book, Brunson talks about how he used to spend days working on content-heavy emails. But eventually, he realized that after readers had gone through his Soap Opera Sequence…
“… content wasn’t what they responded to. What the readers responded to was . . . well, nothing. :)”
Then he says:
“My emails switched from 100% content to 90% entertainment and just 10% content, and my readership, opens, clicks, and sales all skyrocketed with the change.”
But There IS A Catch (Well, Two Catches, Actually)
First, notice that, even though most of what’s in your email should be entertainment…
10% should still be content / teaching.
You’re not avoiding content or teaching altogether. You still can — and should — give your audience valuable information. You just don’t need to think of “providing value” as your sole purpose when emailing your list anymore.
And second, according to Brunson:
“Every story needs to relate back to something you’re selling.”
So you’re not just emailing people, telling them a story, and then saying:
“Welp, see ya later!”
Although this is okay to do sometimes, most of your emails should have a single CTA at the end encouraging people to click a link to learn more about a product, read a blog post, watch a video, etc.
What Does This Look Like In Practice?
Understanding this concept is A LOT easier with examples, so I’ve included a few emails below that I have sent to my own list.
Notice that the first 3 emails follow this structure pretty closely:
90% entertainment
10% content
CTA at the end
(This is just a breakdown of the structure Brunson suggests for Seinfeld Emails.)
And I’ve included the final 2 emails to highlight the fact that, when you email your list…
It does NOT have to be about a groundbreaking event or life story.
It can literally be about something as simple as ordering groceries or people watching.
Also notice that the last 2 emails do NOT have CTAs. This is okay sometimes. But as I mentioned earlier, most of your emails should have a call-to-action at the end. These 2 emails would be better if they had CTAs.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s dig in.
Email Example #1
Subject: my first kiss
My first kiss was with a girl who was a foot taller than me…
And I’m still not sure how it happened.
Not the kiss itself — but her actually wanting to kiss me.
Because as a fifth grader I had this thing called “a crush on a girl…”
But I did not have this other thing called “the ability to talk to girls.”
See, I had liked Ellie for a while…
But when her friends introduced us to each other, all I could do was mutter a robotic “Hi.”
I don’t know if I said anything after that. But that awkward “Hi” will be with me forever.
I was certain my lack of vocal prowess made a bad impression on her. And I was even more certain we would never fall in love and spend our lives together.
So you can imagine my surprise when one of her friends gave me a love note…
From Ellie…
WITH HER SCHOOL PICTURE ENCLOSED.
Long story short —
We kissed at the skating rink a few weeks after that.
But people aren’t always as forgiving as Ellie…
First impressions are important. Especially when it comes to your email list.
So if you want to learn how to start things off on the right foot…
Check out this brand-new post.
Robert
Email Example #2
Subject: “holy sh*t viral”
The second article I ever wrote on Medium went viral.
Not like, “Gangam style” viral, mind you. But more like “holy shit, I was not expecting that” viral.
I didn’t try to make it go viral. I didn’t strategize my message. I didn’t research my audience.
(Oh, and please note that I’m not saying any of this to brag. I’m illustrating a point.)
Basically, I didn’t do any of the stuff a copywriter should do before he starts writing. I just sat down at my kitchen table one night and hammered it out.
Two days later, it was one of the most popular articles on Medium.
But how?
How could an article I wrote in one night — without any real planning — become so popular?
Simple. The message resonated with people.
A lot of marketers get hung up on the specifics — which word to use here, which logo has that perrrrrfect shade of blue, which day to send an email…
And I do that too. But it’s only 20% of the picture. It’s the cherry on top.
What’s really important is creating a product, offer, or message your audience will love.
That’s 80% of the picture.
Get that right, and you might be surprised by what happens.
Just like I was when this article went “holy shit viral.”
Robert
Email Example #3
Subject: 3-minute voice memo = date with a stranger?
Learning about marketing is kind of like opening Pandora’s Box.
Once you’ve seen what’s inside, you can’t unsee it.
As an example, I was at a bar/restaurant/coffee shop/bowling alley (because Nashville has a place that is literally all of these things) with two friends the other night. One of them told us about a message he sent to a girl he wanted to take on a date.
Well, technically it was a 3-minute voice memo.
And it was also an incredible sales pitch.
It was so good that I asked him to send it to me…
And then I had it transcribed…
And then I wrote a breakdown of why it was such a good sales pitch.
See what I mean?
Now that I’ve opened Pandora’s Box, I see sales pitches in all the weirdest places.
My friend did end up going on a date with that girl, and it went really well. So if you want to learn how he went from “random guy in a bar” to “date-worthy dude” with a 3-minute voice memo…
Just click here to read the post.
Peace and blessings, y’all.
Robert
Example Email #4
Subject: welp, there goes $42.37
Okay so here’s the deal:
I wasn’t feeling too hot on Tuesday. So I went and got a covid test Wednesday.
The results?
Well, they’re not in yet.
So I’m stuck in this weird limbo where I think most of what I’ve been experiencing is allergies + a normal cold…
But there’s also a chance I’m a walking, talking virus.
This morning, I was thinking about what I could do tonight — because while I’m hoping to get results before then, I’m not gonna plan my day around wishful thinking.
I decided that I’d get SUPER WILD and make tacos with some pulled pork I have in the fridge. Sounds great, right?
Well, one problem:
Ya boi ain’t got no tortillas.
* enter a brilliant idea *
“I wonder if I can order tortillas on Amazon?”
So I went to Amazon and searched for “corn tortillas.”
Turns out — you CAN order tortillas on Amazon. AND you can get them delivered the SAME DAY!
Problem is:
You don’t get free delivery until you spend $35+.
So I started to think about the other things I’d like to have with my tacos tonight…
Some verde sauce…
Chips & salsa…
And some cereal (for dessert — maybe a bit weird, but it rules).
That still didn’t get me up to $35, so I added ground beef and some veggies. (Yes, ordering ground beef on the internet DOES feel as weird as it sounds.)
And here we are $42 later and I have an order of groceries arriving between 4 and 6PM tonight.
It might seem random that I’m telling you about my grocery shopping habits. And it is…
But it also illustrates an important point:
We often think of buying decisions as ONE SINGLE decision. But that’s not really the case.
See, every item I added to my cart was its own decision — its own little experiment to see if I could hit that $35 number to get free shipping.
And even once I did, I still hadn’t fully committed to placing the order.
I was going to wait until I got to the checkout page, where I could review the entire order, and THEN make my final decision.
Well, I decided. And I’m having tacos for dinner tonight.
Bottom line:
The buying “decision” is often a series of smaller decisions — taking one single step forward until, before you know it, you’ve already crossed the street.
Just something to keep in mind.
Robert
Email Example #5
Subject: The old man in the red shirt
It was raining outside. And it had been raining all day.
In the park across the street from my apartment, an old man was running laps.
He’s there every day around 3PM. And every day, he wears a red shirt, black shorts, and black tennis shoes.
I’m used to seeing him. But I had never seen him run before. And it looked kind of like he was in a log rolling competition.
You know, where lumberjacks run on a log on the surface of a lake to see who can stay upright the longest.
Problem was:
This man wasn’t a lumberjack.
It seemed like if the wind blew too hard…
Or the earth rotated too quickly for a split second…
He would tumble to the ground.
So I watched him stumble through the grass and prayed he would stay vertical.
Since it had been raining all day, the grass was practically a slip ’n’ slide at this point.
And with each step, he got more and more wobbly until eventually…
He fell.
Not like a “whoopsy daisy, slipped a little bit” fall. But a full-on, face-first, crashing into the ground fall.
Watching from a third story window, I felt helpless.
I watched him lay on the ground and wondered whether I should go down to help.
But then, slowly, he came to his hands and knees, got up, and started walking down the track again.
At this point, the man had beaten the odds just by virtue of not breaking a fucking hip. But he wasn’t done yet…
After he regained his confidence, he started running again.
He started off solid, but after about 30 feet, he became unsteady again. And with each step, things just got worse…
Until he fell, again, face-first onto the wet grass.
At this point, I was concerned.
Should I call an ambulance?
Is this man okay?
I watched. Hoping for him to get up, but preparing to be fully unsurprised if he didn’t.
And then it happened again.
He slowly came to his hands and knees, stood up, started walking, and then broke out into another run.
What the fuck!
What is wrong with this guy?
But now, instead of going around the track, he was heading for his car. So I felt good about that.
… and then he fell again.
But with dogged consistency, he came to his hands and knees, stood, and walked the rest of the way to his car.
He sat in the driver’s seat while a young couple walked past.
The young guy saw him fall, so he looked in the window and asked “hey are you okay?”
I couldn’t see the old man’s reaction, but I assume he gave a thumbs up or something, because the couple paused for a moment and then kept walking.
It seemed like everything was over. I could finally breathe.
So I started working again.
I expected the old man to catch his breath, regain his composure, and drive straight to the nearest hospital to fix his definitely broken hips.
But about 10 minutes later… the unthinkable happened.
He got out of his car, walked back to the park, and finished his workout.
No more running was involved though, thank God.
Why in the hell was this man so determined?
He had some of the strongest athletic willpower I have ever seen in a human being. Especially coming from a man who is not winning any medals…
Not getting any applause…
And seemingly getting no outward rewards for his efforts.
He still comes to the park just about every day for his workout. And he still runs too…
But I haven’t seen him fall since.
(Knocks on wood)
I have no idea what makes him so determined. But if you start feeling a little run-down this week, remember the old man in the red shirt.
If he can keep going, maybe you can too.
Robert
In 3 Steps, Here Is The Easiest (And Laziest) Way To Write Emails People Love
Stop dropping “value bombs.”
Instead, tell stories about your life.
Include a CTA at the end of those stories.
These types of emails are called “Seinfeld Emails,” and here is basic structure they follow:
90% entertainment
10% content
CTA at the end
Emailing your list can be simpler than you think. So use this new framework to go out and do it.
And if you want some help writing better subject lines too…