The 3-part "magic formula" for effective emails

👉 there aren't really any "magic formula". But this gets close.

Have you ever had a feeling that you're really onto something?

I got that last week presenting my email marketing workshop when we talked about what it takes to succeed with email marketing.

Now you and I both know that there aren't really any magic formula that make your marketing super easy yet effective.

But this is about as close as it comes.

Because if you want your emails to be effective you need them to do 3 things. And by effective I mean that people open them, read them, take action and eventually buy.

The first thing is that your emails need to deliver practical value. People need to get useful advice and information from them.

If they don't, then pretty soon they'll unsubscribe or just stop reading them.

But delivering value in your emails isn't enough.

There's a kind of cult that's developed around delivering value, encapsulated in the belief that if you give value, you'll get sales in return.

It just doesn't happen like that in the real world.

Value is a great start. But you can deliver all the value in the world and if I just don't feel my problem urgently enough, I'm not going to buy.

Or if I don't think your ideas work in my industry. Or if I'm worried I won't be able to find the time to implement them. Or if they're not different enough to what I've tried before. Or or or...

You get the point.

Before I buy I need to have certain beliefs in my head about me, about you, about my problem, about your solution.

Or to look at it another way - I have a bunch of objections that need to be overcome.

That's why the second thing you need to do in your emails is to establish the beliefs needed for your clients to be ready to buy.

Establishing those beliefs doesn't happen by tackling them head-on. They're better established indirectly. By example. By demonstration.

Don't tell me you get great results for your clients. Illustrate one of your tips using an example from a client who implemented that tip and got great results.

I'll feel like you're helping me because of the tip rather than trying to sell me. But I'll also infer that you get great results for your clients.

It's a bit like product placement in the movies. Aston Martin don't appear on screen telling you they make cool cars. You watch James Bond zooming around in one and you infer it.

Thing number 3 is a bit more left field.

Your emails must be interesting. Entertaining even.

You've got to recognise that the context in which most people read your emails is as a distraction from their "real work". 

They hope to get something useful from them, sure. But if it's a hard slog to plough their way through to extract that value they probably won't attempt it again.

In an inbox jam-packed with deathly dull emails, if yours can make your reader smile or laugh or frown or think - they'll stand out a mile.

And your readers will open the next one for more of the same.

To some degree, that's all you need.

Emails work like compound interest. Each one doesn't have to be a home run. But little by little, week by week, they establish credibility and trust and build those beliefs that get people ready to buy.

Over a month or a year they can have a huge impact.

But only if people keep reading them.

The magic compound interest chain is broken if people stop opening and reading. And on a super busy day that means they have to have a bit more to them than just useful information.

Perhaps an interesting story. A fun analogy. Maybe even a bit of humour or self-deprecation.

Doesn't need much. Just enough to make them feel good about opening our next email.

And that means they'll get to see the messages that get them ready to buy.

Or the calls to action that might lead to them working more closely with you.

3 simple steps. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.

- Ian