eCom Brands: Here's why your emails are not converting

I was talking to a guy at the gym the other day.

He said he'd been trying to grow his legs for years but they just "won't grow".

The man had legs the size of Pringle cans so I felt his pain.

I asked him about his routine, looking to share my fifty cents (my tips are good).

"Well, I train 6 days a week. I do legs only once a week though because I get tired."

confused stare

"Yeah... so I just train mostly my upper body. If I feel like it I just skip leg day and go for a run"

hateful stare

You see, the answer was right in front of his eyes.

He was just too close to the problem to notice it.

Like living on a tropical island, using coconuts for doorstops, and then complaining of thirst.

This reminded me of a problem tons of eCom brands that don't get results from their marketing face.

You often see them saying, or tweeting, "Yeah, we tried that but it didn't work for us."

It's a common mistake.

I see this with stores running ads, SEO, email marketing and any other kind of advertising really.

And it's this:

Targeting the wrong Awareness Stage.

You see, this concept was invented by the direct-response genius Eugene Schwartz back in 1966 in his seminal book Breakthrough Advertising. A must-read if you're on this list.

In simple terms, he lays out the strategy to market any product in a way that reaches an unlimited scale.

How?

By defining 5 "mental places" a customer is in at any point during his buying journey. And then saying how to get them to move forward to the next stage and buy.

The 5 stages are these:

Unaware

↓

Problem-Aware

↓

Solution-Aware

↓

Product-Aware

↓

Most-Aware

Let me explain each one:

1- Unaware: At this stage, the prospect is not aware of your product, the problem your product solves, or even the problem they have.

They're essentially in the dark about what you offer.

It's like someone who doesn't know they're thirsty standing next to a lemonade stand.

2- Problem-Aware: Here the prospect is aware they have a problem or a need but doesn't know that there are solutions to this problem.

Using the previous analogy, it's like realizing you're thirsty but not knowing lemonade exists.

3- Solution-Aware: The prospect knows solutions to their problem exist but hasn't discovered your specific product or brand yet.

They know about lemonade in general but haven't seen your lemonade stand.

4- Product-Aware: The prospect knows about your product but isn't convinced it's the right solution for them just yet.

It's like someone who sees your lemonade stand and understands you're selling lemonade but isn't sure if they want to try yours.

5- Most-Aware: At this final stage, the prospect knows your brand and product well, understands what it does, and is convinced they want it.

They not only know about your lemonade stand but are convinced yours is the lemonade they want to drink.

Makes sense now?

Now, the key to making marketing work and scale to the moon is targeting the right awareness stage with the right type of content.

For example:

For eCom brands, 95% of the people on the email list are at the Solution-Aware stage and beyond.

I.e. They know they have a problem. They know there's a solution to the problem. And they know your product is one of those solutions.

Think about it.

They got to where they are because they saw an ad, which Facebook decided to show to them because they know they're considering buying something, and then landed on your website.

Same goes for Google ads.

So the right way to get email to "work" is by targeting Stage 4 and Stage 5 concerns:

- Why your product is superior?

- What makes it different?

- Why should they buy from you over someone else?

You get the idea.

The wrong approach is to hammer subscribers with Stage 1 and 2 type content.

E.g. a hair-growth supplement brand talking about signs of balding.

Why? Because readers KNOW they're balding.

They see it every day when they see themselves in the mirror.

That's just one example.

But you get the idea.

This is something I see many brands do. Especially those who put their Paid Media guys to run email marketing.

Two different beasts.

Anyway, if you want to see an email marketing strategy that works for all three relevant Stages of Awareness then check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W88c8StANck