How to be a better hooker

Hey Chase,?happy Friday!

Welcome to Edition 31?of Alex In My Inbox brought to you by?DTCx Retain.

A weekly copywriting series where I share interesting, actionable, and hilarious copywriting tips from "Alex."

Alex is an anonymous copywriter who shares these tips with me so that way I can share them with you.

Don’t let the subject line scare you off. That was Alex’s idea. He’s got some content for us about how you can craft better hooks.?

Whether it’s in written form or in video form, this is how you capture someone’s attention — specifically if you’re a brand.?

Let’s see what he has to say.

Dear Chase,

I’ve decided to change my job title.

People always ask what I do for a living. When I tell them the real answer, they lose interest.

I am now going to start telling people that I’m a hooker.

Not a Hooker with a capital H.

Just a guy who loves to write hooks.

Here are 3 tips to make yourself an award-winning hooker, like me:

1. Create copious amounts of curiosity

The best way to get someone to open an email, click a link inside of an email, click an ad, or watch a video is to withhold information.

Your offer is your ace.

If you show your cards too early, people will have no reason to go deeper into your funnel.

And the deeper people go into your funnel, the more likely they are to buy.

That’s why 2-hour-long VSLs exist. And that’s also why the writer of the VSL will wait until minute 40 to tell you what the mechanism for success is. It’s crazy, but it works.

You’ve probably seen those headlines that use the phrase “one weird trick”.

Those probably don’t work on you anymore because you’re sooooo smart and you know that there’s no REAL weird trick, they’re just trying to drive clicks.

But variations of that work really well.

Honestly. Try it.

2. Be outrageously…outrageous

Sorry. Ran out of adjectives.

If your “brand” tends to play it safe and never push boundaries, a hook that goes beyond what people expect from you is a good way to get crazy opens.

I mean, let’s take you for example.

I need you to make the subject line for this email “how to be a better hooker” and watch people go crazy.

They’ll be like, “did someone kidnap Chase?”

I promise you.

Use profanity (tastefully), or vulgar humor (tastefully). You’ll win people over.

3. Be controversial

Please. For the love of all that is good in this world. Use this sparingly.

Do not burn your audience and make them think you’re an idiot that thinks bad things.

But you can frame it in a way where it’s fair and above board.

If I make a bold statement that you vehemently disagree with, chances are you’re gonna keep reading to see WHY I made the statement, and you’ll be willing to invest 1-2 minutes of your life to get a dopamine rush if you know in your heart of hearts that you’re smarter than me.

That’s why Twitter and TikTok are such easy platforms to go viral on.

All you have to do is say something that people don’t agree with right away, and then tell them why they probably WOULD agree with you if they saw it your way.

Stand-up comedians do this all the time.

They make some crazy claim and then use humor to justify it.

That’s how the best bits are created. It’s magic, almost.

Hope this was helpful.

Yours truly,

Alex

Sent from my?Teachable account, where Copy MBA is hosted, which is a course you should buy.

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Have a great weekend,

Chase