How to Write Emails That Sell
Copywriting is essentially selling but on paper. If you are great at sales, you can create the life you want. So if you know how to write great copy, then you can write your own paycheck whenever you want. However, many sales copy fail because they fail to sympathize or understand their target audience.
As noted by Ray Edwards in his book How To Write Copy That Sells, there are universal psychological triggers to use to your advantage. This framework is called P.A.S.T.O.R., based on universal principles focused on doing good for society, defines the different components of your sales copy.
P is for Person & Pain
Before you even make the product, you should probably think about who you’re trying to sell and what they’re struggling with. If you make a product without even thinking about your target audience, you’re basically making a giant trench coat to sell in the summertime.
They say that the more accurately you can describe your reader’s problems in terms they can understand and relate to, the more instinctively they feel you have an answer to their problem(s). That’s very true. Speaking the intended audience’s language will not only get them to want to listen to you, but if you come up with a potential solution they’ll want to hear what you have to offer.
Here’s an example of an email effectively describing an issue and relating it to the reader by ClickFunnels on July 27, 2022:
“Are you prepared for what’s coming?
While everything is doom and gloom with the recession…
…the GREATEST opportunity is right UNDER your feet.
Some of the largest companies (ex. Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Salesforce) started during a recession…
and others became CATEGORY KINGS in their space!
So, how do you bend the economic downturn in your favor in able to THRIVE?”
As you can see, the email starts off by discussing a problem on people’s mind: recession. It dives right into the fear in people’s mind during the times
When creating your sales email, landing page, or even ad you should first identify the person you are trying to reach. Understand their pain, use the language — the words and phrases — they describe the problem, and the pain it causes if they don’t solve it.
Essentially you must empathize with your reader, share the feelings they have, and then you must generate feelings of excitement that the problem could be solved.
A is for Amplify & Aspirations
This calls you to magnify the impact or consequences of not taking action and how the action relates to their future aspirations. To get people to buy or invest in your product or service, you first must get them to experience the consequence of not solving the problem or missing out. You want to create FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) like this sales email from Ray Edwards:
I'm on a mission to assemble a group of 7, "Top Gun" level copywriters.
I am accepting ONLY those who are capable of completing this 6-Week, accelerated certification program taught live, by me.
I have found 3 of them.
Think you've got the gumption to take one of the 4 remaining seats?
Only a short time remains to apply:
Before you even describe the destination to them, they have to REALLY want what you offer. You want to show them the cost of not solving their problem and that their indecision will hurt them in the long run.
S is for Story & Solution
After you describe the problem, amplify the consequences of not solving the problem, and crafted an imagination that’s irresistible to the reader, it’s time to share a story of how the problem can be solved.
Depending on the situation, you could approach it with different outcomes. It could either be a story of how you finally solved a persistent problem or how you helped a client find a solution to their problem. Here’s an example of a CSS Web Developer sharing his experience when he first started in web development:
“One of the things I found the hardest when I learned HTML and CSS was that I had no one to talk to or ask questions to. I eventually made a few friends online who were also into making websites, and we'd try to help each other out when we could, but it was a lot of the blind leading the blind.
These days, it's so much easier. With resources like StackOverflow, not to mention the millions of tutorials that are out there, there is almost an over abundance of information!
And while following a tutorial or getting some feedback on StackOverflow can be useful, I still think talking with people is the best way to learn. You can have 2-way communication, bounce ideas or extra problems, and ask for clarification. Nothing beats that, which is why I started my community.”
However, the story has to be true. You can’t make things up because you’ll lose credibility in a world where people are exposing gurus everyday. It has to truly come from the heart and from your life experience. If you don’t have any, maybe you just haven’t looked deep enough. Dig deeper. Get real with yourself.
T is for Transformation & Testimony
When women shop for moisturizers or cleansers from L’ Oreal, they’re not looking to buy the goodies, it’s the transformation.
Can you imagine someone waking up and say to themselves: “I hope someone tries to sell me a bunch of skincare products so I can increase my expenses for this year.” No, what they really want is to look more young, more beautiful, and inflate their self-esteem. The moisturizers, or the products, are the delivery method or the vehicle to get them where they want to be. The vehicle is not their destination.
It’s important to include testimonials of real-life Cinderella stories that had the intended results of your product. If you go on a popular brand’s website, you’ll notice that pretty much most of them, if not all, feature positive testimonials from customers.
Here’s an example of a testimonial that you can include in your sales email if you were selling home improvement or makeover services (courtesy of Susan V., a customer of On The Spot Home Improvements):
"We just completed our second project with On the Spot. Our first one, in 2012, was a complete bathroom. Eight years later, we’re still getting compliments on it. We were so happy with them that when we found we needed a new shower in our second bathroom we didn’t hesitate to call them again. We didn’t even bother with other estimates. Again, Jeff responded to all our concerns quickly and to our satisfaction. The craftsmen were very professional, personable and patient artists! We highly recommend On the Spot for your next project!!"
O is for Offer
Once you helped your reader define their problem, drilled into their head the cost of not solving the problem, describe the solution, and convinced your reader through testimonials from others, it’s now time to describe exactly the solution you’re going to offer. For example:
“I REALLY wanted to dive DEEP into why, and from my research, I’m working on a NEW masterclass to reveal EVERYTHING!
I’m calling it the “Funnel Hacking Secrets Masterclass” and I just posted it online during this weekend. It’s there now, but I’ll be pulling it offline soon…
Isn’t that crazy, when I made this page we only had 987 winners...
Each year, the speed at how fast people are earning these awards has been going up…
Every week we watch as dozens of people break this “4 minute mile…”
Now it’s your turn… come register for this masterclass, and learn what you need to master to be able to launch your “Two Comma Club” funnel!
Block out some time ASAP and learn the skills you need to earn your “Two Comma Club” here >>>”
You could create a subheading called something clever like “Here’s Exactly What You’ll Get.”
Just like the Pareto principle, make sure you focus 20% of your copy talking about the deliverables (ie: free booklet, free marketing checklist, fitness exercise course) and 80% of your copy on the transformation itself.
R is for Response
Now, we’ve reached the part where we ask the customer to buy. At this point, this area often tends to be the weakest part of the copy because you’re trying to make a sale.
You have to write something very specific and directive telling them exactly what to do next:
Go to the bottom of the page, click on the button, fill out your information and put your credit card information in, and we’ll immediately ship the product to you. It will have everything you need to get started.
After all the pain points you touched on, the story and and solution you just told, and the transformational stories and testimonials, it’s now time to get REAL with your reader. If you have the solution to your reader’s problem, it’s your moral duty to share it. Otherwise, you’d be doing them a disservice.
Conclusion
The word “pastor” generally means the preacher at a church these days. However, the original meaning of the word “pastor” actually meant “shepherd.” A shepherd cares for, feeds, and protects the flock. While your customers aren’t a herd, you should be caring towards them by adopting the loving,caring, and protecting role when writing and selling your services to your prospects and customers.