Billions of marketing emails hit inboxes every day, yet just 1% make money. Here I dive into how you can become part of that 1%! This is from a recent talk at the Festival of Enterprise 2019 at the NEC in the UK. Should you require more information, please do reach out - https://www.routes4media.com

1. Billions of marketing emails hit inboxes every day, yet just 1% make money. Here I
dive into how you can become part of that 1%.
How to write emails that SELL!

2. First things first, who am I…
Founder and Managing Director of digital agency, Routes 4 Media,
Director of multiple tech companies and digital marketing advisor to
many high growth companies.
My team and I have been writing emails and crafting digital
campaigns for over 7 years now.

3. By a show of hands, who here makes their
business money from email?

4. “Email is dead”...
• No matter how much you throw at the old guy, email marketing still
brings 4,400% ROI…
• ...even in today’s hyper-crowded inbox. That means that every pound
you spend on email marketing has the potential to bring you a £44
return.

5. Kinda worth it, I suppose?
• Plus, while the “titans” of social media huff and puff to bring in 0.6%
engagement rates...
• … “dinosaur” email’s average open rate is 22% and a click-through
rate of 3.71%.

6. 30 email rules to follow…

7. EMAIL RULE #1 — POSITIONING
As the master adman once said...
“The results of your campaign depend less on how we write your advertising
than on how your product is positioned.” - David Ogilvy
• Is your lead generation course a struggling business owner’s best friend?
• Or is it a lever you pull to scale to 7-figures?
• Is your backpack a mountain climber’s loyal ally?
• Or is it a gym lover’s never-left-behind accessory?
You have to make that decision before you lay a finger on your keyboard.
Research is key.

8. EMAIL RULE #2 — A RIVETING PROMISE.
• What are you promising the customer?
• What burning fire are you putting out for your audience?
• The more specific you are, the more you’ll sell.
• Find the one that speaks to your audience, and never forget to repeat
it.

9. EMAIL RULE #3 — TELL A STORY.
• Stories make the world go round.
• It’s what humans use to pass on wisdom from one to another.
• They inspire.
• And they invoke action.
• Instead of telling people how good your products are, show them…
...using a concrete story from the heart.
• Humans love hearing about humans, so tell them and squeeze your
product in there.

10. EMAIL RULE #4 — DON’T TALK LIKE A
BRAND. TALK LIKE A HUMAN.
• Nowadays, smaller boutique brands make a killing and enjoy
explosive growth by talking to their customers human to human… not
brand to human.
• Dollar Shave Club, Basecamp and Sumo are all great examples of this.
• When you read their emails you feel like you’re having a barside chat
with a friend.
• You get to know, like and trust them.
• Selling becomes unnecessary.

11. EMAIL RULE #5 — SEND MORE EMAILS.
• If you want to sell more, you’ve got to send more.
• Make your emails fun and entertaining, and you’ll be welcomed inside the inbox.
• Yes, some people will unsubscribe but those wouldn’t have bought your products
anyway.
• The biggest mistake you can do is shoving email to the side because you don’t
want to risk unsubscribes.
Guess what?
• They’re not reading every single email you send.
• The more emails you send, the more they’ll see, the more they’ll read.
• When you’re not sending emails? They’re buying from your competition.

12. EMAIL RULE #6 — DON’T BE A BORE.
• Don’t be dull, boring and timid.
• Nobody was ever bored into buying a product.
• And nothing kills a sale faster than boredom and indifference.
• Yet most emails in today’s inboxes are lifeless…
• You want fireworks, inspiring stories, and gut-wrenching cliffhangers.
• It pays to entertain.
• Combine it with education, and you have the ultimate combination!

13. EMAIL RULE #7 — LEARN TO DISLIKE PRAISE.
• If someone replies to your email with…
• “Great email, thanks”...
• ...you should print that email and burn it.
• We’re not sending emails to pursue applause, but to sell.
• A successful email sells products and services.
• It jolts the consumer’s desire to purchase.

14. EMAIL RULE #8 — PRESENT PAIN
BEFORE FUTURE GAIN.
• Anyone will swallow a box of painkillers for their drilling headache
way before they buy a bottle of vitamins.
• On each email, focus on one symptom your prospect currently faces
in their day-to-day.
• It’s all well and good promising the world... but solving a present pain
will always be the winner!

15. EMAIL RULE #9 — BEFORE & AFTER.
• It doesn’t work just for weight loss.
• Draw a powerful image of their current situation.
• How does their painful problem impact their lives?
• How worse can their life get if they don’t solve this now?
• How does their life look like after they solve their problem?

16. EMAIL RULE #10 — KEEP SENTENCES SHORT.
• Short, punchy sentences are the one.
• They build tension. They add impact. They’re the starter for the
course to follow.
• Don’t make every sentence short though.
• Use them strategically, and you’ll command attention, like no other.

17. EMAIL RULE #11 —BACK YOUR WORD.
Here’s a handy rule:
• Every claim you make will be followed by equal or even stronger
proof.
• Prove your authority by mentioning your qualifications.
• Customer testimonials, social proof, studies, expert/celebrity
endorsements and a proven track record of authority can all be
powerful weapons against sceptics.
• If you can demonstrate visually that you can solve the problem, even
better.

18. EMAIL RULE #12 — ADDRESS OBJECTIONS.
• Ever tried to sell your product or service one-on-one?
• Try it sometime, and you’ll discover a myriad of questions and
concerns holding people back from buying your stuff.
• So why not tackle every possible objection before they rise, so their
“hmm’s” will turn to “aha’s”?
• Because objections are not our enemy. They are our best friends.

19. EMAIL RULE #13 — USE SCARCITY.
• But don’t be silly about it.
• Don’t say *10 copies left* on a downloadable e-book.
• Limited editions and limited-time offers will increase your
conversions.
• The fear of missing out is real and will work for eternity.

20. EMAIL RULE #14 — BRING METAPHORS IN TO
PLAY.
• Use metaphors to break complex things down, and explain them in a
way a 5-year old could write on a note for a friend in school.
• A simple metaphor can easily transform a hard concept into a tasty,
digestible treat for your audience to devour.

21. EMAIL RULE #15 — PROJECT ‘MIND-MOVIES’.
• When writing an email, or copy in general, there are no verbs, adjectives, nouns
or adverbs. Categorising words this way is useless when trying to sell.
• Instead, it’s in your best interest to separate words into two categories.
• Picture words, and abstract words.
• Picture words like tree, push, and sunny create a vivid image in the brain and are
easy to grasp.
• Meanwhile, abstract words like advantage, utilise and hopeful are intangible and
harder for the mind to grasp.
• When you get ambiguous - writing something that means different things on
different occasions - your audience gets bored and distrustful.
• For optimal results, pass each sentence of your email with this filter:
• “If I could see it in a movie, what would it look like?”

22. EMAIL RULE #16 — DON’T BE PRETENTIOUS.
• Emails should be colourful, but simple.
• Write like you talk.
• If you want your emails to turn into show-stoppers, trade-in the 10-
letter word when a 5-letter word can say the same thing.

23. EMAIL RULE #17 — UNCHAIN YOUR
PERSONALITY.
• When writing emails, hold nothing back.
• Be bold and unapologetic about it.
• Your emails will be more personal, relatable and noteworthy.

24. EMAIL RULE #18 — GRANT THEM THE IDEAL
IDENTITY.
• Every person aspires to an ideal self, a future identity.
• It’s much more powerful to bring up the future identity of your audience
than pointing out their present actions.
For example:
• Instead of thanking people for downloading your productivity app,
congratulate them for their first step to becoming a high performing
individual.
• Instead of patting people on the back for buying your investment course,
welcome them into the “financially independent” club.
• And so on, and so forth.

25. EMAIL RULE #19 — INCLUDE A GUARANTEE.
ALWAYS.
• Before you hiss… listen:
• If your product is legitimately good, then you shouldn’t have a
problem with a refund here and there.
• Guarantees take the risk away for the customer, thus are a must.

26. EMAIL RULE #20 — JUSTIFY THE PURCHASE.
• Making claims about your product is not enough; Give them a reason
why.
• Your reason why message, in its essence, gives your offer a purpose.
• Its purpose is the solution to their problem.
• That’s why when you use the word “because” or similar, you only add
to your argument.

27. EMAIL RULE #21 — SEGMENT YOUR LIST.
• Not every subscriber is going to have the same needs.
• So don’t make them the same offer.
• This is where surveys come in handy.
• Figure out what exactly what segment desires, a.k.a their currency,
and weave it inside your emails, custom made for each group.

28. EMAIL RULE #22 — USE VISUALS.
• Nothing sells better than words, but visuals steal attention and
reinforce the argument.
• Use pictures, gifs and mini-videos inside your emails.
• These will keep their eyeballs engaged, and they’ll keep reading your
masterful sales copy.

29. EMAIL RULE #23 — KEEP LAYOUTS SIMPLE.
• While visuals will help, keep them at a minimum, and stay away from
templated layouts.
• Resist the urge to fill your emails with fancy palettes and shapes.
• We need the readers engaged in the copy.
• The more elements you include, the higher the chances for
distraction.

30. EMAIL RULE #24 — HONOR THE SUBJECT
LINE.
• If people don’t open your emails, they won’t read them.
• Place immense effort and thought behind your subject lines, as the
right one will pull in ideal prospects like a magnet…
• ...while the wrong one could dump you inside the spam box.
• Hint: The formula [Powerful benefit + curiosity] almost never fails.

31. EMAIL RULE #25 — HOW LONG SHOULD THE
SUBJECT LINE BE?
• Keep it short, punchy and to the point.
• Bonus points if you can engage them with a question.
• Remember: We live in a mobile age, where words get cut off by tiny
screens, so every word counts.

32. EMAIL RULE #26 — PERSONALISE THE
SUBJECT LINE.
• The person we love most is ourselves. We can’t help it.
• So when we see a subject line that speaks directly to us, first name
and all, we cannot resist.
• Use, but don’t abuse.

33. EMAIL RULE #27 — USE ONE CALL TO
ACTION.
• Use one CTA, and be direct about it.
• Keep it crystal clear and as transparent as possible.
• People will always look for a reason not to buy, so don’t confuse them
with multiple CTAs.
• Make it one, and make it good.

34. EMAIL RULE #28 — REPEAT YOUR WINNERS.
• Got an email that worked GREAT?
• What’s stopping you from sending it again and again?
A beginner’s option:
• Stack together your best performing emails in a welcome sequence.
• That way, new subscribers will get to read your best stuff, following a
proven formula.

35. EMAIL RULE #29 — YOU DON’T NEED THE
BEST EMAIL TO SEND AN EMAIL.
• Everything I said up to this point is useless unless you start sending.
• Today. Not tomorrow.
• Pop up your email provider, put together an email with a CTA to your
product and send it out. That’s how you make sales.
• Imperfect action yields progress.

36. EMAIL RULE #30 — THE #1 MOST
IMPORTANT PART OF AN EMAIL.
• It’s NOT your subject line.
• It’s NOT your CTA.
• It’s NOT the main benefit of your product.
• It’s YOU.
• Because the money is not on the list... it’s in the RELATIONSHIP with
the list.

37. By following these fundamental rules,
you’ll be able to sell more and build
rapport with your audience like never
before!

38. Thanks for listening!
If you would like to book in a free 30 minute discovery session with
myself, where we dive into your needs in terms of digital marketing and
I share some ideas with you, then please do so at your convenience here
calendly.com/routes4media-ben