How To Write A Three Email Sequence To Increase Conversions
I saw this post on Reddit today, and I figured I’d give you all a quick insight into how I plan a project.
Here it is:
Now, let’s assume that someone came to me and said, “Hey… this is my situation. Can you write me three emails or tell me what to do?”
What I’d Do
Let’s assume you hired me to write the three email sequence, and you were pretty sure that you needed three emails and nothing else under any circumstance.
Here’s what I’d do.
(Bear in mind that this is pretty tricky without knowing what the product is or what exact market we’re writing for.)
““Hold up” you say… we know what market they’re in and we know the product! It’s a monthly subscription for a stock market tips site.”
That’s true, but ultimately the financial/stock market tips niche can be split up into a lot of parts. Three main ones:
- Rich baby boomers trying to fund their retirements
- Right wing crazy preppers who anticipate the fall of the US imminently and need more money to buy GUNS & AMMO
- Get rich quick hustlers who think day trading is going to make them an overnight millionaire
Obviously there are different shades of grey here and people that fall into totally different markets… but the above three highlight the issue. It’s difficult to create a universal template because those three things are very different.
Even so, we can take the framework from this article and use it to build our mailing campaign in just three simple emails.
Email One: Build That Desire
Assume they have only the most basic understanding and desire of your product. Give them more desire.
What you do here will depend on what you did in the opt-in sequence. If you have written a blog post about your nightmare disease and how debilitating it was and you used “Find how I solved my problem” as your opt-in offer, you won’t repeat that again.
As a general rule though, it’s a continuation of the opt-in promise. The most common version is the “quick solve” which is just a workaround. Give that to someone. Maybe throw in a quick testimonial and most importantly, talk about how brilliant it is.
Your goal with email one is to build desire.
Now, the tricky bit is ending the email, because that’s where you totally switch off the sales patter and say, “Now I know you’re thinking, “this is too good to be true.” Tomorrow, I’m going to save you from your doubts and show you why this isn’t just a [whatever their fear for the product is.]”
Email Two: They Have Desire… But You Might Be Scam Central.
Email two is where you appeal to their sort-of-rational side and give examples of why your system works. Your goal isn’t to sell here… it’s to make them believe you’re a stand-up guy selling a stand up thing.
Things you can include are statistics, and as always, what those statistics mean to the end user (as in benefits.) You can include a testimonial that highlights a specific issue. For instance, “I had trouble delving into the stock market because it always seemed so scary and complicated. Using X Company’s formula for picking index funds, I am on track to gain 12% on my first year and that’s because they showed me how to minimise my fear of uncertainty.”
You can also include FAQ’s or other similar stuff. Remember, the goal here isn’t to close.
It is a goal to introduce the close though.
Email Three: You Know How Good This Offer Is?
You’ll have noticed if you’ve ever been email marketed to that most of these sequences end in a limited time offer. That’s because they work. So do secret sign ups, limited memberships and anything that has a time or volume limitation. Even the very hint of saying, “You know what I might just take this secret training down because I’m a bit of a dick” will increase conversions.
In any case, the third email (I’m assuming) will take your reader to the sales letter. Assuming that your third email is not the sales letter, you simply do a subtle hype job (because the hype is in your sales page.)
The biggest mistake you’ll make at this point is overselling. You should have the statistics if you’ve got a halfway decent email service provider, so you’ll know that people who have opened all three emails have desire and knowledge of your product.
Essentially, if they already want your product, your material here is a gentle nudge. So nudge them.
“Hey… here’s the product and it’s on sale for new subscribers at $25 a month instead of $35. We’re offering this deal for the next week.”
Or…
“Here’s a list of the contents of this course. Now, our leads change every week, so if you want to earn about X, Y and Z sign up today and you’ll get instant access. They might not be there tomorrow.”
You get the picture.
Final Thoughts
The above is a general, general outline of how I’d plan a simple three email sequence. In order for it to be accurate, you’d need a better understanding of the product and market, and it’d probably be best if you signed up for some competitor’s funnels to see what they were doing.
Essentially though, it’s a simple system: Build desire, build understanding, and seal the deal. If you can do those things, then selling isn’t evil and you don’t need to be overly used-car-salesman about it.