Until my mid-20s, I struggled to fall asleep. I got one of them “constantly-on” minds.
I fixed that more recently (better nutrition, more exercise, lower stress, etc.), but in the moment, I needed a solution.
I found Manta Sleep and got one of their weighted sleep masks. That, along with a weighted blanket, and I am, like Drake said, “out like a light.”
Great product, but they’ve got some solid email marketing, too.
Especially this “limited-time offer revival” style of email.
It hits many of the right persuasion principles, packs in creativity, and adds a human touch.
Keep reading to see what I mean.
About Manta Sleep
Manta Sleep is an eCommerce brand that sells sleep-related products. They’re most known for their sleep masks, which use eye cups to black out your vision without putting uncomfortable pressure on the eyes.
They sell a plethora of sleep masks and eye cup types to enhance sleep and suit particular preferences, such as weighted masks and cooling/heating eye cups. Plus, lots of other sleep items like pillows and earplugs.
I own the weighted mask and cooling eye cups. It’s fascinating — putting the weight on your face is supposed to “activate” specific pressure points that make sleep come easier. Then, the cooling effect comes in to soothe the eyes.
I don’t profess to understand the science behind it… but when I wear it, I physically feel the “tiredness” creeping on quite fast. It’s pretty cool, pun half-intended.
Manta Sleep’s regular email broadcasts are newsletter-style, containing several sections with sleeping tips, stories, etc.
However, this email was a change of pace from their broadcasts. It caught my eye, and you’ll see why if you keep reading.
The Email: A “Customer Appreciation Day” Limited-Time Offer Revival
September means back to school, and sleep is vital to getting good grades. It’s the perfect theme for Manta Sleep.
Manta Sleep added some fun to the sale by letting customers choose their “biggest sleep challenge” and giving them a product-specific code for a product designed for that problem.
The sale ended, of course, but Manta Sleep saw an opportunity:
Customer Appreciation Day is technically in May (per my Google research), but Manta Sleep decided their Customer Appreciation Day is August 24 (when they sent the email).
As a result, they could revive the sale for a very limited time and set of customers.
Let’s get into all the persuasive power below.
The Subject Line: Heartfelt and Curiosity-Inducing
This stands out in the inbox — from the “intensely personal” tone to the good feelings it inspires to the sentence casing used.
With so many emails hitting inboxes these days, it’s easy to forget who you recently sent emails to. So some readers may think this is a real response to one of their emails.
Others will simply see the “intensely personal” tone, get curious what this email’s all about, and click through.
Be Human, Darn It!
A lot to dig into here.
First, the owner introduces himself straight away and uses a first name liquid field to fill the reader’s name in.
Instant “friend to a friend” feeling.
Next comes a heartfelt message and seeding the offer — the “token of appreciation.”
But to build some curiosity, he doesn’t reveal the offer immediately.
He instead offers some context to ensure the reader understands where this offer is coming from.
Context makes the offer seem more legitimate and helps to reinforce the scarcity later.
And speaking of, let’s get into the offer…
Rewarding Loyal Customers + Legitimate Urgency
Manta Sleep adds the one-two punch of exclusivity and urgency here.
First, they state that the discount is “only for very few customers.” Then, they back that up by explaining how they’re rewarding their best customers, which makes you feel all good inside, too.
Then comes the urgency — you get only 24 hours to get your discount.
Everything so far has buttered the customer up to buy. Manta Sleep could just toss the offer in front of them…
But whoever wrote the email stepped it up here, as you’ll see next.
A Fun Way to Push the Discount
Manta Sleep could have just said, “here’s the code, click to buy.”
But the email marketer went above and beyond here.
They got some pain-driven copy for each mask that helped seal the deal… and drove up the curiosity by making you “click to reveal your sleep mask.”
The discount codes themselves hint slightly at which product is on the other side of each link.
I love it. It’s got all the persuasive elements I described and adds a little bit of fun to it.
BONUS 1: The Deliverability Booster
I wanted to break down Manta Sleep’s little “bottom-of-the-email” boxes because I love the attention to detail paid to the most seemingly “inconsequential” components of the email.
The top portion does multiple things…
- Deliverability: When subscribers reply, your deliverability tends to increase. You’re less likely to hit the spam or trash folders. You look more legit to email clients.
- Segmentation: This could offer Manta Sleep an opportunity to segment customers by their problems/struggles/questions with sleep and Manta Sleep’s products. This allows for more targeted emails and other forms of marketing.
- Trust And Authority: Customers trust you more when you show a genuine desire to help them. Manta Sleep answering questions also positions them as authoritative experts.
The social links are in the middle of this section, which never hurts.
At the bottom, Manta Sleep also added a way to collect SMS subscribers. And I love how they call it the Manta Sleep SMS Club instead of “our SMS list.”
SMS is not on the same level as email, but it’s 100% rising in importance.
It’s beneficial for providing exclusive discounts not even reserved for email subscribers. It’s also a great way to send abandoned cart messaging.
On an “overall” note for this section, I enjoy how Manta Sleep maintained the conversational style throughout this block.
BONUS 2: Mission and Vision
As far as I know, there are some regulations that require email marketers to make unsubscribing easy (not legal advice lol).
Brands with several segments or lists may offer multiple buttons to adjust which types of emails they get.
Manta Sleep goes the extra mile here, though. Instead of just saying, “Hey, here’s how to adjust your email preferences or unsubscribe”…
They reiterate their mission, demonstrating their care for a cause beyond money making and their focus on the customer.
At the same time, they use their mission and benefits of being on the list to justify their regular emails — reducing the chance a customer clicks the “unsubscribe” link.
And finally, they ask for feedback. Replies boost deliverability. Plus, you show the customers you care and gather feedback to inform changes.
Takeaways
Reviving a discount can be risky because you risk ruining the whole urgency factor if you don’t have a legitimate reason.
Manta Sleep pulled this off correctly by naming August 24th their Customer Appreciation Day and injecting exclusivity.
My favorite part of this email is the creative CTA. Instead of “buy product with discount,” they point the customer to the best product for their specific problem and craft each discount code to reflect that problem.
Genius way to turn a mundane piece of an email into something special.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list.
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Sleep like a baby with a Manta Sleep mask.