Sometimes, I’m amazed that I can type words on a keyboard and make money. I’m truly blessed to have such an occupation.
But it turns out you can earn a full-time income and even run an entire business by simply proofreading other peoples’ work…
That’s right: Despite the existence of Grammarly, Hemingway, and Google Docs’ (awful) spell check, plenty of people still prefer human proofreaders.
That means there’s plenty of opportunity to start a proofreading business or career…
And where there’s opportunity, there’s someone teaching you how to do it — in this case, Proofread Anywhere.
Proofread Anywhere has some A+ copy. It comes from a person (the owner) instead of the brand, it feels conversational, and it’s almost entirely text-based.
It was hard to choose an email to break down, but the one below stuck out because it’s short and sweet… yet I bet it sold a lot of “on-the-fence” customers without much effort.
With that in mind, let’s get into it.
About Proofread Anywhere
Proofread Anywhere is an online company that helps people launch businesses/careers in proofreading.
That’s right — you can earn a full-time income proofreading peoples’ writing if you put your mind and heart to it.
Anyways…
Caitlyn Pyle, founder and owner, always had an eye for catching errors in her friends’ writing.
She worked as a court reporting agency receptionist toward the end of college, got deep into the proofreading world, and eventually branched out into her own proofreading business.
After years of serving clients, she initially launched Proofread Anywhere to help a much narrower market:
Court reporters that needed to proofread court transcripts.
Over time, Caitlyn broadened into general proofreading to show people how she launched and grew her proofreading business from scratch… and teach them how to do the same.
At the time of writing, Proofread Anywhere offers two courses:
- General Proofreading Theory and Practice — I can tell this is the big money-maker because Proofread Anywhere sells it more often in emails.
- Transcript Proofreading Theory and Practice — This seems to be her original product.
Speaking of emails, Caitlyn takes the text-based conversational approach. Emails feel like she’s writing directly to you, and they often tell stories or offer tips.. Keep reading to see what I mean.
The Email: Objection-Busting in a Larger Campaign
This email was part of Proofread Anywhere’s Fall Sale, during which Proofread Anywhere offers steep discounts on its courses.
(See what I mean? It’s all text. No HTML or fancy graphics.)
Each email in a larger campaign must serve a certain purpose. This one had a hint of urgency, but Caitlyn wrote it primarily to defuse an objection.
I think it does it well — you’ll see what I mean below.
The Subject Line: “Where should you start?”
The subject line immediately addresses an objection for aspiring proofreaders:
After all, information overwhelm is a real problem when attempting to launch a new freelance career or business.
The subject line doesn’t attempt pointless creativity, either.
Simple and straightforward > fancy if it gets the open.
The Preview Text: “I think you missed this email”
The preview text was interesting as well. I couldn’t find any other way to show it aside from pulling up the email’s code, so imagine this popping up on your phone below the subject line in a regular font instead of in this robotic font:
The preview text is what really got my attention. I had been receiving Caitlin’s emails throughout the promo, but this made me think I missed something important.
The Body Copy: Answering the Objection, Plus Many CTAs
The email starts with how Caitlyn got many questions about which of her two courses to start with.
I like this approach because if many customers ask something, it’s a big concern or objection in your target customer’s mind.
Now, don’t lie about getting tons of questions just to set up an email like this because:
- Dishonesty never pays off in the long run
- The copy won’t work well because, um, no one actually has that question
I don’t think Caitlyn’s lying. This is a common question for business opportunity (biz-op) offers.
The long CTA here is interesting, but I think it works because it offers a way to buy for customers that don’t have the objection and wish to buy (maybe they missed earlier emails).
At the same time, Caitlyn opened a loop by bringing up the objection so those who need an answer are encouraged to keep reading.
Then, she delivers a short, sweet, and kind of obvious answer to that objection:
Customers don’t want the slightest chance of spending money on the wrong thing.
These customers are almost buyer-ready, so they want that extra reassurance from the business owner themselves that they’re picking the right course.
I like the social proof line, too. I mean, this course was better than an entire college education?
Count me in!
Once that objection is answered, the natural thing to do is stick another CTA in there.
But the email continues because readers could have varying levels of skepticism:
Caitlyn doesn’t just layer on the benefits (read: NOT features)…
She dimensionalizes them. Meaning she turns each abstract benefit into a concrete experience the reader can relate to.
Sure, “freedom” is nice, but how about “the ability to work from anywhere in the world with Internet access”?
Much more persuasive.
Note also that she described her own experience instead of a generic “this is what your life could be like.”
More relatable and believable when you discuss your experience using the offer you sell.
The email closes out with a question that expands the proofreading course far beyond a course:
You aren’t just learning to proofread…
You’re starting a journey towards fulfilling your professional and personal dreams — and achieving financial freedom — through work you’re already good at.
Even the CTA’s got encouraging language — “This is your moment”.
What a way to end the email.
Takeaways
Every email in a campaign should have a purpose. It could be shifting beliefs, pushing urgency, or in this case, busting a specific objection.
When you’re busting an objection, sometimes it pays to get straight to the point, like in this email. No need to get all creative if you can just answer the question.
But don’t stop there — tie everything back to your product and dimensionalize those benefits to make the results of using it more tangible to the reader.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list.
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out Proofread Anywhere if you’re interested in learning how to start a proofreading business.