Here’s a little secret:
I wasn’t always an email strategist/consultant/list manager.
I started as a content writer.
I wrote in many niches, but my favorite (which I still write in for a few agencies) is personal finance.
Saving. Investing. Insurance. Budgeting. Taxes (yes, taxes). Those words are music to my ears.
This space always has a need for writers because people want help figuring out their money.
And similarly, there are a lot of big-name blogs.
(Fun fact: I used to write for one of them — The Ways to Wealth. You can find at least one bylined article of mine there.)
One blog I would’ve loved to work with is Millennial Money. And I’d still love to work with them on a more strategic level…
Because they do email well. Look no further than their welcome email, which I have dissected below.
| Table of Contents |
| About Millennial Money The Email: Welcome + Origin + Values… In Record Time The Subject Line and Preview Text The Body Copy Takeaways What to Do Next |
About Millennial Money
Millennial Money is a personal finance blog focused on making financial freedom accessible to all by helping people understand their money.
Naturally, Millennial Money’s audience skews toward… well… millennials (and maybe Zoomers, too). But people of all ages can benefit from Millennial Money’s educational resources.
Anyways, Millennial Money was founded by Grant Sabatier.
As you’ll see in the email, Grant started his post-college life “unemployed, living at home with [his] parents, and had only $2.26 in his bank account.”
Five years and a lot of hard work/consistency later…
He had built a $5 million net worth.
A few things he did to get there include:
- Teaching himself digital marketing and website building to land clients for his employer
- “Hacking” his boss to get a fat raise by leveraging the skills in the previous bullet (among other things)
- Started a digital marketing consulting business using what he learned (after studying digital marketing for 2,000 total hours)
- Saving vigorously and consistently
- Learning to invest properly
He now owns three successful companies, including the Millennial Money blog.
There’s more to the story, available on Millennial Money’s About page.
For now, let’s get into the email — which touches on some of these “origin story” topics.
The Email: Welcome + Origin + Values… In Record Time
This email manages to welcome the reader, tell the origin story, and build a values-based connection in quite a short time:
You’ll notice that this is written person-to-person (or at least “team-to-person” with a personal feel), but it refers to Grant in the third person.
That’s fine. There’s no need for the founder to “write” the email. In fact, it may gain more trust. The savvy reader knows that the founder of a blog this big probably doesn’t write every email anymore. He’s the CEO, after all.
In fact, I think I know who wrote this email. Won’t say, though, in case I’m wrong (but if I’m right, it’s a big name).
It has the neat “direct response” text-based format that I love to see. So let’s dig into the copy…
The Subject Line and Preview Text
Great subject line — welcome message + personality + benefits.
Giving the reader a pat on the back isn’t a bad choice.
The word “awesome” seems intentionally chosen.
“Excellent” sounds too posh. “Amazing” sounds too bland and corporate.
“Awesome,” however, feels like a person on your level is talking to you.
That’s important in a niche like personal finance. Be friendly and welcoming in a world full of confusing terms.
Then comes the preview text:
Relatively standard preview text to include with the subject line. Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s not broken, so don’t fix it.
The Body Copy
The body starts with the Millennial Money logo and a thank-you for joining:
That very first sentence is a nice piece of positioning. The world’s best financial freedom community.
It’s a community… centered on a specific target market goal/mission (financial freedom)… and it’s the world’s best. Millennial Money defines who their readers are.
All that adds a sense of exclusivity, too.
The second line wastes no time/fluff, promising to dive into the story. But before we get there, a few things:
- This sentence addresses a big question in the space and promises to answer it
- Love the parenthetical here. I write with plenty of those (as you have probably noticed, lolol). Gives the writing a more natural feel.
- The first-person language reinforces the conversational nature of the email.
Now, to Grant’s personal story:
This one sentence has a lot more than you think:
- Dramatic opening: Immediately, the story sets some tension. Trying to buy lunch and realizing you don’t have enough money. Tension!
- Relatability: Most of the audience has been here. I’ve been a broke college kid before. I’ve been a broke college grad, barely making enough to cover rent on an entry-level salary. Also, using Chipotle is relatable because, well, Chipotle seems like a millennial favorite to me.
- Specificity: August 2010, a burrito from Chipotle, $2.26 in his account. Names/numbers/details get attention. Names/numbers/details stick in the mind. Names/numbers/details are “down to earth.”
- Social proof: August 2010 is 13 years ago as I write this post. That tells the reader that Grant (and, by extension, his blog) has a lot of authority.
We then get to a brief “what Grant did next” bit of copy:
Since Grant is not writing this, the email doesn’t need to go deep into the story. After all, the reader can find more details on the site’s About page (foreshadowing!).
For now, Millennial Money connects Grant’s past to the company’s founding and mission in the next section:
Wow. It’s much more than “to teach you personal finance.” It’s hammering the positioning home — helping the reader achieve financial freedom.
And it further defines financial freedom to pull in the good subscribers and push out the rest. That definition:
“To have enough money that you can live a life you love, with time and space for yourself.”
Plus, some objection-defusing copy around a common fear: Working hard and maybe enjoying your wealth at 65.
Even I’m a little excited just reading this. This is some Grade-A copy for getting the reader excited to start their journey.
Notice the second-person usage. Although Millennial Money’s talking about itself, the email still focuses on the reader.
That’s a sign of good copy.
Next comes Millennial Money’s overarching “how we get you there”:
First sentence has belief-shifting copy. People think wealth and freedom is hard to achieve outside of retiring at 65.
Millennial Money reframes things. There are more tools/strategies/paths to wealth than ever in history.
Now the reader wants to know more about those — carrying them to the next few lines.
These lines explain how Millennial Money will, broadly speaking, help them find their path to wealth…
And all the tactical areas that will help get them there.
Masterful.
Onto the CTA and signoff:
Sending readers to the About page is a good CTA for a blog’s welcome email. Even if the site sells courses, the new subscriber mainly sees it as a blog — so it sends them to more things they can read.
Also, since it’s a blog, SEO is a big goal. Getting more traffic on any part of the site helps SEO and potentially gets some of those readers clicking on articles.
I like the “to living a richer life” signoff. Those signoff phrases offer one more spot to add some personality and positioning.
We’re not done. We have a quick PS:
This is a good place to “tuck in” the whitelisting instructions. They’re out of the way so the reader can enjoy the origin story.
Plus, they’re simple. The reader can add Millennial Money to their contacts or even just reply. Nice little deliverability boost…
And since the copywriter knew this was good copy, they knew the reader would make it to the end and follow these instructions.
Takeaways
Here are some big takeaways:
1. The Copy Mechanics
Did you notice the perspective this email is in?
It’s first and second-person… yet it’s coming from “The Millennial Money Team”. After all, Grant has stepped away from the day-to-day since his business has grown so much.
This works quite well because it keeps the personalized nature you’d expect from a blog without deceiving the reader.
I also appreciate the readability tactics: Lists, line breaks, italics, and bolding. Strengthens the “person-to-person” feel.
Here’s a more subtle mechanical takeaway: The font is very readable. It’s sans serif, meaning it is missing the serif — that cute little decorative line on the end of certain letters.
Here’s an example:
T vs. T.
See the little lines on the first “T”? Those are serifs. The second is a font without a serif, or sans (without) serif.
In isolation, both are relatively easy to read. But trust me — if you read an email in a font with serifs, it’ll be a little harder. The copy’s appearance is just “busier”.
2. The Email Structure
The email structure is as follows:
- Welcome
- Founder origin story
- Where he was
- What he did
- Where he is now
- Company founding/mission
- A “call to adventure” for the reader
- CTA
- PS
It’s a classic origin story framework.
But here’s the thing:
Proven frameworks + killer copy > reinventing the wheel + garbage copy.
If the framework ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
3. The Overall Strategy
This email does an excellent job of immediately hooking the customer into the brand, thanks to the compelling origin story.
I like how Millennial Money also gets the reader to take an action…
Despite lacking offers to sell.
The company understands that every email is a chance to move toward a business objective. In this case, it’s getting the reader onto the site. This boosts SEO and could lead to affiliate sales.
Or maybe even sign up for the evergreen webinar they run.
Regardless:
Never lead email readers hanging. Always get them to do something. Even if it’s reading a blog post or whitelisting your email address.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list using the signup form below for more Email Breakdowns and other helpful marketing content.
- Share this with someone who might find it helpful (or entertaining).
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out Millennial Money for tips and advice on all things personal finance!