Wow. 50 Email Breakdowns.
When I set out on this journey, I didn’t really know how to structure these. I just knew that “Hey, if I want to be better at email marketing… and if I want to show clients I know this stuff… I should probably dissect emails.
I mimicked other email copywriters (mostly Chris Orzechowski) who do this type of content.
50 emails later, and I have to say that my breakdowns evolved into their own thing.
They’re VERY detailed because that’s the type of person I am. They helped me solidify many email marketing concepts and taught me a lot about how I think about marketing.
I’m not stopping at 50, though. I’m gonna go until I run out of brands (with good emails) I haven’t covered. And then, I’ll just cover different types of emails from brands I’ve already looked at.
Who knows — Maybe I’ll throw these all into a lead magnet/free eBook that others (such as you, dear reader) can grab by getting on my list.
But enough about the future. Let’s look at the email. MY email.
Yep, I wrote the email we’re breaking down. Fitting for an “anniversary” type of email. Frankly, I didn’t want to wait until 100. So keep reading to see my thoughts on my own email.
About Me
I’m an email marketing consultant, strategist, and copywriter. I help businesses like you get tons more revenue out of their email lists so they can widen margins, boost cash flows, and scale… without more ad spend.
Once we get your email marketing revenue going, of course, each customer is worth a lot more. AND you have more capital to play with from your new sales. So we can dump that into an ad campaign that works. It’s like printing money.
Anyways…
I started as a copywriter in August 2018 — mere weeks after landing my first post-college job. As an accountant. Making an hourly wage. With a 4-year degree.
Eventually, I was blessed to have been, well, let go from that job. So I made copywriting work. I made it my full-time gig.
Then, later on, I specialized in email copywriting and, along with that, strategy.
So here we are. Here’s an email I wrote to my list. Hey, you might have even read this one already!
The Email: Humor and Storytelling
As a solopreneur service provider, I can’t do the “faceless brand” email style. I have to be personal because I am writing this.
(The only other person involved is my fantastic assistant, who schedules my blog posts and their accompanying emails.)
So all my emails are personable, and many of them are stories.
Unfortunately, I can’t fit a screenshot of the whole thing here. The text would be too small.
So let’s break down the email piece by piece…
The Subject Line and Preview Text
My subject lines don’t really follow hard-and-fast copywriting rule…
Except for the “human talking to human” and “curiosity” types of guidelines:
See? Very personal. Also, very relevant.
Big Tech and the surveillance state are ever-present in many minds. Plus, my list knows I watch a lot of YouTube because I write about it often (list-building lesson in there).
Blend that with the question mark and the subject line’s context — whether YouTube is spying on me — and you’ve got yourself some curiosity.
The preview text continues the surveillance theme:
That preview text comes from 1984, George Orwell’s classic work of dystopian fiction. Read it if you haven’t. Depressing book (although I’d argue Alduous Huxley more accurately predicted modern times with Brave New World).
Regardless, this builds more of a connection with the reader because it’s a common pop culture-ish phrase.
I can’t forget to mention the emojis, either. The guy looking at you through the magnifying glass adds a touch of humor. Not to mention that emojis catch the eye.
The Body Copy
The email starts with a personal greeting and gets right into a discussion with the reader:
Self-critique: I bet I could trim the first sentence and the “Sure” in the second sentence without sacrificing substance.
(Hey. I write these on the fly. Don’t judge!)
But after that, we start with something relevant to the reader at the time of sending (May):
SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE! Soon, we’ll be doing all those warm-weather activities we love…
But then the pain comes: Seasonal allergies. Plus, some descriptive copy about what that entails.
Notice how I say “How ‘bout them” not “How about those”. And notice how I abuse include ellipses. You gotta write like you talk.
I’m doing it right now. And I do it in all my emails.
Oh, and how about that last line:
“That moment when you rub your eye with your pollen-covered hand by accident:”
I followed it with this image:
Classic Spongebob meme.
Humor, humor, humor. Get the reader giggling. Also, the image breaks up my email and enhances readability in the process.
After establishing a connection with the reader about this pain, I get into the story…
Notice the varied sentence structure. This is something I’ve been working on recently (how’s that for transparency?) — getting more short sentences in.
That variation prevents monotony. It also gives a nice cadence to the text and physically breaks things up.
Speaking of, I got a bit of funny and descriptive language in here, too.
This brings me to one of my favorite email tactics:
The “sales letter” subheading. Sales letters put important concepts, curiosity-grabbing phrases, and so on as subheadings to break up the text, grab the reader’s attention, and convey the juiciest parts for the skimmers.
This one uses humor. I spell out a very naughty word phonetically. It ties back to the last line of copy about the Claritin commercial. Wouldn’t you freak out if a Claritin D ad popped on your YouTube 2 seconds after sneezing?
Which brings me to the place where I pay off the subject line:
I used an open loop throughout this email — the reader wanted to resolve the tension around the subject line’s “Big Brother” angle. Now, they have.
Furthermore, I start the segue into the “marketing lesson” here. With some more “bad words spelled out” humor.
We then proceed deeper into that lesson:
The lesson being that there’s a reason companies annoy you to the verge of rage with ads.
Sure, marketers can zoom in close on their target customer’s behavior. They say Zuckerberg knows when you are, uh, on the toilet based on when you log into Facebook via your phone.
(If someone has to watch me in the bathroom, why must it be Mr. Zuck???)
But even that level of detail isn’t necessary. As long as Claritin spams you with YouTube ads during allergy season, they will catch you sneezing eventually. Lesson in there.
Look at how I bolded the important information (not just the previous sentence, lol). When in doubt, some font formatting never hurts.
Also, you may have noticed my name in the copy. I like to include a liquid field with the reader’s first name. Adds to the personalization and conversation.
People like hearing their name, and it catches their attention.
Almost done — time to finish the marketing lesson in the email:
Ok, so that title is supposed to be middle-aligned. The screenshot makes it look right-aligned, but I assure you it’s not.
With that in mind, I am once again using a subheading to draw attention to the juiciest parts of the email. Someone might read this subheading and want the context, forcing them to read the actual body copy.
Speaking of, I’m encapsulating the lesson in an easy-to-remember phrase. This helps this concept stick in the reader’s mind. They come away smarter, and they like me more for teaching them something useful.
Onto our CTA here:
Pardon the squinting-sized text…
The segue to the CTA is fairly smooth. I essentially taught something I learned in Copy Chief, which, naturally, sets up a slam dunk of a “click here to learn this topic in depth.”
Takeaways
Here are some big takeaways:
1. The Copy Mechanics
Line breaks. Font formatting. Images. Make your copy more attractive to the eyes. People don’t want to read giant blocks of text (although their willingness to do so can depend on the market).
These elements also create a conversational and humorous feel (especially the image). You want the reader to feel like someone is talking to them through the copy, not that they’re reading copy.
I’m a fan of parenthesis because it’s how I talk. I go off on tangents when covering a topic. This doesn’t work out well in verbal conversation (something I’m working on lol) but fits a written piece better.
Something worth trying in your copy if you aim to cram more ideas into a chunk of copy.
2. The Email Structure
Once you build a relationship with your list, they feel like they “know” you a bit. Your copy should still be punchy, but you can meander a tiny bit more. Your customer enjoys your stories.
That’s why this email has four parts: Setting the context, telling the story, explaining the lesson, and pitching the offer.
3. The Overall Strategy
Not much to the strategy here — this is a regular broadcast email I sent to my anyone that wasn’t in my welcome sequence.
That’s one good strategy takeaway: Segment your list and don’t send too many emails in one day to the same person (unless the particular campaign calls for “last-day” urgency)..
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list using the signup form below.
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Share this post with someone who would find it helpful or insightful.
- Check out, well, uh me. Follow steps 1 and 2!