A wise copywriter once told me “copy is king.” And from there I began my journey to reading, learning, and writing copy. No matter what the offer is, the formula remains the same. Today I want to dig into a few aspects of that formula that rings in my ear everytime I put finger to keyboard. Not only is it important to understand the fundamentals of email copy, but it’s equally as valuable to understand strategy and testing principles. Just a few of these concepts can skyrocket your conversions and seriously up your email game.
Specificity
Specificity creates intrigue and credibility. Adding in specific details, ideas, images or authority can change your copy from good to great. Think about how you make decisions on a daily basis to click on something. If you’re looking at news articles and you see a headline that says
“Best Healthy Food Options of 2022” vs. “Purple Vegetable Increases Your Lifespan by 10 Years.” The first subject line is probably relevant to a lot of people, but the second subject line has another level of specificity and emotional pull that builds intrigue and draws that click. Credibility is naturally formed when you have detailed information that a reader doesn’t see anywhere else. You can also use proven and researched claims or credentials to add to that credibility.
Emotion
Emotional pull ties in well with specificity. In my example above you can clearly see the difference between “Best Healthy food options” and “increases your lifespan by 10 years.” Find what matters most to your audience and give it to them through copy and value. It has to be real emotional ties. We’re not talking about someone’s love for nature or hobbies. Although sometimes those things can draw a click, we're talking about a reader’s core values or deep desires. That’s where you’re going to get a quality reader and send your clicks through the roof!
Urgency
Urgency is one of the more obvious but very important copy fundamentals that can increase clicks and conversions. The fear of missing out is real and can create an emotional trigger. This can come in a lot of creative ways. You can give out your product to a specific amount of people, have deadlines, include timers and more. Personalizing the urgency can combine both emotional and fomo triggers that may step away from the usual urgency language they typically see.
Testing
Testing your copy is essential in finding the best converting creative. Some worthwhile testing ideas are subject lines, from lines, images, and email body copy. Within these tests you can apply the outlined fundamentals I’ve shared with you today. Typically, you’d want to test something that will move the bottom line vs. a whisper test. Whisper tests are tests that don’t make a big impact. If your results are very even across the board or you aren’t hitting benchmark numbers, you may have implemented a whisper test or the copy needs tweaking. Of course, there are a lot of variables to take into consideration with email copy tests and sometimes the tests don’t work out perfectly. But in general, ask yourself these 3 things: Is it a whisper test? What’s my hypothesis or goal with this test and did I meet it? Do I have enough quality traffic to claim significance in this test?
“You don’t need to reinvent the wheel”
I hope by now you’re on the “copy is king” train with me and ready to try some new ideas. However, one major principle I live by is: you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Some of the best tests and copy come from previously successful ideas. In fact, my typical idea process is inspired by other ideas 95% of the time. If something works, BUILD upon it or use that theme to create a “new” idea. Don’t reinvent the wheel but DO introduce pattern interrupting ideas. You can easily take a successful idea and turn it on it’s head to make it stand out or change the pattern of usual business. Now let’s get writing!