New here? This is Inbox Hacking, a Free Newsletter for Awesome email marketers eager to increase Awesomeness. Email marketing insights, tools, & tactics sent twice per week. Someone forwarded you our Newsletter? Please join over 14,122 Email Marketers and sign up for your Free subscription. Today → 3 techniques for extending your newsletter content, stats that affect sales, & a hack to implement asap.
Get well soon if March Madness kept you outta work today😉.
Inbox Hackers, newsletter writing can wear you out, even burn you out. I see you panting over there, sweating over what to write next.
I’m here to help. Content has no end. Humans have been around a long time and we’re still blabbing nonstop. So, let me give you three techniques any marketer can use to stretch content further. Quality content.
🚨Free Deliverability Webinar Alert. Save Your Spot🚨
#1) Bullet Points to Endless Email Content
Copywriting kingpin Ray Edwards advises writing as many bullet points about your products / services as possible. Hundreds if you can. Each one gives you avenues for more content, which leads to even more bullet points🔁.
This is not a one-hour or one-day process. It should take a week at least. Then those bullet points should be revised and new ones added regularly.
Folks, some people have sold cars their entire lives. Others have worked for the same non-profit for 30 years. They don’t run out of things to say. Because they keep investigating, learning, and sharing what they discover.
Bullet points keep you from running out of things to say in your email campaigns.
What about outlines?
#2) Outlining Process Anyone Can Follow to Extend and Improve Newsletters
Julie Anne Eason’s outlining process focuses on asking questions that produce full-length books. Lucky for you, this works for email newsletters, even promotional emails.
Her concept is easy and logical. Since you’re an expert on what you’re marketing, you can answer 99% of questions potential customers would have, yeah?
But it may be hard to babble on about those answers in newsletters unless you have the right prompts. Questions are perfect prompts.
- They work in subject lines
- They generate curiosity in headlines
- Plus, questions are what cliffhangers are made of 📺
Because a question is a tease! And you can use questions to tease out more marketing content.
Stick with me on this next one…
#3) Spin-offs Also Work for Email Content
Two long-time friends quit their real jobs to become… TV critic podcasters (Bald Move). Kids, don’t try that at home! Anyway, they cover various shows— including The Walking Dead for over 10 years. A mediocre show most of its run, though popular.
How’d the podcasters keep content flowing?
- By doing a main show
- Later adding an instant take show
- Then a listener feedback show
- Season wrap-ups, etc.
Get this… these guys eventually lost interest in TWD and still created quality content. Content so good, that many podcast listeners who stopped watching TWD kept listening to Bald Move’s thoughts about the show.🤯
One more for you.
#Bonus) Email Content Extending
Since you asked, I’ll share my 💡 moment on extending content. Pick a topic you’re super passionate about (besides your business). Something you love sharing with others.
Could be surfing, favorite movie, or hometown sports team. Pick the topic then list all the details that make it interesting to you. Write as many as possible, then extend those details to micro-details. Dig deeper with questions like:
- How did I first get interested in this?
- Which aspects of the topic would I change if I could, and how? (i.e. safer surfing or football)
- Have I ever temporarily lost interest in this topic and why?
Those questions can go on forever, like babbling humans, and lead to micro-details you could keep adding to and enhancing your content. Now, use this structure in newsletters for your products, services, and industry news💥.
Example: I used to be a huge Tom Brady fan and could easily write 500 tiny details about his career, from which boundless content would spring. For this newsletter, I’d replace Brady with email deliverability. (But since my Atlanta Falcons, in a pathetic meltdown, blew the biggest Super Bowl lead in history to Brady’s team… I would never use Brady in my structure 😟.)
Keep reading for fresh knowledge, stats, & today’s hack…
Knowledge Base
🔌Knowledge is power, but first, kid-spiration.
😶Calls-to-Action getting no action? Here are 7 CTA tips.
🧱Brick-n-Mortar is alive-n-well but needs more automation.
☔Report: How weather affects online sales.
🔖ALT storytelling strategies beyond StoryBrand.
Sponsored
Hey Hackers, catch our newest Deliverability Webinar…
Schedule here. Don’t miss your chance to simplify deliverability with 4 of Inbox Mailers’ proven Workflows.
Not a typo! We’re giving you the blueprint for:
💥reEngaging up to 30% of your dead list
🤯50% – 70% open rates (consistently)
💡Segmentation strategy that primes engagement
I don’t have to tell you this— but more opens, inactive subscribers reEngaged, & more clicks equal more revenue. So…
🚨Save Your Spot — Free Deliverability Webinar 🚨
Crowded inboxes, distracted subscribers, these problems aren’t going away. But your brand’s emails will stand out using strategies this webinar provides.
Self Help
Your emails are meant to do what?
Help people. One way or another.
And helping produces revenue for your organization. Win, win.
Just don’t forget, nobody springs outta bed seeking email lists to join!
So your sign-up form better have a stand-out pitch for why they should sign up.
Elvis’ manager, The Colonel, appeared to be scum of the Earth in the recent film.
Yet he was right as rain when he said, “An act needed unique costumes and tricks to give the audience feelings…”
Dress up your sign-up forms. Make people who see them feel something. These sign-up form examples are a great start.
*Shout-out to Inbox Hacking Subscribers →
⚡Elena at NitroPack (Speedy Sites)
🚗Gwyn at AAA (Auto Club)
Facts and Stats
- Rain, wind, & snow drive $12.4+ billion in annual online spending (Adobe)
- On average, an unhappy consumer vents to 9 – 20 people (Media Post)
- 97% of consumers have chosen not to make a purchase because it wasn’t convenient (Business.com)
Bonus: 95% of Email Marketers are adaptable enough to debate any ESPN college basketball ‘expert’.
From Our Sponsor
How would your revenue look if you improved email deliverability… and boosted open rates by as much as 300%?
There are many possible reasons your emails aren’t delivered or opened:
- Your subscribers aren’t engaged
- IP reputation
- Your sender score
But the good news is Inbox Mailers created a new technology that fixes these problems all at once→ so your emails actually get delivered.
Not only that… their unique engagement trigger system ensures your emails get opened too.
It has nothing to do with your copy. Or the relationship with your list. Yes, Inbox Mailers works even with a disengaged list.
This new technology tells you when your subscribers are actively in their inbox… and uses that trigger to get them to open your emails!
Imagine what revenue would look like if you improved your open rates by as much as 300%?
Discover how Inbox Mailers can boost your email revenue.
Marketing Musings
Last Sunday I downloaded a bird-watching app. Why?
Because I’m a full-blown nerd. And it helps researchers track patterns that may help Mother Nature.
The app was made by Cornell University, not an SEC🏈 team, but I hear they’re smart cats.
Thing is, their app makes you work too hard to track Blue Jays, Robins, Woodpeckers, etc.
Entering bird locations takes multiple clicks. Not a deal-breaker, but annoying. Enough so that I’m telling you about it.
Keep these little irritations in mind with all your products and marketing. Make it easy for your customers and subscribers to take actions— as easy as Amazon’s one-click buying.
Remove friction, however microscopic.
Get Hacking
Today’s hack is easy. Easy, I say!
Used to be, you could beat 90% of the competition just by showing up.
Now, you can beat 99% of the competition just by showing how to get in touch with a freaking human being for customer service!
Most companies promote ‘24/7 customer service’ in their ads. Only to bury contact info deeper than Jimmy Hoffa. Or pimp ‘self-service support’ as some altruistic feature.🤢
So, all today’s hack requires is taking steps to make it easier for your users and customers to find a human being to help with their issue.
Why not put that human contact info at the end of every email campaign?
👍🏼Posts other Inbox Hackers liked👍🏼
📩What’s a Good Open Rate for Email (+how to improve yours)
🎯Understanding Your Audience (so you can use email targeting)
📝Please take survey below. It’s got that new-car smell.
Results so far:
