Written by: Josh Kropkof, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Emails suck.
That’s what I used to think too, until I started getting paid multiple six figures to write them...
The truth is, annoying or not, everybody reads emails. You confirm appointments with email. You pay your bills through email. When you buy something, you check your email for the order confirmation.
That’s why email is still the most effective way to get your message directly to the people who matter – your customers.
Since I got into this “email business'' four years ago, it’s always surprised me just how much the average business owner really doesn’t know about email.
Today you’re in luck because I’m going to share with you the 7 best-kept secrets my agency has paid well over a quarter-million dollars to learn and test over the past four years:
1. Your customers still prefer email over everything else.
It’s hard to believe, especially with so much clutter in your inbox. But when asked, studies show consumers actually want to hear from businesses via email. 9 out of 10 adults in the U.S. have said they like getting emails from companies they do business with. And 72% of adults said they prefer email as the top way for businesses to send them information. That means email is preferred over every other medium by far, including social media and text messages.[1]
2. Emails make ungodly amounts of money.
There’s no other way to put this. Four years isn’t long in the agency business, but at this point I’ve overseen hundreds of millions of email sends across thousands of campaigns. And one thing remains constant: the crazy amounts of money emails rake in for businesses of all sizes in all kinds of different industries.
For example, one of my clients is a boutique gift store with a single brick and mortar location in Springfield, Missouri. They have thousands of products for sale online to people all over the United States – everything from kitchen sets, to handbags, to holiday decorations.
A single email campaign sent to their most active customers regularly generates over $10,000 in revenue. When you add up all the different emails to various customer segments over the course of a month, email accounts for half their total sales – well over $100,000 every single month.
You might assume that kind of success only comes from having a large email list, but I’ve seen businesses with tiny lists make thousands of dollars for every email they send. It just comes down to good messaging that keeps your audience engaged.
3. Not using email is more expensive than using email.
The business owners who tell me they don’t like email marketing always have one thing in common – they spend way too much time checking their email. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s been my experience that the people who complain about how many annoying emails they get are caught in the trap of wasting hours throughout the day sifting through their inbox. Not only does this suck time away from their business and cost them money because they aren’t doing more productive things, but it becomes really expensive when they let this low-performance attitude poison their ability to prioritize email marketing as a money-making machine for their company. I once talked to a guy with a 7-figure brand who felt that way about email, so he proudly told me about his policy of only sending one email campaign per month. They even tell people who sign up for their list: “Don’t worry, we’ll hardly ever email you.” (What a strange way to motivate people to read your emails.) Anyway, I asked him how much that single monthly email makes. He told me it was north of $20 grand, just the one email. Can you imagine how much money he’s losing every month by not emailing more? I’ll tell you – upwards of $160,000 a month. But hey, not every 7-figure business owner wants to be an 8-figure business owner.
4. If you know who you’re talking to, email marketing is really easy.
Most business owners fall into the trap of thinking that email marketing is really complicated and time-consuming, so they don’t make it a priority.
But I’m here to tell you when it comes to your customers, you just have to be able to talk to them like you would a friend who came looking for advice. Email marketing is not a “one-to-many” approach like other forms of advertising. It’s one to one...you have to give valuable information and recommendations to the people who signed up to hear from you.
And don’t get caught up in thinking that your emails need to look eye-catching and that you need an in-house graphic design team. It turns out that isn’t the case at all.
5. Text-Based Emails Work Better Than Graphic Designed Emails.
*Gasp* It’s true.
This is one of those things no one wants to hear. We’ve all been getting those design-heavy branding emails in our inbox since 2004, and despite all the data to the contrary, many companies have an addiction to sending emails that look pretty.
Every audience is different, and I don’t mean to say that eye-catching emails never work. Truth be told, they work just fine. Graphic emails get clicks and they generate sales.
But nearly every time we test emails with more copy than images, more words than pictures, the words win. You think people don’t want or have time to read text-heavy emails, but you’d be surprised to learn that some of the wordiest emails I’ve ever seen make way more money than the prettiest design.
6. If you don’t know what you’re doing, sending email can be dangerous.
By now you may be thinking to yourself “this sounds easy, I better start emailing my list right now.” While usually I’d agree that taking imperfect action is better than taking no action at all, when it comes to email marketing you really have to be careful. The worst thing to do is just start emailing for the sake of emailing, especially if you aren’t experienced in it. Do that, and you run the risk of getting sidetracked with unpurposeful content, alienating your customers, or coming off as a spammer. You need to be able to know what to say to your audience at the right time, and how best to say it. You don’t want to overdo it. You need to be able to sell, without coming across as selling. Good email marketing requires three things: strategy, execution, and optimization. Learn how to do those things correctly, and you’ll have a skill that can pay you infinite amounts of money for the rest of your life.
7. There’s a name for emails people like that also make money: Direct Response.
The top secret method to generating boatloads of money with email is a thing called direct response copywriting. It’s a stealth science that uses psychology to influence people in a good way, by clearly communicating your brand is the solution to their problem. The reason it works so well is that it doesn't feel like marketing. To the end-user, it doesn’t feel cringy or annoying like they’re being sold to, but instead gives them a dopamine boost because it comes across as engaging and fun.
If you’ve never heard of direct response, it’s commonly known as a difficult skill to master. But when it comes to email marketing, it’s actually really easy to do. Good direct response emails are short and to the point, and they are really fun to write.
My agency has used direct response email marketing to help 7, 8, and 9-figure ecommerce brands scale by adding more profit to their bottom line each month. We’ve been doing this for years and have become known for having the highest-converting emails in the industry. As a small family business, we rarely take on new clients, but have worked directly with dozens of companies. Our mission is to help 1000 businesses double their profits with better email marketing by 2025. To do this we’re now teaching our proven system to those willing to take action and put it to work in their business. If you’d like to learn more about how we help ecommerce businesses generate more net profit with direct response email marketing, go here to check out our case study video: https://www.theemailagency.com/freecasestudy
Josh Kropkof, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Josh Kropkof is an email specialist, consultant, and direct response copywriter. He is Co-Founder and CEO of The Email Agency, a direct response email marketing company that helps ecommerce businesses scale their profits with better email. Since its inception in 2018, The Email Agency (TEA for short) has worked directly with 7, 8, and 9-figure ecommerce brands across dozens of niches including apparel, home decorating, hunting & fishing, CBD, jewelry, home office furniture, sportswear, children's books, specialty gifts, and many more. Josh and his small team of email specialists have overseen more than 100 million email sends across thousands of campaigns, and have generated tens of millions of dollars for their clients. TEA's emails are known for making more sales than typically seen in ecommerce, and they've successfully helped Josh's clients add an extra 6 or 7 figures in profit to their bottom line on a monthly basis. Josh is on a mission to help 1,000 businesses double their profits with better email marketing by 2025.
References:
[1] Burstein, Daniel. “Marketing Research Chart: How do customers want to communicate?”. MarketingSherpa. https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/customer-communication-by-channel
