Email Marketing Solutions

Welcome to the first edition of my weekly email breakdown…

Made Me Click

Every week I am going to pick a different email that I read and that “made me click.” I’ll break down the email from the subject line to CTA and share what I think they did really well. 

Hopefully I can share some insights into what makes a really good email and how you can use these insights to improve your click through rates and email conversions. 

If you have an email that “made you click” and you’d like me to break it down, shoot me an email at ben@henkenmarketing.com.

Now let’s get onto the good stuff…

Email #1 comes from First Day Vitamins.

Was that subject line written directly to me?

Subject Line – Why are children ALWAYS getting sick?

Preview Text – Never-ending cycle of colds & coughs…

For me, and many other parents out there, this subject line is very timely. 

Because EVERYONE is sick right now. We’ve got 4 kids in the house (currently living with my brother and sister-in-law and their two kids) and EACH kid has some form of a runny nose and/or cough.

And it’s been this way for what seems like forever. 

This is why it’s important to understand your ideal customer avatar (ICA). What do they struggle with? What does their daily routine look like?

(By the way, this email was sent at 8:30pm… right after my kids went to bed)

So the timing of the email and the subject line was perfect… for me.

If you don’t have kids, you most likely don’t open or read this email. But you also aren’t First Day’s ICA.

So for me, I was hooked already. The subject line and timing got me in.

Unfortunately the first part of the email almost derailed it… 

Don’t waste valuable space

This is classic throat clearing… there’s nothing here that pulls me in or makes me want to continue reading. And honestly, if I had opened this email on my phone I may have stopped here and moved onto the next email.

Don’t waste that prime real estate on boring copy…

Get right into the good stuff

This is where I would have started. Because as a parent, I started reading this section and went… 

“YES! That’s exactly what’s happened!”

We’ve had multiple colds, 48 fevers, diarrhea, COVID, more colds…

It’s been a never ending cycle.

Suggestion here – edit your copy and remove any “throat clearing” that appears in the first part of your email.

Get straight to the good stuff.

Basic email framework

This email is using the basic framework of Pain-Agitate-Solution

The pain – never ending cycle of kids getting sick

This is where they agitate the problem.

Time off work, catching up on school, taking kids to the doctors… and so on.

They also did something really clever here… did you catch it?

…

Go back and re-read that section. Can you figure out what I’m referring to?

…

I’ll wait…

…

It’s the quote from the community. Builds the social connection, introduces the idea of community, and makes you feel like it’s not just you.

“But it’s normal to what everyone else I know has experienced as well.”

I’m always a fan of including quotes, case studies, or testimonials from your customers or community. This is done really well. And it’ll play into the Call To Action here in a moment….

But before we get to the CTA we need the SOLUTION part of the framework. And here First Day does something clever as well…

Open a loop whenever possible

This is a powerful section.

Here we are providing the solution – prevention vs cure 

We’re introducing a unique mechanism – the “frontline defense” of your immunity system.

We’re opening a loop – “more about that tomorrow”

I’ve committed to reading this email. Now I want to know what this powerful antioxidant is. 

I can guess – Vitamin C or Zinc maybe… but I want to KNOW.

The final payoff

Here’s where we get to the click! 

Remember the quote from the community? Here’s where we tie back into that quote. 

I’ve seen a quote, I know there’s a community, and we as humans have an innate desire to be a part of a community.

So by introducing that quote earlier in the email, I now want to click this link and share what I find most difficult about my kids constantly being sick.

Finally, I love that the sign off for these emails is from Alice, the founder. 

I don’t see enough sign-offs from a real person. It doesn’t have to be from the founder, president, or CEO.

But email is a person to person communication.

So having an email that’s “from” Alice vs. “from” the First Day Team creates a stronger connection with your readers.

Big Takeaways

TL;DR

• Know your audience and ideal customer avatar (ICA)
• Get right into it, no throat clearing
• Simple framework – Pain-Agitate-Solution
• Include customer and community voice whenever possible
• Open loops
• Sign off from a real person

Preview for next week

For next week’s breakdown, I’m going to grab one of the many New Year’s Eve emails that I received. 

Most became white noise as they all said the SAME thing (more or less.)

But this one stood out. And “made me click.”

You’ll see how you can stand out in the inbox even on busy sending days or times and grab your reader’s attention.

Next Steps

1. Leave a comment below – what did you think of this email? What did you like or dislike?
2. Share this breakdown with someone you know – know anyone with a DTC ecom store? Share this breakdown with them and they’ll thank you for it.
3. Follow me on LinkedIn for more content – and connect with me if you are an email marketer, ecommerce business owner, or course creator.