The thought process that makes writing any email series easier
Last week my boyfriend opened up pre-sales for his next React Native development course. He had an amazing 5-part email funnel that provided value and took people through the pitch.
He knocked writing the emails out of the park and even received compliments from the people on his list.
Why am I telling you this? Well, besides the fact that I’m proud of him, I think the bad-assness of his emails shows the power of proper planning.
You see, he’s written emails and launched courses before. But, he wanted this one to be the best he’s ever done. Naturally, I asked how I could pitch in and started doing some brainstorming and strategizing for and with him.
Here are some of the questions (and answers) I helped him with that became the foundation of his emails.
TL;DR Before writing any email series, ask yourself:
- Who will be receiving these emails, and what is their objective?
- Why would they give a hoot about this product? What’s the best possible outcome.
- What are the overlapping goals + emotions that are near universal?
- Connect the goals + emotions to stories and solutions
Who will be receiving these emails, and what is their objective?
This initial email series was going out to his entire email list, which is pretty large. He’s been building it over the past few years through his blogs, free courses, and paid courses so there’s a variety of people there.
To make the emails feel as personal as possible (to such a large group) we broke it down into two main objectives:
- React Native to Work: people who want to get a job, change careers, or start freelancing
- React Native to Sell: people who want to learn app development to create their own company
P.S. I’m a big nerd so we gave our personas fun names like Contractor Connor and Side Hustle Sarah. It’s easier to “talk” to specific people!
Why would they give a hoot about this product?
So we generally knew the few types of people who were on the list, and we knew what we were pitching. In this case, I asked “why would these people care about learning how to build 10 React Native sample apps?”
In other words, what’s the best possible outcome they could attain through this?
For each persona group (RN to Work and RN to Sell) I came up with three points for each category:
I’ve talked about push & pull or pain & pleasure motivation in my writing before, and we used it again here.
Under each category, I came up with a statement, as well as its corresponding emotion.
Here’s an example for people who want to learn React Native for work:
Goal to Achieve:
- Build a portfolio to get hired, can prove they know what they’re doing (experience)
- Feel comfortable talking about projects + skills with prospective client/employer (confidence)
- Feel more prepared and empowered to take on a new position (security)
What are the overlapping goals + emotions that are near universal?
One of the reasons we even dove into breaking his list into personas was to make it more personal, and now I’m suggesting we make it universal?
Well, yes. In a way.
You see, everyone is more alike than we are different. The specifics of our goals and industries may be unique, but the emotion or challenges underneath them are the same.
When you choose universal emotions as your foundation, it will ring true to more people. Empathy works in every scenario.
You can add the specifics of your solution on top, but those are mostly surface level.
So, we looked at the list of all the goals and all the pains of each persona and found the overlap.
We arrived at the following:
Shared Goal to Achieve:
Shared Pain to Relieve:
And these ideas became the foundation of the series.
Connect the goals + emotions to stories and solutions
At this point, we had mapped out the “universal truths” to connect with. Next up was applying them to the situation at hand.
This happened in two phases:
We knew the 5-part email would go like this:
(plus a reminder on the last day of presale)
With the series structure set, we started assigning the goal or pain to address and connecting it with content he had. I think he found it really helpful to essentially have a list of items to cover in the series.
After we created a loose outline of each email, he went in later to fill in the stories and content. I’ll never stop preaching that writing anything is 1,000% easier when you start with an outline and a plan
Here’s an example of how we pieced everything together.
- For the first 100% value email, we decided to address the goal of “making money”
- I suggested some sort of “blueprint” or “roadmap” to becoming a developer because he had mentioned that was a question he often got
- We decided the email would outline what it takes and what steps are involved if you want to make money with development
- The email was sent out with the subject line “Want to make 6 figures writing code? Here’s how.” It was enticing, obviously, as well as helpful
The other emails went on to address things like “How to stop wasting your most valuable resource as a developer.”
Spencer did a great job writing the emails, in part because he knows the audience and industry. I think a lot more people are capable of successfully tackling their own email marketing, they just need a little help with the strategy.
Originally published at https://www.getyoursaasonboard.com on May 20, 2019.
