A (sneaky) Totally Ethical Copywriting Trick That Makes Customers Buy
April 21, 2020
You know that part in a movie, usually toward the end, when a seemingly insignificant element you learned about early on turns out to be the saving grace of the story?
A great example of this comes from The Avengers (the first one).
Black Widow is introduced right away and appears to be in a precarious situation, but (when Agent Coulson calls) she quickly resolves the situation by using the words of her captors to gain the upper hand. Later on, a similar situation pits her against Loki as he appears to ruffle her. Though we all know how that ended.
So, here’s the interesting question. How can we use this in our copy - more specifically, in an email series that nurtures our customers and pitches your product without coming off slimy?
It’s a common question - how do I sell without sounding like a car salesman?
By implementing our version of the Chekhov’s Gun technique, also known as Chekhov’s Law, we intentionally plant the seed of the offer without pitching early in an email sequence. Later in that same sequence, we come back to the offer.
What this does is allow you to continue providing value (nurturing your audience) while subtly growing that seed (building the need for the offer).
Not only does this (and other techniques we teach) keep your subscribers eagerly opening their email, but by the time you actually pitch your offer - They’re Ready! They experience that palm to the face moment of realization that this is the answer they’ve been looking for all along even if they didn’t know they needed it in the first place.
So what does this look like?
Let’s say we have a 6 email series. Here’s how we’d break down the goal of each email:
Email 1: We provide the thing they subscribed for (checklist, discount, etc.) and casually mention our offer while asking them to join our FB community to get some other benefit specific to that group
Email 2: We bring up a problem or struggle our audience experiences that relates to our message (they don’t feel taken seriously, living in the moment is difficult for them, productivity is a real blind spot for them)
Email 3: We offer them a no-cost solution in the form of a tip, hack or blog post that gives them a quick win
Email 4: We show them, with testimonials or data, how this solution will solve their problem and what that looked like for you or other people who tried it
Email 5: Now things get really exciting. In this email we call out the elephant in the room. Why would your customer NOT take advantage of this solution (remember, this was a no-cost tip) and we overcome that objection with more information
Email 6: Finally, the offer!
Look what’s happened so far.
- You primed them for the offer early on by planting the seed, AKA Chekhov’s Gun
- Without selling to them, you identified their problem and gave them a solution
- You answered objections, provided testimonials, and data, and got in front of the Heisman (as we call it in sales)
4. And finally, you offered them a more long-term solution, your product which solves both practical and emotional struggles -- all with ZERO car salesman slime
But, Darian, this looks like a lot of work. I’m not sure I can do that
Hey, no worries! I’ve got your back. On May 8th and 9th 2020, we’re putting on a free Nurture Email Writing class. In that class I’ll teach you the formula my team and I use to write emails for our 6 and 7-figure clients.
I’m a huge formula nerd. And I hate overcomplication (especially when a simple answer will do just fine), and that’s exactly what you’ll get in this class.
A super simple email writing formula that
- Builds trust
- Contains ZERO slime
- And converts in sales (cuz you’re doing it the right way)
“I loved your class. You were clear and gave great info. I actually wrote to my accountability partner and invited her to join your FB group to get invited to classes”
“very informative on a topic that just gives me anxiety. I always thought of myself as a decent writer... I have now realized I need help so thanks so much for helping!”
“This class was MIND BLOWING”
Ready to write emails that make sales?
Only those on the list get an invitation to the Nurture Email Writing class happening 8-9 May 2020.
Last time we limited attendance to the first 100 to show up AND 3 lucky members got Free 1:1 strategy training on the Sprint Test System we use to test your audience for predictive offer-driving data.