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How To Make Emails That Actually Sell
Max Sturtevant
June 05, 2024
The Inbox Newsletter
Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.
I’ve got a step by step process newsletter for today!
How I Create Emails A-Z
I want to go through my exact process for putting together an email from A-Z.
What do I do… in what order… and with what strategies.
Let’s do it.
Step 1 - Email Topic
The first step is obviously to get your email topic.
What are you writing about and why?
I like to keep my emails short and sweet because the customer’s attention span in 2024 is fried.
We use what’s called “Micro Topics” as our framework for emails.
Rather than creating an email all about the benefits of your protein powder, a Micro Topic email will choose one small benefit and make the whole email about that.
For example you could write about how whey is different than other proteins, what makes a protein powder organic, the optimial amount of protein after a workout, etc.
BONUS - Chat GPT Prompt for 100 Email Ideas
"I have a [niche] brand that sells [products and their purpose].
Our brand is meant to [2-3 sentences of brand info and mission statement / benefits of brand].
Our average customer [5-6 sentences about your customer demographics, their daily lives, their desires, their wants, and their needs].
I want you to give me 10 overarching topics that my brand can create content about. The topics should be very general and tie into our product benefits and the lives of our customer.
Then with those 10 overarching topics I want you to create 10 subtopics under each. The subtopics should be very specific and should educate the customer on the topic and potentially position our products as a solution."
Step 2 - Find an Example To Go Off Of
I’m the least creative person in the world.
I prefer to find a big company with great emails and just copy the layout they use…
I use reallygoodemails.com or milled.com to find one email I want to model off of.
Knowing the topic of the email I chose in Step 1, I’d try to find another email similar to it.
Step 3 - Create a Google Doc Outline of Example Email
All I do is create a new Google Doc and outline the email exactly as I see it in the example.
I put the spacing in there, I add labels for “Add Headline Here” and “Add Photo Gallery Here”, etc
Note - I’m not just listing out the copy in a table format.
I am literally mapping out the email design-wise and layout-wise with all the spacing I want.
This way, the designer has the spacing figured out and just has to add in photos, transitions, and other graphic elements.
This gives you as the copywriter more control over the finished result.
Step 4 - Fill in The Blanks With Copy
You have the outline, now it’s time to write!
I just dropped a copywriting guide on YouTube, it goes through all my principles and a live example of me writing copy.
Step 5 - Design
I design in the platform Figma.
It’s the easiest while also giving you all the design features and whatnot you need.
I hate design so I always hired a designer lol.
You can find some on UpWork for projects for like $20 a design.
I also have a $47 email design product that gives you access to all my internal design templates on Figma.
There are over 5,000+ email possibilities by mix and matching the different sections.
Saves a ton of time and these layouts are proven to convert.
You also get access to an exclusive Skool community with 136 members at the time I’m writing this and 13 posts on average every day.
Step 6 - Quality Check!
Always review your emails for spelling errors, grammar errors, spacing errors in the design, etc.
Important to give your email a thorough read-through before firing it off.
Read it out loud no matter how weird you feel doing it… lol
Email Inspiration Of The Day
Brand:
Days
Notes:
This is how your abandonment emails should look!
Straight to the point and no wasted space.
I love how the dynamic section of the item left behind is viewable right at the top of the email.
This ensures your customer will see it and nothing grabs someone’s attention more than seeing the product they just almost bought.
Don’t try to get carried away with your abandonment emails… keep them like simple like this!
Helpful Links Of The Day
Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.
Cheers,
Max
PS - If you want to join a community of 100+ members with daily tips from me, get feedback / support 24/7, AND get design templates that can make 5,000+ unique email designs click here »
PPS - If you want to work with my full stack email marketing agency click here »