When you send an email out to your list do you ever get lost clicking through templates trying to find the right one? Sorry but that’s not a good use of your time.

Why? Because your list doesn’t care and you’re not going to get the best results if you pick one of the pretty templates in Aweber.

Send simple text emails. The simplest way to prove it is to take it to the real world…

When you walk out to your mailbox and grab the mail – what get’s your attention? An envelope with your name and address hand written on it? or the 20th glossy bright red ad you’ve received from Jim’s Insurance Company.

The ad goes directly in the trash but the envelope get’s opened 80+% of the time. OK let’s transfer that back to digital. So which do we choose. The bright red glossy template or the handwritten personalized text note?

I hope you said the personal text email. That’s right ladies and gentleman the personalized text note.

Why? because we like getting personal notes. When an email comes through that’s a personal note we’re far more likely to read it than one that does not.

So we send personal emails that are text based…

How long should they be?
That depends. Have you ever heard anything on the debate of long vs short copy? (and landing pages) People have been testing and going on about it for ages. I don’t think one side has one but I’ll give me 2 cents on it.

Short Emails.

We’re talking 5-10 lines at the max. Hopefully less. The goal with this email is to get a direct response.
“call me”
“reply with yes”
“interested?”
“watch this video to learn more”

Short emails work the best because people dont’ have to invest much time to get the CTA (call to action) and then take that action. It doesn’t take much effort for me to read two sentences be mildly interested and click a link. Imagine you subscribe to your local massage therapists list. Instead of receiving a long newsletter (that instantly gets deleted) with a coupon for a half off massage at the bottom down below an article I’m not interested in and a stock photo I’d rather not see… what if it was a simple two sentence email. Something Like…

Hey Cordie,
It’s been awhile since you’ve been at XZY Massage.

This month we’re running a deal you don’t want to miss.
HALF PRICE MASSAGE

Interested? – SCHEDULE NOW

Sally

Mind blowing eh?
No template.
No shiny pictures.
No flashing banners
No links to social media.

Just a couple sentences and a link. Simple, to the point, and stunningly effective.

The question you can ask yourself is what simple offer can I extend to my list in a short 2-3 sentence email?

Long Emails

I also love long emails. If you’re not on Ramit Sethi’s (iwillteachyoutoberich.com) list – you should be – he delivers great content and he is a brilliant email marketer, brilliant! He sends a lot of emails. All of them strictly text. (sometimes they even have misspellings) He doesn’t use flashy templates but guess what? He sells millions of dollars of products a year through his email marketing.

So the question is why don’t small businesses take this approach?

Copycat – they’ve received colorful newsletters from larger brands and businesses and feel like it’s the only way to legitimatize their business. Sending a plain text would just be amateurish. IT’S NOT!

My email marketing software has templates why not use them? Just because something is there doesn’t mean you have to use it. It’s not going to kill you. 🙂

What do you use long email for?

Telling a story – TO GET PEOPLE TO TAKE ACTION

Without a story nobody is going to read a long email. So if you’re just talking about features or products or some other crap that people only care about after they’ve decided to purchase it’s pointless.

Check out how Ramit Sethi tells a story:

Cordie,

I have something really cool for you today. If you’re interested in cutting the bills you’re already paying and applying all the negotiation techniques you “should” be using, read on.

As most of you know, because I’m Indian, I was basically bred to negotiate.

As a kid, I learned how to bargain at Macy’s. I practiced on the streets of New Delhi with street vendors. And since then, I’ve negotiated with employees, car dealers, obstinate vendors, clients, and a few less savory characters that I’m not going to mention in an email that my mom reads.

I think back to the first time I negotiated. Did you ever feel nervous? I knew it had been done (from everyone telling me, “Just do it!!”) but I couldn’t shake the nervousness in the pit of my stomach.

But when I got what I wanted, it was a magical feeling. Now, I might save thousands of dollars on one negotiation with a vendor. Do you know what feels the best?

Knowing that negotiation is a SKILL that I actively improved — meaning anyone can do it
(This one is only relevant for guys) Knowing that I paid 50% less than other people…meaning I win

The truth is, learning to negotiate is one of 10 Big Wins that can change your life forever. Once you make it part of buying, you can save hundreds of thousands of dollars — and get better service. (NOTE: Don’t assume you have to negotiate EVERYTHING. As I’ve become more advanced, I don’t negotiate everything. I actually negotiate less! But for the big things, I’m relentless. This saves me cognitive overload and lets me focus on the Big Wins.)

What would you do with an extra $2,000/year? $5,000?

Isn’t it worth 10 minutes negotiating thousands…instead of reading about some way you can dilute Pine-Sol to save $0.30 a year?

Here’s how you can negotiate thousands of dollars.

I recorded my tested, proven word-for-word scripts to negotiate lower rates, eliminate late fees, and overcome customer-service objections. And to make it even easier, I compiled all of them into a new ebook.

It’s totally free for you. And even though I spent thousands of dollars to get this compiled, designed, and posted online, this is my gift to you.

All I ask is that you share the ebook, and tell me how much you saved.

Click here to get your copy.

-Ramit

P.S. Click the link above to get this new compilation of negotiation scripts you can use today. Feel free to share this with friends, too.