Without a great subject line, they may trash your email

I don’t care how great your product/service is, if your prospect deletes your email before opening it, they can’t respond to you.  Therefore, you’ve got spark that interest in the subject line.

Here are some very powerful ways to grab their attention:

List a powerful benefit - "’XYZ’ can drive truckloads of cash to your wallet"

The curiosity factory - "’XYZ’ reveals power-packed traffic generation secrets

News Declaration - "’XYZ’ launches to Invitation Only program to generate massive traffic"

Immediate Gratification - "’XYZ’ can take you from zero traffic to breaking your web server in 24 hours"

Note: It is a good idea when writing subject lines to brainstorm at least 30 before selecting one.  Once you’ve select which are the best two, test them against one another.  Don’t toss out the others because they may come in handy for other campaigns.

It’s all about them — It’s NOT about you

Do you know the difference between a benefit and a feature?

• A feature describes, in factual terms, the attributes of a product or service (LOGIC).
• A benefit shows ‘them’ how ‘their’ life will be changed/improved by your product or service (EMOTION).

Do you see the difference?  People make the decision to buy with emotion and justify it with logic.

You’ve got to get all emotional

From the previous step, we mentioned trying your darnedest to appeal to your prospects emotions.  Here is a list of powerful emotions:

• Anger
• Curiosity
• Ego
• Fear
• Greed
• Hope
• Vanity/Pride

For each emotion listed, try to list 3 to 5 items for each for your customer.  So for anger you might write:

Anger:

• "Frustrated that you can’t enough traffic to your site?"
• "Are you tired of getting beaten by your competitors when it comes to website exposure?"

The credibility factor

People won’t buy from you if they don’t trust you - period!

Trust is built slowly and ruined quickly, so you must do everything within your power to deliver on your promises — even over-deliver. 

The best way that I’ve heard this described is by a well-known internet marketer, Michael Cheney.  He describes establishing trust like stepping stones across a creek.  You want to lead your prospect one stepping stone at time — just tiny little steps.  The more expensive your product your service is, the more stones you may have to use. 

Here are some great credibility builders:

Testimonials — this shows how other people have used and like your product and service — and more importantly, how it has changed their lives.
Give something for free — this is very subtle and disarming
Make promises and over deliver — Offer them something small like a free guide to traffic building and then deliver that and another free bonus

The all-powerful guarantee

You must have a strong guarantee, especially in the online world.  You will find that the stronger your guarantee is, the stronger the response will be. 

"30-day iron clad, no questions asked, immediate refund if you are not happy in anyway"

60-day, 90-day or "LIFETIME"

Does "lifetime" scare you?  It should until you understand that most people rarely ask for refunds, even if they are marginally disappointed.

Ask for the order

You’ve got a great sales email — the customer loves it, but you didn’t ask him to take action and order.  Some experts say you’ve got to ask between 3 and 7 times.

Break up the text

Large blocks of text, long paragraphs can be a barrier to your reader.  Break up the text - some long, some short.

Use asterisks, dashes, bullet points and ellipses (…).  Variety is the key - don’t write predictably.  Write conversationally - you are not writing a paper for your high school English teacher.