Nobody cares about your Forbes feature

Why do you read Paperboy?

Is it because you care about me? Is it because you want to know how my agency is doing? Or that we won some award I paid a guy $500 under the table to give us?

Unless you’re my mom, the answer is probably none of the above (and that’s ok).

You read this because you want to get better at email.

But even deeper down, because you want to make more money with email. Or maybe you want to get that promotion at work. Or maybe you want to get your brand acquired.

Whatever it is, it’s definitely not because of me.

So let me flip that back onto your brand.

I see lots of brands sending ✨branded✨ emails like this:

• BTS of our photoshoot

• Guess what this week’s best seller is?

• We got featured in Forbes!!

The list goes on.

They’re usually accompanied by a lazy CTA (if any) and have no clear tie to a specific product, emotion or brand moment.

In most cases, emails like this don’t perform.

Why?

Because they’re selfish.

They don’t trigger any emotion. And worse, they don’t give the reader any value.

To the reader, it feels like filler content. Something you never want to send.

Because when you send filler content, your audience starts to assume the next email might be filler content too. AKA a retention death spiral.

So what do you do?

Layer your brand on top of valuable content your customers care about.

Let’s revisit the emails I shared with what I would do:

Before: BTS of our photoshoot
After: We put 1,000 hours into this drop
Reposition the email to focus on the quality and care you put into the new launch, and show off the photos from the shoot, from the design process, and more. Make the user feel like they’re part of the journey and invested in getting it into their hands.

Before: Guess what this week’s best seller is?
After: This product sold out 3 times last year
Nobody wants to guess your best seller. Reposition the email using FOMO and telling people why it went out of stock (highlight features). Also show the reviews from customers, ideally saying something like “I can’t wait to buy it again when it comes back in stock”.

Before: We got featured in Forbes
After: Inject into flows & multiple campaigns, OR run a Forbes Sale (celebrate with us)
Nobody cares that you’re in Forbes. So why do people obsess over Forbes? Credibility. So when you make that sale, you can say “oh and btw Forbes trusts us”. It’s the ultimate social proof. So instead of pushing your award on others, use it in your flows & campaigns as social proof. If you really want to make it a brand moment, run a Forbes Sale that brings your customers along with you.

These are just examples. You could take the above in a number of different directions.

Every brand is different and you should figure out what resonates best for you.

And if you’re not sure where to start, here are a few simple questions to start with before you fire off an email:

• Will people care?

• Does the email elicit an emotion?

• Does it make someone want to buy?

If none of these are an obvious YES, then you need to tweak the content. Ideally all 3 conditions are satisfied for a really good email.

TLDR: Don’t be selfish. Always put the customer first.

Meme of the Week

That’s all for now,
Paperboy 🗞

p.s. Did you like the newsletter? Hate it? Reply and tell me why! I read and reply to every message.

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