Are you running too many sales?

GM and happy Friday! Paperboy here 🗞️

Toronto readers: I’m hosting a meetup for DTC brands (founders & operators only) in Toronto on March 20th at 7pm. Only a few spots left. Apply here and reply to this email if you do.

Today’s Golden Nugget: Prompting Good Subject Lines

I find most AI-generated copy sucks. It’s very…. average.

I rarely use it at my agency. It creates more work than it’s worth.

But one thing it is good at? Brainstorming.

I like to use it to challenge my subject line ideas and come up with better variations.

Here’s a very simple copy/paste prompt to use in ChatGPT.

The most important part of this prompt is the length of the subject & preview text. I see way too many big brands with their subject lines getting cut off in the inbox.

Today’s Issue: Non-Promotional Emailing

I spoke with a prospective brand the other day and they asked a great question.

“My email agency seems to only send sale emails. I’m starting to be known as the discount brand in my space. Is there anything I can do to avoid this? What other emails should I be sending?”

This is a tricky one. I have a few thoughts on this:

1) If you do one or two sales a month, it’s probably not a big deal as long as you are sending other interesting content throughout the month.

2) We’re often too critical of our own brands. Use a tool like Milled to look at your competitors and assess where you stand.

3) If your brand only sends sale emails daily or every other day, you’ve probably built yourself into a discount brand. Be careful about scaling back promotions as you will see a big drop-off in sales. This is a larger strategic decision and profit needs to be monitored very closely. Being a discount brand isn’t a bad thing… TJX Companies are worth over $100 billion.

4) If your brand doesn’t send any sales, you should consider it. We all have different brand positioning in the market, so I’m not saying everyone should be doing sales. But even the biggest brands find ways to sneak them in (see image below).

With that out of the way, let’s talk non-promotional email ideas.

Non-Promotional Ideas

⚠️ Important caveat: Make sure to segment out recent purchasers or other segments where it’s relevant for non-promotional emails.

New Arrivals & Limited Drops

These are the holy grail of non-promotional emails.

It’s the easiest excuse in the world to talk to your customers.

Don’t just drop 10 new items in an email. Spread it out into many sends. Tease them. Remind them. Etc.

People love new.

Single Product Deep Dive

Take one of your best sellers.

Explain the details. Why you designed it the way you did. Share a photo of your trip sourcing it. Have fun with it.

Your customers are busy and probably have no idea what it does or why it’s built that way.

Craft it into an interesting story.

The Pain Point Framework Email

Credit to my buddy Andre for this.

This is an affiliate marketer tactic that can be reapplied to email. Candidly I still haven’t mastered it but I’m working on it.

You structure your content as follows:

1) Present a pain point your customers feel (maybe it’s weight loss)
2) Present what they think the reason for the problem is (bad eating habits)
3) Present what the real root of the problem is (high cortisol levels)
4) Present your solution/benefits (Ashwagandha)

Challenge yourself to think in this framework, and write a text-based email talking to your users.

This could also be repositioned as a myth-buster email.

Crazy Testimonials

Tell the story of the customers who had a crazy experience with your product.

Or the superfan who has bought 35 times.

Or the insane before & after transformation.

Make it fun.

Us vs. Them

People love to compare.

You don’t need to show your direct competitor’s product. Get creative.

FAQ Deep Dives

You know those questions you get asked by new customers all the time? Turn those into emails.

Engagement Bait

I wrote a whole post on this in the past.

The name sounds more sinister than it actually is.

Send your customers questions and make them feel like they are part of the brand.

Have them vote on future product launches, give feedback on a new release, etc.

Genuinely Useful Tips

Notice how I put the word “Genuinely”?

It’s because I see a lot of brands use SlopGPT to throw together a generic tip email.

These emails usually have super common and obvious tips everyone knows.

Each of your tips should prompt customers to go holy shit I need to try that. 

Of the Month Emails

I like to send “Product of the Month”, “Our Team’s Favorites”, “Customer Favorites” emails every so often to highlight trending products.

People appreciate being told what is popular.

Behind the Scenes

This is a tricky one. I see a lot of people share BTS content that frankly isn’t interesting.

If your BTS feels mundane, probably not worth sharing. Things like you at the office, your photoshoot, your new team member.

Try to share the cool stuff people like. A time-lapse of designing a new launch, a picture of a crazy machine at a factory in China, a ridiculous legal note you received. Stuff that will make people feel the rush of building a brand.

Moonshot Emails

This is probably the most “thought-leader” thing I say in all of my emails to date, but I think it’s also where the great marketers will separate themselves from the rest.

We all saw Duolingo’s recent campaign. Everyone wants a Duolingo moment.

Why not use email to do it?

Your biggest fans are on your email list.

Create a big brand moment and send it to them direct.

Try a crazy campaign concept.

There are no rules. The promo tab is the only limit.

And so many more…

I could go on for days with more ideas here. But I won’t.

The purpose is to give you thought starters.

I intentionally left out any image examples. I want you to visualize what these emails could look like for your brand first. Once you’re ready, head to Milled and curate your own catalog of inspiration.

When I work with brands at my agency, I brainstorm a long list of impactful non-promotional email ideas. Every brand is different. Sit down and deeply think this through. What will your audience enjoy?

There are so many types of campaigns to choose from. If you’re not sure if your content is good, just email me. Forward me a few examples. I’ll give you my constructive thoughts.

And lastly, HAVE FUN WITH IT. If you’re not giggling with excitement while creating the campaign, it’s probably not going to be a hit.

Every email should be a hit.

A Goofy Subject Line Idea

Speaking of fun, I giggled as I wrote this idea out…

I think some of my readers’ brands could pull this off. I might test it soon.

Email 1: Regular email campaign
Email 2: Subject line that says "The email below this will be great"

So in the inbox it shows like this:

Stupid? Awesome? Let’s debate it on LinkedIn.

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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