Today, I want to share the #1 most important lesson I’ve learned about copywriting… and storytelling in general.
If you can only remember ONE thing from this series, this is it.
Imagine it’s 9 am.
You wake up. Grab your phone. Tap the mail app.
27 unreads.
You scroll through all the emails, scan the sender name (plus the subject line) for a few seconds… and pick a handful of “worthy” emails to read.
STOP RIGHT THERE
Because that is the first hurdle you must overcome –
1 – Get people to OPEN your email
It doesn’t matter if you have the biggest discount…
…or the best copy
…or the prettiest image
If no one opens your email, no one will see your offer.
(This is why building a reputation and strengthening your branding is so important. Because your subscribers will open and read your email almost automatically.)
Now, let’s say you did a good job establishing your branding…
…or that you’ve created a strong subject line
…and the subscriber opened your email.
What’s next?
You come face-to-face with the second hurdle –
2 – Get people to READ the first line
In today’s Internet, you have ~3 seconds to capture the readers’ attention…
That’s why — in the first sentence — you must show the readers there is something worthy of their time in this email.
A hint to a story…
A bold (and unexpected) claim…
A question that spikes curiosity…
There are a million ways to do this, but one rule –
Do it fast.
Once you’ve triggered someone’s attention…
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY WILL READ YOUR WHOLE EMAIL.
Instead…
Here comes the third hurdle –
3 – Get people to CONTINUE to read the next line
And this is where most people mess up.
They think the goal of copy is to “sell” something.
No, it’s not.
The goal of every single line in your email is to serve one and only one purpose.
To persuade people to keep reading the NEXT line.
This is why having a good story hook is so important.
A story hook sucks the readers into your copy.
It moves them one line at a time — smoothly without triggering any alarm.
And…
The deeper they get into the story, the more they read, the more likely they will click and buy what you have to offer.
Now, repeat that 4 times a week… 52 weeks a year…
And you’ve created a raving fan who will read, click, and buy everything you offer.
With that being said…
Tomorrow, let’s look at HOW to write an irresistible story hook.
To be continued…
– WYH