Are we scared to make jokes these days? I forgot to grab a basket. Again. So carrying ten bottles of deodorant across the supermarket to the cashier had been a mission in itself (I kept dropping them. An old lady even picked one up for me as I had them cradled in my arms - not my finest hour). But it was 50% off the only deodorant that keeps me smelling fresh(ish) all day, so I wasn't giving my savings up for the sake of some Pensioner's spine. (Okay - I admit. Even I felt a little bad...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Brackets (or parenthesis, if you're posh) are a good way to get more personality into your emails, but only if you use them properly . In this short email, you'll learn how. Mornin' Reader, Have you ever watched the Director's Commentary version of a film? Yeah, me neither. What I'm told happens is, the film plays while the director talks about their experience of making the film etc. And that's the best way to use brackets (or parenthesis, again, if you're posh) in emails. Brackets give the...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
The highest open rate I've ever had was 82% to a list of 10,000 people, for my client Alice Liveing. Do I actually think 8,000 people opened that email? No. Here's why... Mornin' Reader, I got asked a good question last week.(I actually did, btw - this isn't one of those 'I'll pretend someone asked me a question just so I can talk about this' 😂) Someone DM'd me and said: "I heard Google changed the ability for people to analyze email open rates. Is that true?" I'm gonna give a politician's...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Direct-response copywriting is the 'art' of writing words that make a person take the action you desire (which in our case is usually to buy something/book a call or a meeting. The better you get at direct-response, the better your emails will convert. Mornin' Reader, Want more people to buy your stuff from emails?Remove the idea of them having to do any 'work'.Avoid:❌ "Learn how to..."❌ "Build a..."❌ "Read my..."❌ "Download our"❌ "Study our" People want the results, not the work that comes...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Want an easy & fun way to quickly come up with stories for email? Read the P.S. Mornin' Reader, Someone replied to one of my emails the other week (please do that, btw - reply with your thoughts and questions, etc). She said: "I’ve started building a list. But I’m scared to be myself – what can I say?!!" Packing your emails with personality terrifies people. Why? Because people think three things: ❌ There's nothing 'special' about me Often there's some deeper stuff going on that makes you...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Trivia: What do you think the average B2B email marketing open rate is? A - 10% B - 15% C - 25% Answer in the P.S. Mornin' Reader, November last year: picture me sat at my desk with puppy dog eyes, feeling sorry for myself because I'd been knocked back for finance on an Audi Q4 E-tron Sportback. The world's tiniest violin screeching away in the background. What a drip 😂 Thankfully, I quickly realised how f*cking ridiculous I was being. To make myself feel better, I went down the good old...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Four years ago, I had a great copywriting tutor called Tony.Skills-wise, he's still way ahead of me (he's been doing this 15+ years).But my current day rate is double his 🤷🏻♂️ And this demonstrates something I see all the time. Business owners love focusing on being better at their job:- A graphic designer takes another course- A coach invests in more transformational coaching for themselves- A developer learns a new platformBut they don't focus on upskilling areas that make you money: sales...
over 2 years ago • 1 min read
If I had to start again in copywriting, here’s how I’d get to £10,000 recurring revenue a month…… within 3 days of registering my business:☑️ Step one: call all my current clients. ☑️ Step two: tell them things that I could only know if I’d known them for two years. ☑️ Step three: convince them I’d been in a time machine. ☑️ Step four: tell them what has (and hasn’t) worked the past two years, giving them the best marketing plan ever. ☑️ Step five: send my invoices. You too can replicate this...
almost 3 years ago • 1 min read
It's pretty easy to get someone's attention, Reader. Take this email, for example. I've got your attention, but I tricked you into it. I said ‘FREE BEER’ purely to interrupt whatever you were doing and make you wonder what the hell I'm talking about. There’s no free beer here 😩. A bit annoyed? I don’t blame you. But stick around for a few more seconds so I can explain... While it’s easy to get someone's attention, it's harder to get the right kind of attention. But what does the ‘right kind’...
about 3 years ago • 1 min read