‘Now Magazine’ and the art of great email copywriting

There are lessons to be learnt everywhere.

I have a short attention span… For example, I may be bored with this sentence already.

Which is why, when my computer pings to tell me I have an email, I’m hoping for something different, amusing, exciting even. And if the email looks interesting I’ll read it (or at least the first line or two).
If the email doesn’t look like it will add some value to the next minute of my life, I’ll junk it.
Hell, I might even unsubscribe. I’m like that. So are other people – and some of them are your customers.
That’s why you really should take the time to write emails that will engage your audience. It’s about getting creative and finding new ways to tell old stories. Or, better still, finding new stories.

Here’s a tip that will help you.

TOP TIP: Read ‘Now’ magazine

I’m serious. You can learn a lot from ‘Now’ magazine.
It may be the ‘go to’ publication for those in need of their celebrity gossip fix. But it knows its audience.

Because you’re Cheryl-obsessed, it’ll chatter to you about her ‘new look’ or ‘latest heartbreak’ just like a gossipy friend would in a bar over a bottle of Pinot. Go on, read it. You’ll see what I mean.
A well-written email follows the same rules. It understands what motivates its readers and how they talk.
Writers call it tone of voice
It’s about writing in a way that lowers your readers’ defences by showing that you are like them and have something to say they want to hear.
When we know what turns them on, we can adapt the way we talk, the language we use and the style of headline we write to be more effective. And creative ideas tend to appear when we do this too.
Here’s what I mean
Imagine you had to write an email selling contingency insurance. Your heart sinks. There’s no offer and no huge differentiation between you and your competitors, certainly not on price. Also you’re not the best known insurer, and you haven’t got the profile of even the number 3 insurance provider.
Where do you start? It’s not easy is it?
But when you think about who will be reading your email, it gets a lot easier.

This email was aimed at film production companies. They deal in telling stories. And there’s the creative nugget. Instead of just telling them price and features and hoping they seem like benefits, how about telling them a story? Like how your insurance helped rescue a documentary filmmaker caught up in a coup in Bolivia.
Suddenly you have a gripping tale to tell. Now just tell it in the language of your reader.