DIY meets ROI: 

Nikki: Subject lines get all the credit, but there are 4, yes, 4, quote unquote open me signals when an email lands in the inbox. 

 0:07: Welcome to email swipes, where we peek behind the scenes at the emails that catch your attention and earn their place in your swipe file. 

 0:14: Every other week, we’ll talk to an email expert about an experiment they ran, and in the following episode, we’ll dive into the strategies and methods used in the email so you can inform and inspect. 

 0:23: your own email work. 

 0:24: I’m Micky Elvas, the copywriter behind winning emails for 8 and 9 figure sassin e-commerce brands like Shopify, For Sigmatic, and Sprout Social. 

 0:32: And I know that hearing the background stories to these emails will help you turn pie in the sky insights into plug and play actions. 

 0:38: Ready to make inspiration tactical? 

 0:40: Let’s go. 

 0:41: First, a quick recap of the email we discussed last week that we’ll be digging into today. 

 0:48: Hi, Adriana. 

 0:49: Is it frustrating to buy something and find out a few days later that it’s gone on sale just after you bought it? 

 0:54: That’s why I’m here to tell you not to buy anything from us today. 

 0:58: That’s because our biggest sale of the year starts in just 2 days. 

 1:01: We decided to run an early holiday sale again this year because the holidays are meant to be with people that we love or doing whatever we want and not elbowing her way in a store or in cyberspace to grab a deal. 

 1:11: Did you ever have products disappear from your online cart? 

 1:13: I hate that. 

 1:15: For Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and pesky sister’s birthday, you’ve come to us to get presents. 

 1:19: So we thought the best way to show our gratitude was through giving directly back to you. 

 1:23: That’s why on Saturday and Sunday we’ll be offering up to 20% off storewide. 

 1:27: Three things you should know. 

 1:29: One, this is the largest promotion of the year. 

 1:31: 2, we won’t offer it again anytime soon. 

 1:34: Three, our Black Friday Cyber Monday sale is not going to be anywhere near as good. 

 1:38: If you wait until Black Friday, you’ll miss out. 

 1:40: Trust me on this. 

 1:41: If you are thinking about giving gifts from South Mountain bees this holiday season, do it Saturday, November 11th and Sunday, November 12th. 

 1:48: If you do so, you’ll be saving 20% of your gift budget that you can spend on yourself. 

 1:52: That means that for every 5 presents that you buy, one is on us and for you. 

 1:56: In the meantime, check out our website to start thinking about what you are going to get. 

 2:00: We’ll be in touch soon. 

 2:00: In the meantime, thank you for your unwavering support of our crazy beekeeping adventure, Adriana and the bees. 

 2:08: Adriana has such a unique perspective on outsourcing that despite her being a one woman shop, she gets the help she needs from tech. 

 2:18: Clavio is her employee, Shopify is her employee. 

 2:21: It’s such a positive frame of mind. 

 2:23: It helps her stretch her bottom line too, and it keeps her in Control. 

 2:26: And I think the takeaway here, takeaway number one, is that we may jump to outsource to a person, but maybe we just need a better system in place. 

 2:34: Maybe we need a new piece of software. 

 2:36: Maybe we need to automate something. 

 2:38: I think we’re all starting to understand this better with the changes that AI is bringing our industry. 

 2:43: It feels more natural to outsource to tech that acts like a human when our natural inclination is to outsource to a human. 

 2:49: But again, Adriana had this perspective way before Chat GBT exploded on the market. 

 2:54: I don’t think it’s something that everyone can manage, but I think it is super cool. 

 2:59: When you visit Southmountainbees.com, you will not get a pop-up immediately. 

 3:04: Adriana said that she hates when pop-ups pop up before she even knows enough about the brand to opt in. 

 3:12: Yes, yes, yes. 

 3:13: I think some marketers are scared of pop-ups because people say that they hate them, and they do, but we know that they work and we need to get those email addresses. 

 3:22: But her perspective is not anti- pop up. 

 3:24: It’s just Hey, let’s do this logically. 

 3:27: Why offer something that the person can’t value yet? 

 3:30: Let’s time it instead so that it makes sense for their buyer journey. 

 3:33: So take away number 2, don’t be scared to offer a popup. 

 3:36: Definitely offer a pop-up if you want to grow your list, but time it right so that they’re ready to sign up when the pop-up pops up. 

 3:44: Personally, I love exit intent pop-ups, but sometimes those are too late. 

 3:48: So play with timed ones too. 

 3:50: Adrian mentioned that she does not purge her list, that even the people who don’t buy for a while still get in touch and book events with her instead. 

 3:58: And I think this is a really important piece to any scrubbing slash re-engagement strategy. 

 4:03: You need to know the engagement signals that your audience gives you. 

 4:07: The standard re-engagement flow template sets the trigger for disengaged subscribers at 30 to 90 days. 

 4:13: Is that the right amount of time for you? 

 4:15: There are so many personal brands, myself included, that may not send out an email for a few months at a time. 

 4:21: Everyone is disengaged at that point, but this principle is true even for brands that are consistent. 

 4:27: How about seasonal brands when subscribers only check in when it’s that season? 

 4:32: True. 

 4:32: They may have a content strategy in place to engage subscribers even when they don’t need the product, but many people just don’t use email like that. 

 4:40: Are your people in that category? 

 4:42: Even more globally, what does engagement even mean to you? 

 4:45: Is it opening, clicking, buying? 

 4:47: Different metrics mean different things. 

 4:49: Maybe one grouping needs to be funneled into a win back campaign, but the other needs to be sent into a more aggressive, unsubscribed style re-engagement campaign. 

 4:57: Finally, there are some subscribers who never buy and will never buy. 

 5:01: I fall into that category for a lot of brands that I swipe from. 

 5:04: I have lots of people on my list who fall into that category, and Heather mentioned this at the end of episode 44 too. 

 5:10: But if you’re seeing engagement, that means they’re loyal to you as a referral source. 

 5:15: They might not directly contribute to any sales, but they can bring in money. 

 5:19: I can think of a handful of brands that just don’t fit into anything I’ll ever. 

 5:22: User buy, but I have booked them for community events or shared swipes on social, gotten them new good fit subscribers, or even brought them here to feature on email swipes. 

 5:32: So bottom line, takeaway number 3. 

 5:34: There is no spray and pray approach to re-engagement and win backs. 

 5:38: You need to know your audience so that you know what adds up to them being disengaged and a drain on your deliverability and what isn’t, even if it’s textbook disengagement. 

 5:48: We get into the nuts and bolts of all of this in my free re-engagement playbook that you can grab at Nikki Elwes.com/email-playbooks. 

 5:57: Yes, the link is in the show notes. 

 5:59: Adriana’s idea of testing email ideas on social, it is one of my go to strategies. 

 6:04: We talked about it in episode 37. 

 6:06: It’s a genius way to test what resonates. 

 6:08: I definitely encourage clients to test subject line ideas or positioning ideas on social, or even to just share the social winners with me so that I can incorporate them into the emails. 

 6:18: But I was thinking about this lately, and now I’m a little torn because I also think that email lists should be treated to Exclusive content. 

 6:25: I know I personally always feel a bit guilty when I share the same thing on social that I just sent my list. 

 6:31: So to go a step beyond, to not just share it on social to those who aren’t quote unquote loyal, but to send it to them first, that they get first dibs. 

 6:40: I don’t love that. 

 6:41: Also, to be fair, there is no segmentation on social, so it’s not the perfect test. 

 6:46: In some ways, it’s much better to test with a loyal segment. 

 6:49: Of your list and then send it to a broader segment. 

 6:51: But again, social ads are just a fabulous testing ground, just by the sheer volume and design of the ad platforms. 

 6:58: So I think what I’m taking away here for takeaway number 4, test away on social. 

 7:02: That is still a solid strategy, but make sure you’re still treating your list to some exclusive content, be it additional content, a special PS, private sales, something. 

 7:11: And also, don’t forget to test with your email list. 

 7:14: I am absolutely fascinated by how Adriana is just a natural marketer. 

 7:19: There were so many instances in the episode where she started something before it became best practice, be it online checkout, QR codes, but the one that I want to highlight is how she knew that we write better emails when we with the rule of one, when we write to one reader, when she envisioned herself telling the story to Carol. 

 7:36: So take away number 5, find your carol. 

 7:38: Who is your one reader? 

 7:39: They shouldn’t just be a fuzzy idea or a persona. 

 7:42: They should be someone in your life who fits the bill. 

 7:45: Write to them. 

 7:47: Tease emails aren’t quite measurable. 

 7:49: Sure, we put some link in so that we can measure something, but by definition, when we tease, we are telling people not to do anything. 

 7:57: Those links are just a marketing thing, not necessarily the action the subscriber will want to take if the email quote unquote worked on them. 

 8:05: We talked about this way back in episode 2. 

 8:09: So take away number 6. 

 8:10: If you run an aggressive email program that needs to prove value for every cent, don’t tease. 

 8:15: In general, tease emails are a second best. 

 8:18: Again, you’re telling people not to do something. 

 8:20: You’re making them wait and then I get cold by the time you unveil the thing. 

 8:24: But in instances like a once a year Black Friday pre-sale to an audience who loves your brand, especially since it helps Adriana balance her personal life, they’re really fun. 

 8:34: Plus, don’t forget, she said it helps her score two Black Fridays, them’s no small potatoes. 

 8:39: On that same note, running a pre-Black Friday and then an actual Black Friday makes sense because people are primed to spend for Black Friday. 

 8:46: So yes, many will buy when they see an early Black Friday because they want the steeper discount, but some won’t buy until they have their holiday lists or their holiday budget ready. 

 8:55: Not to mention all the people who don’t even discuss. 

 8:57: Adriana until the holiday season, when she gets featured on a gift guide or some other lead source. 

 9:03: So take away#7. 

 9:04: Don’t turn up your noses at the seasons when people are primed to buy. 

 9:08: Yes, you can make the rules and run your own sales, but you also have to play to when your audience has their wallets open anyway. 

 9:16: I loved Adriana’s idea of using emojis in her sender name. 

 9:20: It feels much less gimmicky than in the subject line, and it almost becomes a logo of sorts. 

 9:25: It’s just a signal. 

 9:26: Hey, here’s an email from Adriana. 

 9:28: So take away number 8. 

 9:30: Subject lines get all the credit, but there are 4. 

 9:32: Yes, 4, quote unquote open me. 

 9:35: When an email lands in the inbox, there’s the logo, the sender name, the subject line, and the preview text. 

 9:41: Whatever you learn about subject lines, be it a hack, like including emojis, or a bigger picture idea like using curiosity, can you apply it to one or all of the other three inbox elements? 

 9:54: OK. 

 9:54: Adriana mentioned sticker meals, so I just have to dig in. 

 9:57: I am so insanely confused by their email strategy. 

 10:01: They are just so, so different. 

 10:03: They are only text-based, always and only really short. 

 10:06: How do they not generate fatigue? 

 10:08: Like doesn’t the novelty wear off ever? 

 10:11: I don’t know how they get away with it, but it’s definitely helped them go semi-viral because of their uniqueness, at least in the marketing world, because everyone loves talking about them. 

 10:19: And hey, marketers use a lot of stickers, so that’s a good fit. 

 10:23: Let me clarify that short text-based emails are a fabulous strategy for promos or announcements that are genuinely exciting, like what Adriana said about not faking scarcity with her honey, that she really does have limited supply. 

 10:34: I love strategy, but I’m so confused how sticker mule can just spray it everywhere. 

 10:38: I’m not quite sure what the takeaway here is. 

 10:40: Is it that being different is a good enough strategy, that this is their viral kind of baboon to the moon style version of weirdness? 

 10:48: Or maybe it’s just to reiterate that we can swipe it for instances that do work like promos and launches. 

 10:53: We’ll leave it at that. 

 10:54: Takeaway number 9 is a choose your own takeaway. 

 10:57: By the way, in episode 43, we talked about show versus tell. 

 11:01: Now I’m inventing a new principle called sell versus tell. 

 11:04: When something sells itself, we just need to get out of the way. 

 11:07: Like the sticker mule emails or Adriana’s honey emails, there doesn’t need to be any telling, no pictures, no promised land descriptions, no fascinator bullet points. 

 11:16: Just short, urgency-based selling. 

 11:18: Done. 

 11:19: Sell versus tell. 

 11:21: Thanks for geeking out with me about that email story. 

 11:23: If you enjoyed either of these episodes, you’ll probably enjoy getting my emails. 

 11:26: Plus you’ll never miss another episode. 

 11:28: Sign up at ikielbus.com/subscribe, and yes, that link is in the show notes.