0:00: I’ve always kind of struggled with the idea of annual launches.
0:02: Once you get your emails down, do you just keep reusing them?
0:06: Not using them again feels like a huge waste, but reusing them feels like you’re not iterating.
0:11: 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.
0:18: 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 you in the email so you can inform and inspire your own email work.
0:28: I’m Nikki Elvas, the copywriter behind winning emails for 8 and 9 figure sassin e-commerce brands like Shopify, For Sigmatic, and Sprout Social.
0:36: 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.
0:42: Ready to make inspiration tactical?
0:44: Let’s go.
0:45: First, a quick recap of the email we discussed last week that we’ll be digging into today.
0:51: Hello.
0:52: As the votes are counted, the BBC brings you the latest election news with the result from your constituency and live coverage as the new government is formed.
1:00: Follow the latest election news.
1:02: Election 2024 result for Hertford and Stortfo, counting underway after 253 of 650 seats declared.
1:09: Labor gain, top five candidates.
1:12: Vote share changed since 2019.
1:15: Hertford and Stortford turnout.
1:17: Data correct at time of email sent.
1:19: The constituency displayed is based on the postcode linked to your BBC account, not your constituency.
1:24: Please update your postcode and your account settings.
1:27: Search another area, click below to enter your postcode or the name of your constituency, e.g. DE11RS or Derby.
1:34: Search.
1:35: Election 2024, get the latest general election news.
1:38: Watch live.
1:41: How cool is the Action rocket team?
1:44: They are officially my new email heroes.
1:48: I don’t know about you, but I think anyone who fixes code at midnight and then is up and at it again at 50 in the morning, deserves that title.
1:57: All right, now onto our takeaways.
2:00: Remember when I asked Jay if anyone replied to the email?
2:03: Replies are my favorite kind of metric because they give you a better peek at what the reader is thinking and experiencing than your classic metric like opens or clicks.
2:13: But lots of emails don’t get replies, not because they’re not good, but because they’re just not the type.
2:19: People just don’t reply to emails that don’t feel like they’re going to a person, no matter how much they appreciate the email.
2:26: Like for example, this BBC email.
2:30: Jay said they saw a lot of shares on social and that was his indicator that people were appreciating the email.
2:36: So I have officially coined a new term, pulse metrics.
2:40: Pulse metrics are the things that show you how a reader is reacting to your email.
2:45: Replies are the most obvious pulse metric, and that’s why I loved them so much, but we can look to two other things, social shares and sentiment ratings.
2:57: They are other great options, and depending on the type of email you’re sending, you’re going to be looking for a different kind of pulse metric.
3:05: So takeaway number one, not every email is going to get replies, even if people are loving it.
3:10: Should you lose all hope in that case?
3:12: No.
3:13: There are other pulse metrics that may be better fitting for the email you are writing.
3:19: We touched on our next takeaway in the actual episode itself, but I want to really spell it out.
3:24: This whole idea of personalization and specifically first name personalization.
3:29: In my mind, we use first name personalization for two reasons.
3:32: Number one is the classic reason that everyone knows best, to help the email feel personal and relevant.
3:39: When someone addresses you, it feels like, well, it’s for you.
3:43: And number 2, because it feels friendly.
3:45: This email started with hello, so it had the friendliness.
3:49: And boy, oh boy, did it not need anything extra to feel personal and relevant.
3:54: There was so much personalization in this email, including first name is just not necessary.
4:00: Sometimes you’ll see personalization for personalization’s sake.
4:04: Subject lines that shove first name in.
4:07: Sometimes you’ll even see this with location personalization.
4:10: We need to remember what we’re trying to accomplish and try as much as possible to focus.
4:14: On deeper personalization, deeper relevance, really.
4:18: So take away number 3.
4:19: The more relevant the personalization, the better the personalization.
4:23: Better than first name, which usually just feels friendly with a little nod towards relevance.
4:28: Let’s try to up the relevance itself, not just the appearance of relevance.
4:34: Another cool takeaway for me from this episode is how I look at evergreen content.
4:39: Jay mentioned how for next election period, they’ll be focusing on the before and after, at the full election experience, not just on election day with the voting results.
4:49: I’ve always kind of struggled with the idea of annual launches.
4:51: Once you get your emails down, do you just keep reusing them?
4:55: Not using them again feels like a huge waste, but reusing them feels Like you’re not iterating.
5:00: So I really like this strategy.
5:02: The part of successfully iterating is looking at the full experience.
5:06: Once the foundation, the launch emails.
5:08: Once they’re in place, we can shift our focus to work around the emails.
5:13: So take away number 4, iterating on promo materials for an annual event doesn’t mean nitpicking forevermore.
5:19: Look beyond the emails and build a true user journey.
5:24: Next up, the promotions tab.
5:26: I hope Jay convinced you to read the promotions tab.
5:29: I am a huge advocate for this method of garnering inspiration.
5:33: I find it so important to glean inspiration and ideas across industry.
5:38: In fact, I even did a tutorial for copy hackers on how to use your inbox for inspiration.
5:43: You can find the link in the show notes.
5:45: And takeaway number 5 is to get Inspired by our promotions tab.
5:50: If it feels too overwhelming to read it all, spend 5 minutes a day just reading promotional emails.
5:56: You’ll be a better marketer for it.
5:57: You’ll see.
5:58: Thanks for geeking out with me about that email story.
6:01: If you enjoyed either of these episodes, you’ll probably enjoy getting my emails.
6:04: Plus you’ll never miss another episode.
6:06: Sign up at Nikkialbus.com/subscribe, and yes, that link is in the show notes.